Tuesday, June 20th 2023
Microsoft Outlook "2024" Set to Replace Mail, Calendar & People Apps
Microsoft has announced some major changes for a selection of integrated Windows 11 productivity apps—yesterday's preview piece declared that: "The new Outlook for Windows brings the latest features with a modern and simplified design to your Windows 11 PC. You can tailor it to your style and do more with the new Outlook for Windows! Learn more about the new Outlook for Windows here." Many W11 users are not fans of the current and very neglected set of Mail, Calendar & People applications, but forthcoming updates will provide some joy since the next version of Outlook is set to replace this messy arrangement entirely. A longer and more in-depth Insider article demonstrates the shape of things to come, including a dark mode! A trial version can be accessed via a toggle within the Windows 11 Mail & Calendar app.
Microsoft's roadmap/timeline indicates that new devices running Windows 11 will have the brand new Outlook app pre-installed, starting in early 2024: "The new Outlook for Windows (will be available) as the default mailbox application free for all to use. The Mail and Calendar applications will continue to be available via download in the Microsoft Store through the end of 2024. On existing devices, users can switch to the new Outlook for Windows from a toggle in the Mail and Calendar applications." The company's software engineers are alleged to be working on a project dubbed "Hudson Valley," which is rumored to be the next major version of Windows - aka 12 - arriving September 2024, which coincides with the removal of the improved Outlook app from Microsoft's store. The updated web-based client could be built into Windows 12, and positioned as the default email handling program.
Sources:
Microsoft Support News, Windows Central
Microsoft's roadmap/timeline indicates that new devices running Windows 11 will have the brand new Outlook app pre-installed, starting in early 2024: "The new Outlook for Windows (will be available) as the default mailbox application free for all to use. The Mail and Calendar applications will continue to be available via download in the Microsoft Store through the end of 2024. On existing devices, users can switch to the new Outlook for Windows from a toggle in the Mail and Calendar applications." The company's software engineers are alleged to be working on a project dubbed "Hudson Valley," which is rumored to be the next major version of Windows - aka 12 - arriving September 2024, which coincides with the removal of the improved Outlook app from Microsoft's store. The updated web-based client could be built into Windows 12, and positioned as the default email handling program.
33 Comments on Microsoft Outlook "2024" Set to Replace Mail, Calendar & People Apps
Is Chrome or Firefox your default browser, set because Microsoft were forced by both the EU Commission and the US DoJ to honour a user's right to use other browsers? They've been fined a cumulative total of mutliple billion dollars. I'm not sure if we're at 5 billion yet, but there are multiple international cases over the years and almost all of them are $9-digit fines per case.
The DoJ even threatened to disband Microsoft and split them into multiple independent companies if they failed to comply with the ruling, and IMO it's a shame they didn't because it would have set a precedent that would have deterred other companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta etc from being the anti-consumer, monopolistic, unethical d*cks that they are today.
Office 2010 seems to have struck the best balance between a convenient UI and productivity, although 2007 is my favorite and 2003 is a monster if you are used to it.