Evolution Story of MS Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is an information management application which is basically works as an email client application. MS Outlook is available with Microsoft Office suite with other vital work related application. Outlook includes emails, task manager, calendars, journals, contacts and many other features that kept on increasing with the launch of latest versions. The Outlook can work both with and without MS Exchange Server and MS SharePoint Server. We all are very much familiar with whereabouts of Exchange Server but talking about MS SharePoint Server is a an application which is used in an organization where most of the entities like mailbox, calendars, Exchange public folders are all shared with large number of users.

There are continues efforts are done in-order to enhance the functionality and features of MS Outlook. With the launch of every latest version user experiences a brand new concepts that eases and facilitates the working environment. Therefore it is quite understandable that Outlook remained the most preferred option of both small scale and large scale organizations. Although there are some advance and adroit email applications available such as Lotus Notes, but no one affect the wide popularity of MS Outlook. It is because Outlook seems to be very simple and effective emailing application to the user. It has highly interactive user interface which prevents user to go for initial training program. Also the whole setup is one time investment which is also very reasonable from the rest of the other option available. It requires very less maintenance and that too is not very complex as most of the solutions are known to the user and they can even perform basic to advance recovery or maintenance process on their own     

Lets us understand each and every version of Outlook launched by Microsoft, so that we get a clear picture of building of a master emailing application.

• Outlook for MS-DOS, Windows 3.1x and Macintosh came in bundle with Exchange Server 5.5
• Outlook 97, Version Number 8.0 was launched on 16 January’ 1997. It was attached in Office 97 which came in bundle with Exchange Server 5.5.
• Outlook 98, Version Number 8.5 was launched on 21 June’ 1998. The set up of Outlook 98 was based on Active Setup which also installs Internet Explorer 4 on the system.
• Outlook 2000, Version Number 9.0 was released on 27 June ‘1999. It was linked with Office 2000 and came in bundle with MS Exchange 2000 Server.
• Outlook 2002, Version Number 10 was released on 31 May’ 2001, and was included in Office XP.
• Office Outlook 2003, Version Number 11, launched on 20 November 2003, it was included in Office 2003 and bundled with Exchange Server 2003. It also included special Standard Edition for students and teachers.    
• Office Outlook 2007, Version Number 12, launched on 27 January’ 2007, linked with Office 2007
• Outlook 2010, Version Number 14, launched on 15 July’ 2010, included in Office 2010, the version number 13 was skipped due to old superstitions.
• Outlook 2011 for Mac, Version Number 14, launched on 26 October’ 2010, included in Office for Mac 2011
• Outlook 2013, Version Number 15, was launched on 29 January’ 2013 and included in Office 2013.

As we can see that there is very large series of versions launched by Microsoft in terms of Outlook application. But major competition was introduced from version 2007, and most of the technology up gradations was taken out after this version. So let us have a closer look on three most successful and widely popular Outlook versions.

Features	Outlook 2007	Outlook 2010	Outlook 2013
Coexistence with previous versions	N.A	N.A	Allows the user to try Outlook 2013 without having to uninstall a previous Outlook version. Although previous version will not work until Outlook 2013 is installed on the system
File format support	.eml, .fdm, .hol, .ics, .msg, .oft, .pst, .vcf, .vcs	Same	Same
Exchange compatibility	Exchange Server 2010, 2007, 2003, 2000	Exchange Server 2010, 2007, 2003	Exchange Server 2013, 2010, 2007
Access SharePoint content offline	N.A	Can work with SharePoint content offline. After  working only the changed area synchronizes, so updates happen more quickly	Outlook 2013 now has better SharePoint integration, as SharePoint groups can now enjoy their separate mailboxes.
Outlook Mobile Service	Only basic authoring and editing also send and receive messages, can be done using Windows mobile 6.1 only	Beyond just sending and receiving text messages, one can also configure Outlook to send notifications to mobile device as a text message. Can be done with any Windows phone	No OMS Services, for the purpose SharePoint is provided
Windows OS compatibility	Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, or Vista	Windows XP SP3, Windows 7	Windows 7, RTM release of Windows 8, Release Preview of Windows 8
Social Connectors	Add-on	Semi integrated	Face book, LinkedIn, and other social networks, without any extra plug-in.
Navigation Bar	Appears on the left pane	Appears on the left pane	Quick and convenient ways to open your email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. Placed at the bottom of the page.
The People cards	Contacts	Contacts	improved version of contacts view, merge information and eliminate duplicate entries
Mail Tips	N.A	N.A	Whether an e-mail you're about to send might be missing a file attachment. It can also let you know if the recipient is currently available to receive e-mail, giving you an opportunity to communicate in some other way if it’s an urgent matter requiring immediate response.
Ribbon layout	Available	Available	Available
Quick response	Need to open new window	Need to open new window	Quick replies to emails are possible within the Inbox reading pane, no need to open the message in new windows as before.
Quick delete	N.A	N.A	As user hover on messages a delete button appears, which allow him to perform instant delete
Peek  feature	N.A	N.A	To help make writing e-mails a little faster, let you glance at your calendar, contacts, and tasks without having to switch modes.
Direct access	required a plug-in	required a plug-in	can directly communicate with Hotmail
Multiple Exchange Account	N.A	Connect multiple Exchange mailboxes in a single Outlook profile	Connect multiple Exchange mailboxes in a single Outlook profile
Extra feature	N.A	N.A	Built-in weather bar with a 3-day forecast.

The Outlook stores files in two different formats, OST and PST. The OST files are termed as an exact replica of Exchange EDB files whereas PST files are preferred for maintaining backups. The OST files allows user to work even in an offline mode i.e. when Exchange Server is not available. The data modified by the user gets automatically synchronized when Exchange becomes live. But sometime due to various reasons the synchronization of data does not take place. The possible reasons for the error are:

• Accidental shutdown of Exchange Server or Outlook

• Network error.

 The above mentioned scenarios are the most common reason which affects the process of Synchronization. This particular stage is known as orphaning of OST files, where Exchange Server fails to identify the unsynchronized OST files. This instance can result in corruption of OST files which can also lead to permanent deletion of files. In-order to overpower this troublesome situation user can convert their OST files to PST using an adroit thirds party OST to PST converter tool. Taking account of my personal experience I would suggest user to go for Stellar OST to PST converter tool. The product recovered my OST file and further converts it into PST format which can be stored locally on any desired location.