It’s no secret that Microsoft has been pushing hard for its customers to transition the built-in Windows Mail and Calendar apps to the new Outlook client. However, the move has been met with negative reactions and reservations from users, including our senior editor Zac Bowden, who argued that the client is not ready for prime time yet with its slow performance as one of the main weaknesses.
“Enshitification” one user lamented on Reddit. “Launching a new product with fewer features than the old one, but constantly marketing it as ‘new’, then charging customers more to upgrade to a product that’s almost as good as the old one, but not quite, those extra bits you need are classified as a premium add-on.”
The new Outlook is a disaster; Why do they persist? So many features are missing. of r/Office365
Obviously, feature parity is a major point that prevents most users from making the transition from classic Outlook to the new Outlook client. However, Microsoft is working hard to close this gap and has sent 15 features in recent months to the new Outlook client (via neowin).
Some of these 15 features include the ability to set an emailmaking it easy to track important messages as they arrive. Also includes modern themesincluding a dark mode. Additionally, you can temporarily snooze an email from your inbox until it is timely and relevant again, and a meeting summary.
Other notable additions include: improved meeting tracking, schedule shippingykkeyboard shortcuts to help you improve productivity by enhancing effectiveness and efficiency.
To that end, Microsoft previously indicated that adoption and transition to the new Outlook client is slowly accelerating; however, it is still delaying the opt-out phase by a year. This suggests that the company is giving organizations enough time to take the bold leap.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft will continue to support Windows Mail and Calendar apps until 2029.
Have you already made the transition to the new Outlook? Let me know in the comments.
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