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Microsoft Launches Outlook For Android and iOS
An anonymous reader writes Microsoft today launched Outlook for Android and iOS. The former is available (in preview) for download now on Google Play and the latter will arrive on Apple's App Store later today. The pitch is simple: Outlook will let you manage your work and personal email on your phone and tablet as efficiently as you do on your computer. The app also offers calendar features, attachment integration (with OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and iCloud), along with customizable swipes and actions so you can tailor it to how you specifically use email.
Honestly I can't think of this as being anything but big. Companies live and die by outlook email still (enough of them anyway). So many of those executives don't even need a machine past email really...
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
Exchange on my built-in email on my iPhone has worked better than Outlook on my desktop since I first tried it in October of 2007. Exchange on iPhones works very well. What advantage could they possibly offer?
VICTORY !
"If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won."
Linus Torvalds
What niche need does this app fill? If you're using Gmail, don't you already have access to your e-mail, calendar, whatever from any Android device and/or desktop? I'm trying to understand what's the point of this app? I'm a Linux user for example. What does this product give me that I don't already have for free on any platform? I don't use Windows so why should I (or anyone else for that matter) care? What's the killer app here?
On a positive note, the application did install and run correctly, and appeared to offer support for several popular mail servers (Yahoo and Outlook among others, as well as IMAP and Exchange support).
First an investment in Cyanogen in the morning, then Outlook for Android in the evening. All in a days work. Maybe they'll buy XDA Dev tomorrow.
It won't be long before our asses are owned by all major companies in the field at the same time, while only using one device.
If that isn't progress I do not know what is.
Said Charlie to Linus.
Awhile back Google started asking money for Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook®. I think I speak for many when I say that this is a neat gimmick I could have continued using to sync my Outlook Calendar at work with my private Gmail Calendar. For Google that was one way to reduce MS' influence on Android by penetrating Outlook and make corporate users see alternatives. Alas, Google decided to make peanuts and the regular user stopped using Apps Sync for MS. I guess that now MS Outlook on Android considered by my employer for making workers more productive whilst using their own device. Security on Outlook for Android should be interesting.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2... for some perspective...
The iOS Outlook app uses a cloud to download your email (including attachments should you choose to want to see it). This may or may not be what you (or your employer) want. I know I won't be using it.
Does anyone know if this Outlook email client is able to view & download attachments that are part of a meeting in the calendar?
And Slashdot launches the beta in disguise of today's slashdot.org. The sales pitch could be "Now with 100% more white space, bigger fonts and double the scrolling and page loads needed." I just wonder, if we will get a rest of Skypefied UI soon, where the comments are in bubbles (blue text in blue background) and where bubble width is restricted to maximize the amount of scrolling needed.
I hoped they would allow activesync with this.
But, nope.
This is kinda important since ActiveSync support has been removed in Android 5.0.
Nine is one of the few clients that support it.
Calling Android "Linux" is absurd.
... Because Android has no sentience and won't understand why you're calling it names?
I can't find another way to make sense of your comment.
I knew some pedant would come to write the "Android is not Linux" comment.
yeah, not gonna happen.
outlook? the germy infection vector for millions finally on android and ios? clearly seal number 4 http://madearth.net/index.php/doomsday/seven-doors/signs
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
“We provide a service that indexes and accelerates delivery of your email to your device. That means that our service retrieves your incoming and outgoing email messages and securely pushes them to the app on your device"
Will it have a preview pane that will execute all the macros in the email, fetch all the attachments and render them on screen on just a mouse over the subject line? Will it also disobey the native sandboxes in android and introduce "internet zone" "safe zone" "home zone" "vpn zone" "super trustworthy microsoft zone" etc? Great! Just what the world has been waiting for.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I have had an Outlook app on my Android phone for a couple of years. It also synced with my calendar.
If you really want to be pedantic. Android is Linux, but it isn't GNU/Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel, but had its own userspace structure on top of it, which is not compatible with GNU/Linux (hence you have to specifically (re)write apps to run on Android).
I guess it should be called Android/Linux, and the "normal" Linux we know on our PC's is GNU/Linux. The one time where there is a real-world reason for having these things spelt out in full (there used to be a large argument about naming conventions of Linux a few years ago. Whether it was important to have the "GNU" bit at the front).
Android is running Linux, just like your latest Ubuntu release. You know Linux is the kernel, right?
Write boring code, not shiny code!
âUntil Android or Outlook on Android support certificate based authentication, it won't do much for me.
From the application FAQ:
Does your app support cert auth / certificate based authentication?
If your Exchange server currently requires cert auth / certificate-based authentication, that is not currently something that we support.
I have used built-in and other mail clients on android. For the most part they are OK for emails. Contacts / Calendar works relatively well though I much prefer my personal contacts are totally separated from my work contacts. However, when comes to public folders, which my company makes use of, would be a god send if outlook client on android supports it.
And why would you answer before the question?
All together, Outlook is a corporate comms tool, not a mail client.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
The "why is this relevant for Linux users" crowd are spectacularly missing the point. This is interesting to me precisely _because_ I'm a Linux user. If I were a Windows user, I'd already _have_ Outlook on my PC! But I'm a Linux user and I don't, which is awkward as my employer uses Exchange. So now at least I have the possibility of trying Outlook on my Android phone. Whether it will _actually_ make a difference to me depends on the details: I can already access my email and calendar on Android with a bunch of different clients. But some features of Outlook are missing from the apps I've tried - browsing colleagues' Calendars for one.
My employer just prohibited the iOS outlook app and shut down the access to the exchange server. This behavior will change very soon - as many will follow. This violates any halfway decent safety protocol.
First, OWA only lets you link up with Exchange or Office365 accounts, no support for POP3/IMAP/SMTP.
The Office apps want you to create an account.
Just let me have the apps without all the fucking caveats, I'm already licensed for Office/Outlook/Visio/Project on multiple systems and shouldn't have to jump through these hurdles!
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
You mean we should say GNU/Android?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I bet you were a hit at parties in the late 80s when it came time to debate the relative merits of Captains Picard and Kirk. ;-)
Seriously, though, you have a point.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
The pitch is simple: Outlook will let you manage your work and personal email on your phone and tablet as efficiently as you do on your computer.
I don't think I want to take that same performance hit on my phone and tablet!
Yesterday Microsoft released a new application in the Apple and Android
stores: "Outlook for iOS" and "Microsoft Outlook Preview".
At this time, we STRONGLY advise you NOT to use this application, which we
have already blocked on the central mail server.
This application does not directly connect to our mail server. Instead, it
routes your entire mail traffic over a group of proxy servers in the USA.
This means that your login information (username & password) as well as
other mail data are temporarily stored on these proxy servers. This action
is described in the application's privacy guidelines, but they failed to
explicitly inform you of this when you are configuring your mail account.
If you have already installed this "app" and configured your mail account,
please delete this "app" and change your password:
[retracted]
Additional information about this problem can be found under the following
link:
https://blog.winkelmeyer.com/2015/01/warning-microsofts-outlook-app-for-ios-
breaks-your-company-security/
Mod this up, please!
The IT shop at my company has blocked the new Outlook app's access to our Exchange ActiveSync infrastructure while they suss out the security implications. Apparently the app caches your credentials which is a no-no. More here: https://blog.winkelmeyer.com/2015/01/warning-microsofts-outlook-app-for-ios-breaks-your-company-security/
People actually want their information stored in Microsoft's proprietary format? I thought that was something done out of ignorance, or because you felt forced to do so.
For me, Microsoft's proprietary formats have been a nightmare. I am glad to be rid of them.
Awesome... that password I just gave the outlook app? its been stored in the cloud..
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/30/dev_finds_bleak_security_outlook_for_ios_app/
I'm no Microsoft fan, but for years I've been questioning their insistence on competing in "consumer" level stuff. Bing, tablets, phones - none are market leaders - they are too little too late. These non-business products are simply a distraction from Microsoft's core competencies.
Their strength has been, and will always be, business. Their software is cheap-ish, and works well enough in those spaces. Sure, sharepoint is a turd, and there isn't a problem that can't be solved badly by excel and access - but businesses like that stuff.
There is no shame with taking billions of business dollars to the bank.
"Linux has won" means that Microsoft has lost the ability to force you to use Windows - just because their apps required it. Linux doesn't need to be on a majority of desktops to have won in that sense. What has been "won" is your ability to use Linux without having to lose certain important functionality that was locked up in Microsoft monopolies.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
Well, when people talk of Linux, they typically mean the Linux distros run on PCs or laptops - Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, blah blah blah. If they're talking about Google's custom made Linux for tablets or phones, they call it Android.
It does make a difference, given that apps that one may normally run on, say Mint, such as LibreOffice, won't run on Android, unless specifically ported to that platform. Like a sibling post mentioned above, Android has its own userspace that's not compatible w/ GNU. Similarly, or rather more importantly, apps written for Android, such as in this case Outlook, won't run on your laptop w/ Mint on it. The only Linux that may run it is Google's own ChromeOS. It's just like one can't run OS-X apps on PCBSD.
The biggest downside (for me, at least) is that it's limited to accounts running on Office365 - if your company hasn't migrated, the app will not connect to your Exchange server.
Paaah, real nerds didn't get invited to parties :-) We just hung out on online chat for our entire lives, arguing! :-P
Well, the result of this particular multi-year long argument was that "GNU" was dropped, and everyone (bar RMS) called it "Linux".
I was always in the "GNU/Linux" camp, because the two projects, while complimentary, were not bound for eternity. You could just as easily have GNU/Hurd or GNU/kBSD, or as we have now, "Android/Linux".
It is funny that it has taken this many years for the lack of distinction of what exactly people think "Linux" is to rear its head. The main argument of the opposing camp was that "Everyone knows what Linux is, no need to make it longer with GNU in front".
As for Picard vs Kirk, I think resurrecting one ancient flamewar is enough for today :-)
Oh, and looky here, wiki has an article about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...
The reply is to a Linus quote, and he would never have said GNU/Linux, he would just mean Linux, which Android is in spades.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
It's really a win for DalJava.
I have been directed by my CIO to block this app immediately. We have already sent out company-wide notifications that this app is prohibited. How can we block access to this in our Exchange environment? We already allow access via ActiveSync to iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows devices. We will be implementing BES12 in the next few months which should be able to block access to it.
Going forward we will monitor changes of this app to see if Microsoft can pull their head out of their ass. The design of this app is unacceptable right now. They literally break every company's security when it comes to blocking access to 3rd party storage, off side email storage, and storage of account credentials. I can't imagine that they consulted with any Fortune 500 companies either during design or testing.