Outlook 98 review

For those who want, or need, to adapt and extend Outlook 98, a form painter and code editor are provided. The form painter allows you to layout a form exactly as you want it to appear for reading and creating items. You use the code editor to write VBScript modules that execute when you open, save or edit data. VBScript is a cut-down version of Visual Basic for Applications, and it's a pity that VBA isn't included in Outlook 98. VBScript is more difficult to write and the code editor is nowhere near as helpful as the one for VBA.

Outlook 98 can also be automated from other Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and Excel. You can also get at its data and functionality from Visual Basic and any other application that supports OLE Automation. You simply add a reference to the Microsoft Outlook 98 Object Model into your project and use the Object Browser to explore its objects, methods and properties. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility to write applications that read data from SQL Server, create PowerPoint presentations and email them to people in your contacts list.

Here's the rub

There's no denying this is an impressive upgrade for Outlook, and in many ways it's everything Outlook 97 should have been. There's one major sticking point though: you need to install Internet Explorer 4.01 to use Outlook 98. If you already have IE 4 installed and are happy with it, then this shouldn't be a worry. But if you've installed IE 4 before and had problems, or have been avoiding it altogether, this could be a stumbling block. Naturally, you don't have to use IE 4 as your browser when you have Outlook 98 installed, but it does require some components of IE 4 to function, so you're still stuck with it. The cynical might say this is another attempt by Microsoft to convert everyone to IE 4 - and therefore getting us ready to upgrade to Windows 98 later this year - especially considering Outlook's free until the end of June.

But the fact remains that Outlook 98 is ridiculously easy to use, and powerful with it. You have to be willing to experiment to get the full benefit - I found that right-clicking everywhere often revealed interesting hidden capabilities, and dragging and dropping items from folder to folder was frequently eye-opening. The corporate version should breathe new life into Exchange Server. The Internet version is even friendlier and could, Microsoft hopes, become the most used email client in the Windows world - especially at this price point.

Author: Simon Jones