Friday, October 24, 2003
You Should Seriously Consider Outlook 2003
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 05:30 AM
http://www.microsoft.com/office/outlook/prodinfo/overview.mspx
Most of us use Outlook with our Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Outlook has received minor upgrades with each release going back to Outlook 97 through Outlook XP/2002. Outlook 2003 though got a total overhaul. Users of older versions will still feel right at home though with the new interface, but the improvements go way beyond the UI.
• Superior spam protection - By default, Outlook 2003 won't download images in HTML emails. Did you know that if the HTML is coded right, spammers can tell when you open an HTML email that pulls the images from their server? That means they have verified your address and you can look forward to even more spam! Well, Outlook 2003 prevents that. You can add anyone or even a full domain to your "Safe Senders" list so images open for you automatically, or you can pull down images on an email by email basis. Junk filters are also improved.
• The new preview window on the right may look a bit strange at first, but it really works great.
• Exchange users, rejoice! Especially those of you connecting remotely via a modem or DSL/Cable VPN connection. Outlook 2003's new "Caching" mode means 100% of your interactions with Outlook are local on your computer and changes are synchronized with Exchange in the background. No more locked up screens waiting for your changes to be processed. Ever tried to ActiveSync in a hotel room with Outlook connected to Exchange over a modem? It is no longer a chore. For those of you lucky enough to have Exchange 2003, Outlook 2003 makes remote email even more of a joy with header retrieval and other bandwith saving features.
• Email triage is excellent. It groups all unread messages into a single virtual folder so you can quickly take care of them. Rapid "mark for follow up" commands allow you to save important message for later when you have more time without having to open the email or leave it in an unread state.
There are tons of other features and this is the first upgrade of Outlook that I can honestly say is unquestionably worth the price. The rest of Office 2003 is ok with each app getting some tweaks here and there, but honestly, if you already have Office 2000 or Office 2002/XP, you might save yourself some bucks and just get Outlook 2003. Amazon US has it for just $88. (affiliate link) You can also find out more about the product at Microsoft's Outlook 2003 page.
Most of us use Outlook with our Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Outlook has received minor upgrades with each release going back to Outlook 97 through Outlook XP/2002. Outlook 2003 though got a total overhaul. Users of older versions will still feel right at home though with the new interface, but the improvements go way beyond the UI.
• Superior spam protection - By default, Outlook 2003 won't download images in HTML emails. Did you know that if the HTML is coded right, spammers can tell when you open an HTML email that pulls the images from their server? That means they have verified your address and you can look forward to even more spam! Well, Outlook 2003 prevents that. You can add anyone or even a full domain to your "Safe Senders" list so images open for you automatically, or you can pull down images on an email by email basis. Junk filters are also improved.
• The new preview window on the right may look a bit strange at first, but it really works great.
• Exchange users, rejoice! Especially those of you connecting remotely via a modem or DSL/Cable VPN connection. Outlook 2003's new "Caching" mode means 100% of your interactions with Outlook are local on your computer and changes are synchronized with Exchange in the background. No more locked up screens waiting for your changes to be processed. Ever tried to ActiveSync in a hotel room with Outlook connected to Exchange over a modem? It is no longer a chore. For those of you lucky enough to have Exchange 2003, Outlook 2003 makes remote email even more of a joy with header retrieval and other bandwith saving features.
• Email triage is excellent. It groups all unread messages into a single virtual folder so you can quickly take care of them. Rapid "mark for follow up" commands allow you to save important message for later when you have more time without having to open the email or leave it in an unread state.
There are tons of other features and this is the first upgrade of Outlook that I can honestly say is unquestionably worth the price. The rest of Office 2003 is ok with each app getting some tweaks here and there, but honestly, if you already have Office 2000 or Office 2002/XP, you might save yourself some bucks and just get Outlook 2003. Amazon US has it for just $88. (affiliate link) You can also find out more about the product at Microsoft's Outlook 2003 page.
