In the business world, it’s pretty hard not to be familiar with the Microsoft Office suite of productivity apps. Among all the Office apps, Outlook has always been pretty special as it’s been connected to the Internet from the start, relying on Internet standards to allow users to manage their email, calendars, and tasks in a unified interface. While the app has evolved into a full-featured personal information manager over the years, Outlook 2016 and Exchange Server 2016 still support the most commonly adopted email and calendaring standards such as IMAP, POP3 and iCalendar.
Now, Microsoft wants its users to give their feedback about the other standards they would like to see supported in the next versions of Exchange Server and Outlook. The company explained in a blog post today:
Microsoft recognizes that enabling interoperability between products from different vendors is important, particularly with respect to email and calendaring functionality, as it helps our customers stay connected and organized across their favorite services and devices.
To ensure that Microsoft continues to invest in the standards that are most valued by our customers, your feedback is essential. You can tell us what email and calendaring standards you’d like to see in the next versions of Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook by sending an email to [email protected], tweeting us at @OSpecifications, posting to our forums here, or attending an interoperability event. (Note: please do not include confidential information in your feedback.)
To be clear, Microsoft also stated that they will “continue to support IMAP, POP3, and iCalendar in the next versions of Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook.” Outlook and Exchange Server users will have 90 days to give their feedback to the company before the company shares a general response on the Internets. Would you like Outlook and Exchange Server to support more standards? Please let us know what you think in the comments.
Would you like Outlook and Exchange Server to support more standards? Please let us know what you think in the comments.
