See ya Windows Mail

[thealmightyderpybird]

Summary

Microsoft has announced that they will be replacing the Windows Mail and Calendar apps with a new Outlook for Windows app. This will also replace the Outlook from Microsoft Office.

 

 

 

Quotes

Quote

Beginning in 2024, new Windows 11 devices will be shipped with the new Outlook for Windows as the default mailbox application free for all to use. The Mail and Calendar applications will continue to be available via download in the Microsoft Store through the end of 2024. 

 

My thoughts

This is concerning the mail client that virtually nobody uses, and now it's being phased out.

 

Sources

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/outlook-for-windows-the-future-of-mail-calendar-and-people-on-windows-11-715fc27c-e0f4-4652-9174-47faa751b199

[Levent]

4 minutes ago, thealmightyderpybird said:

virtually nobody uses

I wish that was the case. 

[OhYou_]

very based assuming it is outlook as we have it now.

 

[Zeryther]

I used it for a bit back on Windows 10 and it was pretty bad. The only cool thing about it was that your calendar items for the day would be displayed on the little flyout thing when you click on the clock in your taskbar.

 

However, it seems they removed that with Windows 11. Would be cool to see this coming back with the new Outlook someday. Or even better as an API developers and third-party email clients can also utilize.

[WolframaticAlpha]

I still use thunderbird and webmail mostly. I despise windows mail completely and never got why people liked it.

[Bananasplit_00]

1 hour ago, thealmightyderpybird said:

virtually nobody uses

Dang guess I am virtually nobody

 

Spoiler

It's pretty flipping buggy tho, like it just won't send emails a lot of the time

 

[sparkman]

It's about time. The stock mail app is terrible.

[Lurick]

And the desktop app as a skin of the web version (which is what this is) sucks ass!!

You can't even have a calendar show up full time like in the current Outlook 365 client -.-*

[Franck]

4 minutes ago, sparkman said:

It's about time. The stock mail app is terrible.

works #1 for me. No bug no issue, low ram usage, responsive

[MarkPol88]

1 minute ago, Franck said:

works #1 for me. No bug no issue, low ram usage, responsive

I was using it but suddenly it picked up phantom messages from couple of my accounts.

And by phantom messages I mean messages that are long deleted but showed up on the client and I could not delete them again.

That is why I am now using Betterbird.

But not gonna lie - if "new" Outlook is good I might change again.

Yes, I know I am "virtually" weird

[da na]

I like the Windows Mail app. Simple, responsive, easy to add other accounts. Tried switching to the Outlook app when I first got the notification that Mail would no longer be supported but... hated it.

[Sousuke]

Sometimes, this reminds me why I own a Mac, the new outlook looks awful plus (the new version may fix this) but why in hell doesn't outlook for windows have an "All Accounts" inbox, sent etc like Mac OS's version has?

[EllieCat]

So goodbye Windows Mail, we will all miss you

[Senzelian]

I just hope they're not going to make Outlook any worse. I need it for work, but would rather use GMail. Nothing beats GMail. 

[duncannah]

Any way to force the new Outlook? I've just reinstalled Windows on my laptop and I don't have the "New Outlook" button, it seems.

 

EDIT: Is this different from the macOS version? 

[TetraSky]

This should've been the case since day one. 
Why did they ever even need to make some random mail app, when they literally have a mail client called Outlook.

We have Outlook on Android, there was no reason not to have it on Windows.

 

Though personally I still use thunderbird with a few extensions to make it "good".

Boots with windows, is always open in the systray, etc... That way I don't have to keep opening it manually to check my emails, I get them as they come. You'd think that would be a built-in feature...

Spoiler

 

[dodger007]

I used windows mail and Outlook to separate the email accounts used from my throw away accounts. Now it's all just one snotty mess  Could never get to grips with thunderbird though

[StDragon]

Did hell just freeze over?! MS Outlook is the gold standard as an email client. Normally you had to pay extra for the client, and now it's free? I have no doubt the M365 pricing will be shifted over to the mailbox to offset the client app pricing paradigm; at least this will be of interest to watch for.

[LAwLz]

6 hours ago, OhYou_ said:

very based assuming it is outlook as we have it now.

 

1 hour ago, StDragon said:

Did hell just freeze over?! MS Outlook is the gold standard as an email client. Normally you had to pay extra for the client, and now it's free?

 

2 hours ago, TetraSky said:

This should've been the case since day one. 
Why did they ever even need to make some random mail app, when they literally have a mail client called Outlook.

We have Outlook on Android, there was no reason not to have it on Windows.

I am pretty sure this is not the Outlook you are all thinking of. This seems to be a newly developed program that for some reason is also called Outlook. 

It's based on the web app that runs outlook.com. 

 

But I don't think including Outlook, the fully fledged client, as the default email app in Windows would be a good idea. That program is far too bloated and heavy for most users. 

 

5 hours ago, sparkman said:

It's about time. The stock mail app is terrible.

I'd argue the new app is even worse than the old one, sadly. 

 

Last time I tried this new app, or leaked features like:

Downloading attachments to any folder other than "downloads". 

I am fairly sure it couldn't store emails offline (or maybe that was the PWA version). 

It had a bunch of ads in it. The ads were designed to look like emails inside your inbox. 

If recall correctly, the new app doesn't support POP3 and IMAP. It uses web APIs to access the mail boxes instead and as a result, you are limited to basically just two providers, Gmail and Outlook. Last time I used it, I want able to add a regular email using IMAP. 

[StDragon]

17 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I am pretty sure this is not the Outlook you are all thinking of.

It wouldn't be normal of Microsoft otherwise. I am convinced it's part of their doctrine to confuse the hell out of everyone. Please see Outlook vs Outlook.com. And then we have both consumer and business forks of MS Teams and Skype. And don't get me started on Defender; that name encompasses a wide range of products and services. When talking about "Defender", you have to be very specific.

[bcredeur97]

Y'all keep in mind the outlook that is replacing it, is the new outlook that more or less emulates the web experience. 

At least sort of. It does have more features.

It may be a bit lacking right now, but I'm kind of glad they actually made something new. 

[bcredeur97]

Anyone know if this supports on-premise exchange? Or are they really going hard at trying to kill that off this time lol

[StDragon]

17 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

Anyone know if this supports on-premise exchange? Or are they really going hard at trying to kill that off this time lol

On-prem Exchange will be around practically forever. It's a governmental and compliance requirement for many organizations around the world, and MS knows it can't scrap it. Yes, they do have M365 for Enterprise, Education, and Gov too.

That said, if MS is going to be providing Outlook gratis, Exchange integration will still require a licensing regardless of it's on-prem or cloud.

[jagdtigger]

1 hour ago, StDragon said:

and MS knows it can't scrap it

They practically scrapped it, AFAIK support for it is non-existent if you have issues....

[StDragon]

38 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

They practically scrapped it, AFAIK support for it is non-existent if you have issues....

Bullshit.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/exchange-server-roadmap-update/ba-p/3421389

"We will maintain the current support dates for Exchange Server 2013, Exchange Server 2016, and Exchange Server 2019; however, we plan to support the next version of Exchange Server beyond October 14, 2025. We are moving the next version of Exchange Server to our Modern Lifecycle Policy, which has no end of support dates. We plan on continuing to support Exchange Server as long as there is substantive market demand."