Tim Anderson’s ITWriting

The campaign at fixoutlook.org is brilliant. Outlook 2010 will have broken HTML support, it says, because it will use Word to render HTML:

Microsoft has confirmed they plan on using the Word rendering engine to display HTML emails in Outlook 2010. This means for the next 5 years your email designs will need tables for layout, have no support for CSS like float and position, no background images and lots more.

The web page hooks into Twitter and displays avatars from – currently – over 20,000 supporters.

Here’s a few things the campaigners do not mention. First, the Word rendering was introduced in Outlook 2007. It is not a new issue; and in fact caused some commotion last time round.

Second, using Word to render HTML is safer. Here is the bit of Microsoft’s response that matters to me:

For e-mail viewing, Word also provides security benefits that are not available in a browser: Word cannot run web script or other active content that may threaten the security and safety of our customers.

I recall endless security problems with embedded Internet Explorer in earlier versions of Outlook. I used to set Outlook to display as plain text; and even then there were scenarios in which IE could be exploited.

Third, I have no enthusiasm for emails laden with “rich” HTML, JavaScript, Flash and the like. These kinds of emails are invariably marketing and usually not worth reading. What is the “Email Standards Project”? It’s nothing to do with the W3C. The major sponsor appears to be Freshview, whose main product is Campaign Monitor:

Built just for designers, Campaign Monitor is 100% rebrandable email marketing software. Send campaigns for yourself, your clients or let them send their own at prices you set.

I am not averse to simple formatting in emails, for which Word is more than adequate. I agree that Word is not good as an HTML editor or renderer; but in this context it matters little – though I was even happier with the simple HTML editor Outlook used to have for those who disabled Word integration.

Therefore I am opposed to this campaign and suspect that many of the signatories have clicked with little thought or investigation.

That said, there is plenty wrong with Outlook. Dire performance issues in Outlook 2007; the most impenetrable user interface in general use; broken RSS support that fails to integrate sensibly with either Exchange or Internet Explorer; an archiving system that by default leaves users that have more than one PC with archives all over the place and in hard-to-find locations; and plenty more.

It would be great if Microsoft would fix Outlook; but not, please, by returning to embedded IE.

Yes, Xobni is brilliant.

Have you ever tried sorting an Outlook inbox by conversation? Of course Outlook goes into a thrash while it prepares the view. Then when it has finished, it does not work right. It has a limited view of what a conversation is, based on the email title. It does not show your sent items, unless you sort them into the same folder. In fact, it is more frustrating than useful, which is why I never use it.

Xobni (the name is inbox reversed) does this right. When you select an email, a panel shows your previous emails from that person, with your replies, which you can read without changing the focus from the message you are attending to. It is based on an index together with some simple analytics. Who else has appeared in the cc list on emails from this person? Where are their messages? What is the sender’s phone number? All of this information is shown automatically; no need to hit confusing menus like Arrange By or Current View.

There’s also a search box; it’s smoother and quicker than Microsoft’s desktop search, also used by Outlook in the latest version. Under the covers lies my favourite desktop database engine: sqlite. I’ve turned off the official Outlook search; anything to speed performance.

Xobni is free right now (it is a beta), so what’s the business model? Still up in the air, apparently. However, given the number of Outlook users, I expect it will be possible to monetize it. Apparently Microsoft tried to buy the company and was refused.