Outlook webmail to finally support Firefox

 

Gallery

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 13 Feb 2009 at 10:15

The webmail component of Exchange 14, the latest version of Microsoft's email client, will finally bring support for rival browsers, as well as a few Gmail-inspired features.

Previously, anybody who logged into Outlook Web Access through a non-Internet Explorer browser was treated to a simplified interface and limited feature set. Microsoft has now addressed this, meaning users of Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome will all receive the full Outlook experience.

Another notable addition to the service is the inclusion of Gmail's threaded view, which folds related messages into a conversation threads under a topic heading, rather than having hundreds of individual messages cluttering up the inbox. Instant messaging has also been introduced to the software.

Microsoft says it's been beta testing Outlook Web Access, to be dubbed Outlook Live, with around 3.5 million students and teachers at across 1,500 hundred schools.

There's no word yet on whether the desktop client will receive these features, but Exchange 14 is expected to appear either late in 2009 or 2010.

To see Outlook Live in action visit the developer site here.

For the complete guide to mastering Outlook, pick up the latest issue of PC Pro.