Microsoft’s new “One Outlook” Windows app is starting to leak
Microsoft’s new Outlook email client for Windows, dubbed the “One Outlook” project the company has been working on for some time, seems almost ready for prime time. Some users were able to download the new app as first spotted by Windows headquarters, although it currently only seems to work for work and education accounts. Those who can get in will find…well, it’s pretty much what you’d expect.
We’ve long heard that the future of Microsoft’s email clients would be very similar to Outlook Web App, and indeed the new app appears to be just that. It’s a lot lighter and simpler than previous versions of Outlook for Windows, and a lot more powerful than the built-in Mail app, which it’s also set to eventually replace. The app is also hosted entirely online as Microsoft continues to move its services to the web rather than running them solely as native apps.
Microsoft’s new email client One Outlook has been leaked. It’s a web-based version that will eventually replace the built-in Mail app on Windows and even win32 Outlook itself. I expect a public beta at Build and a full Outlook replacement in a few years. Image: Temmie pic.twitter.com/6c3aqxC7L9
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 6, 2022
“We appreciate the excitement surrounding our next update and will have more to share in the coming weeks,” said Scott Stiles, vice president of product management at Outlook The edge in an opinion. “The downloadable version is an early unsupported trial of Outlook for Windows and is missing some of the features and enhancements that will be available to our beta testers. We recommend our customers to wait for the release of the beta version.”
The app was reportedly due for testing in 2021, with plans to replace the other clients this year. Now it seems likely that Microsoft will officially announce the new app at its Build developer conference later this month, after which it will replace Mail, Calendar and eventually other versions of Outlook. How does it work? We’ll have to wait until we get our hands on the new app to see it, but it’s safe to say that desktop apps acting as shells for web apps have had a somewhat patchy history. But with Microsoft’s longstanding push for progressive web apps, the future seems to be coming one way or another.
The transition won’t be easy, given that so many Outlook users have a long history of how the app works, and an experience based on the sparser, cleaner web app will feel like a major departure. This means that Microsoft will likely continue to provide users with multiple versions of Outlook, at least for a while. However, the path to the future is clear: In the future there will only be One Outlook. And it starts with the web.
Update May 6th 9pm ET: Updated with comment from Microsoft.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/6/23060682/microsoft-outlook-redesign-windows-web Microsoft’s new “One Outlook” Windows app is starting to leak
