Microsoft Outlook 98
Topic 371 · 17 responses · archived october 2000
~buzz
Thu, Jan 15, 1998 (03:51)
seed
This combination Personal Information Manager (PIM), scheduler, news reader, and
e-mail client was first introduced with Office 97 as a replacement for the
rather anemic Schedule+ app included in earlier versions of the Microsoft Office
suite. The second generation release of Outlook is now available on the web in
standalone format as Outlook 98. The new release adds a variety of powerful
features to an app that already sported an impressive feature set. One of the
most important additions is complete support for the latest Internet mail
standards including POP3/SMTP, IMAP4, HTML mail (send and receive e-mail in HTML
format), LDAP, S/MIME, vCard, vCalendar, and iCalendar. Outlook 98 has also
been optimized for LAN workgroup use -- Outlook performs the client role while
working in tandem with Microsoft Exchange Server to provide advanced e-mail,
calendar, and collaboration features for each workgroup user.
Another of Outlook 98's new and improved features is the ability to
automatically import your connection settings, e-mail messages, and address
books using your existing Outlook 97, Netscape Communicator, Eudora, or Outlook
Express clients. This quite effectively eliminates the hassle of setting
Outlook up as long as you're a current user of one of the above applications
(Pegasus Mail and similar users are out of luck for now). Outlook also offers
the same functions for the Personal Information Manager aspect of Outlook 98 by
importing and exporting information between Outlook and the following popular
PIMs -- ACT, Ecco, Sidekick, Lotus Organizer, and Schedule+. Outlook Today is
yet another cool addition for Outlook 98. This feature gives you a snapshot
view of all of your important information for the current day's events in one
location. The Outlook Today screen presents a concise listing of your
appointments, daily tasks, and e-mail with quick access to contacts and
additional information.
In addition to its e-mail capabilities, contact manager, appointments and events
calendar, and task manager, Outlook 98 also offers a notes feature (electronic
versions of those little yellow sticky notes) and a journal feature that tracks
Office documents and e-mails that you send and receive from other contacts. The
Outlook Journal makes it possible to quickly and effortlessly find every
document and e-mail conversation that you've had with another person or group of
people. The one client Outlook 98 doesn't include as a built-in function is an
online newsreader; instead, it shares the newsreader built into Outlook Express.
While the Outlook Express news client compares favorably with the competition,
the fact that it isn't integrated into the Outlook 98 package will be a drawback
for users looking for the tight integration of a package like Netscape
Communicator or the standalone Agent mail/news client.
While Microsoft has made its Outlook client into one of the best PIM/E-mail
clients currently available, it's still not the perfect choice for everyone.
Outlook 98's biggest competition might not come from an outside product but
instead from its younger sibling, Outlook
Express. Outlook Express retains
nearly all of Outlook's e-mail features and enjoys performance benefits that
result from not being bulked down by all of Outlook's additional components.
The only major feature given up by Outlook Express is Outlook 98's Rules Wizard.
This wizard is the most advanced filtering system available for an e-mail
client and is a must-have for anyone who works with multiple-level mail filters.
Outlook Express' filtering system (the Inbox Assistant) is impressive in its
own right but it simply can't match Outlook 98's Rules Wizard when it comes to
developing complex mail filters. The wizard also presents an additional benefit
in that it can help you identify and eliminate junk e-mail (SPAM). Another
feature not shared by Outlook Express is Outlook 98's ability to create and send
Fax messages via a downloadable plug-in.
Outlook Express is targeted more towards home and small-business users who
primarily access their e-mail and newsgroup feeds via dial-up Internet
connections. As a result, Outlook Express lives up to its name, especially when
compared to its bigger, bulkier brother -- Express is optimized for Internet
mail and news functions and as a result enjoys an edge in performance in every
e-mail area shared by the two clients. Outlook, on the other hand, excels at
combining workgroup mail access with advanced Internet mail capabilities. It
also offers one of the best PIM packages around. While standalone PIMs like
Ecco and Time and Chaos excel over Outlook in some areas, neither can match
Outlook's comprehensive set of features. Outlook 98 widens the gap even further
with its new and improved features, interface (including built-in AutoPreview
and three-pane Preview displays), and powerful functions. Whether you're
looking for an advanced e-mail client or a PIM that can help you juggle all of
your demands, Outlook 98 is bound to satisfy.
Pros: Outstanding PIM/e-mail/news combo app, excellent feature set
including advanced filtering capabilities
Cons: Relatively slow and bulky, Outlook Express is faster and
better optimized for Internet e-mail
For the latest information on Outlook 98, check out:
http://cws.internet.com/32mail.html#outlook
~terry
Thu, Jan 15, 1998 (05:47)
#1
One caveat about Outlook 98, if you don't want all your email deleted
on your mailserver, be sure to check the option box to "keep messages
on server"; otherwise you'll end up deleting all the emails on your isps
server. This is a "hidden feature".
~charlies
Sat, Jan 17, 1998 (08:02)
#2
I personaly Recomend Outlook 98.. Try the Free Beta.. Sak me again when the Final price of the full version is out..
~Spacy
Tue, Mar 10, 1998 (12:57)
#3
I highly recommend Outlook 98. It'll be out in mid-March as a free download or you can buy the CD for something like $5. It's got the cool feature to send HTML messages, where you can utilize everything that can be viewed in IE4 in the message, so you can add DHTML, Active X controls, etc. and send really cool messages to your friends. I've tried Beta 2 and it's awesome.
~terry
Tue, Mar 10, 1998 (13:49)
#4
I'm using that too, just be careful about sending a lot of html and dhtml
to folks who are text only using unix mail, elm or pine.. be conscious of
the recipients email software if at all possible.
~wilkinson
Tue, Mar 24, 1998 (11:00)
#5
You say "Another of Outlook 98's new and improved features is the ability to automatically import your connection settings, e-mail messages, and address books using your existing Outlook 97, Netscape Communicator, Eudora, or Outlook Express clients. This quite effectively eliminates the hassle of setting Outlook up as long as you're a current user of one of the above applications (Pegasus Mail and similar users are out of luck for now). "
Pegasus users aren't out of luck since there are many conversion utilities out to convert between Pegasus and other formats, especially eudora. So, pegasus users can convert to eudora, then import/convert to outlook.
~garyh
Mon, Jun 8, 1998 (16:25)
#6
You forget one very important part of the Outlook 98 Update. The USER MUST HAVE INTERNET EXPLORER 4.0. IT'S A REQUIREMENT. I have Outlook 97, and don't have, don't want IE4.0. After you read all the nice reviews about Outlook 98, and that it's free, etc... you go through all the hassle of finally getting to the download page, only to find that it's just another way for Microsoft to get Internet Explorer 4.0 on your PC. Outlook 98 is just the "bait." I'm sick of these business practices. I only want
Outlook 98, and I'm willing to pay for it, if it's a good product. I don't want IE 4.0. Public, be advised.
~terry
Thu, Jun 11, 1998 (19:22)
#7
What he said. It's easy to overlook this fact. IE 4.0 may result in a 40% reduction in throughput on
your system.
~thekman
Sun, Jul 5, 1998 (07:27)
#8
True, IE4 is included in the download, BUT its does not have to be your default browser. It is only used to provide HTML email support. Our corporation uses Outlook 98 as client to Exchange Server and Netscape Communicator as our corporate browser. No problems. Still wondering what is meant by 40% reduction in throughput... Obviously you must be talking about the desktop features which are optional. Personally I use IE4 myself. I think its a great browser. I also have Communicator and think its a
reat browser also, just that at this point in time, I CHOOSE to use IE4. At one point I had a subcribtion for Netscape 3.0 thru 4.0, now the same thing is FREE. I wonder why... ;-)
~terry
Sun, Jul 5, 1998 (07:29)
#9
I will try and dig up the source for this 40% throughput reduction stat.
I don't know how it varies from NT to Win 95/98. But it's known to slow
down your system substantially.
~Hulten
Thu, Aug 13, 1998 (03:37)
#10
One thing I consider a major drawback of Outlook is the way it handles attachments.
When an attachment is saved as a file Outlook changes the time and date of
the file to the present one. This makes it difficult to keep track of the files
when working across networks, since the sender and recipient has different
information on the latest time the file was changed. It gets even worse if you check your e-mail from different places with different machines.
According to what the support staff at Microsoft has told me this is by design, and there is no way for the user to change this.
~jofje
Sat, Apr 24, 1999 (11:51)
#11
I am currently trying Outlook Express 5.0 and Outlook 97. I'm responsible for a school network with win95 clients attached to a NT4.0 server. We are attached to the Internet throug a ISP that offers POP3 mail. The mail is supposed to be downloaded, not stored on the ISP's server.
I have managed (much hazzle, though, I'm not too experienced) to make Outlook 97 to store the local mail folders on our local server, to make the folders available no matter which computer the (roaming) users log on to.
However, the same is not true for Outlook Express. I can not find out how to make it store the folders in the users profile path on the server, rather than in the c:\..\Internet Mail an News\Default user\ directory on the local computer. The result is that previosly downloaded mail is unavailable if the user logs on at a different computer.
Anyone who knows how to solve this, as I would like to use Outlook Express (fast and easy to use, compared to Outlook 97)?
Besides, do anyone know if it is possible to make Outlook 97 and Outlook Express sharing the mail folders?
Will these matters be much easier with Outlook 98?
And finally, do anyone know if the U.S. downloadable version of Outlook 98 will conflict with my Norwegian versions of Internet Explorer 5.0, Outlook Express 5.0, Office 97 and Windows 95?
I would appreciate an answer to jofjell@online.no as well as to this conference, since I am not checking in here very often (sorry...).
Best regards, Jo Inge
~aschuth
Thu, Mar 30, 2000 (13:29)
#12
I *hate* Outlook. It's slow, takes forever to load, open mails, and close. A rather cumbersome program. These things can all be done better and faster (Lotus Domino, resp. Notes).
~MarciaH
Thu, Mar 30, 2000 (14:18)
#13
Amen...I have heard th same complaint from other Outlook users. Forget about the Cool Look...get one which works!
~aschuth
Fri, Mar 31, 2000 (16:26)
#14
What cool look?
~MarciaH
Fri, Mar 31, 2000 (17:54)
#15
I heard from someone that it had a 'cool' appearance. Never checked to see. But, that is subjective, is it not, and nothing on which to base the worthiness or unworthiness of a software program!
~aschuth
Tue, Apr 4, 2000 (07:09)
#16
It's clumsy, and I don't like it. It seems more stable as, say, Eudora Light, but is awful slow and bothersome. Starts like a day lasts forever, and closing it is like the end of time will never come. Displaying a mail takes the time to walk over and shop for groceries, come back, fix dinner, and in time for the third course, viol�, there's yer new mail on da screen!
Disgusting.
~MarciaH
Tue, Apr 4, 2000 (14:26)
#17
I am a devoted user of Eudora in all forms and love each and every one of them Their support staff is efficient and helpful. Forget about Outlook and go for a real dedicated Email program. Eudora rules!