The new M365 Outlook is just webmail. Every upgrade is actually a reduction in functionality as they align to the web version. The good news is this eliminates the need for Windows.
Yes! I’m so close to being able to switch the office PC to Linux. I only really use Outlook and Teams, everything else is in a terminal.
Now to convince Security that I don’t need their intrusive logging and scanning crap…
Outlook and Teams have PWAs that are actually more performant than the desktop apps (anecdotal). They are missing some features, but for the opportunity to use Linux at work, I make it work. Have to use Ubuntu for some unknown reason, but it’s better than using Windows
For some reason our business policy doesn’t allow us to use the web versions…
Ubuntu is very popular in businesses cus it’s Debian but with official enterprise support (I strongly dislike both though).
Luckily all my work is in WSL2 Arch terminal with tmux, so it’s bearable, but I miss my rice setup so much!
OUTLOOK NOT SO GOOD
Ask again later?
All signs point to yes
Very doubtful
Magic 8 Ball knew Outlook would be bad 50 years ago.
Microsoft is just awful at doing basic shit. Office or M365 or copilot or whatever it is called is a mess of new tabs, signing in and duplication of services.
Christ outlook sucks but it isnt even top five of how shit they are.
Microsoft sucks and so does Outlook. My dad uses Outlook personally and I just can’t imagine that. It’s like taking your torture rack home with you for personal usage.
My dad is also a huge Outlook fan. I think you need to just have been using it for 20+ years
Yeah, maybe it’s a case of software Stockholm syndrome or something.
My dad also uses Outlook on hi Android tablet. I don’t get it.
Idk I like outlook. Its more feature rich and reliable than any other client Ive used. Especially since basically every company uses Echange for email.
Edit: I should clarify, I dont like outlook overall. But thats more because email in general sucks. Outlook is the best out of all of the email clients though, especially for power users.
New Outlook for Windows sucks. I tried it a few months ago and it is like a mobile app for idiots. It lacks many settings and many things. It is like windows 11, you need to do extra steps for stuff and settings you want. Also if you have only a standalone office and not a Office365 subscription they have ads, like their mobile app. Fucking Microsoft.
…depending upon the week, somewhere between ⅔ and ⅘ of my workflow can be in outlook…
…our IT policy required a shift to new outlook last year and it devastated my productivity: i struggled against its user-hostile interface for a couple of weeks and eventually just stayed home so i could get work done, despite our back-to-office mandate…in short order i was given an administrator account and i’m back on old outlook again…
I’ve been paying for Office365 home for years. Recently I started a business and signed up for 365 Business for the company email address.
Outlook stopped working, because the 365 Business account - which I specifically signed up in order to do email - doesn’t include local Outlook, and my existing home-licensed one throws a hissy fit if I try connecting it to my business account.
Microsoft sucks.
I’ve stepped away from Microsoft. Not my favourite company regarding mailing and chatting.
How… how do they not have a smooth on-ramp for what is basically a straight upgrade to the same service?!
I asked my magic 8 ball about this and it said “Outlook not so good”
I still think there is a group of people working at microsoft, pulling the strings to dismantle the company from the inside. I haven’t seen an update that makes things better for any of their projects in years
Same with Google.
I imagine Microsoft has the same problem as Google, which is internally prioritizing flashy new things over maintaining useful old things. That’s why Google comes out with so many new things and kills so many old things.
If you want a raise/promotion/etc., you have a better shot at it by bragging about the new feature/service you launched than bragging about maintaining the relatively stable project that’s been running for years but could use some improvements.
It’s a really bad structure imo and I hate that Google and other companies prioritize like that :/
Same with the US govt.
Do u mean doge?
They have managed to fuck up something as simple as right clicking. There are no words.
Dude they fucked up Ctrl+S and Alt+F in paintbrush and it still fucks with my workflows.
You know you’re an old time user when you call it paintbrush :)
Deadnaming done right
It’s even crazier to think they participated in establishing the right click paradigm to begin with.
Hah, I JUST had a conversation with my boss about whether or not I was using the “new” outlook or the “old” outlook.
He’s apparently using the “old” outlook because there’s a toggle switch in the upper right of his window that says “try the new outlook!” and I don’t have that, meaning…I guess I’m using the “new” outlook?
Who knows at this point. It’s all trash.
https://outlook.office365.com/mail/inbox
^ this is the new version lmao. It’s just an electron app (more or less)
All of Microsoft office products haven’t changed for the good in more than a decade. I still use office 2007 on my personal desktop and 90% of the features and buttons are in the same spot as the current office 365 offering.
Only thing that is an improvement is live collaboration, but that’s getting constantly screwed up by one drive sucking ass.
Yeah I feel this. Outlook pisses me off. So does Microsoft in general.
What pisses me off more is HP.
Yes but I don’t use HP for email because it won’t let me send one if my cyan ink is low.
Sounds about right. They tried to get me sign up for a subscription for customer service. They told me they could solve my issue (I forgot my bitlocker encryption key and was giving my old HP laptop to a family member so I needed it to whip the device) but only if I sign up for the subscription. It wouldve cost me $54 to get customer service that day. I laughed at the guy over the phone and he tried to defend the company by saying its worth it pay since I did not know how to solve my issue and needed their help. I didn’t pay and found a work around on my own
In my last job I installed Outlook on my personal phone to access my work calendar conveniently. Found out from a colleague that if the admin for an Outlook server you’re signed into on any device fucks up badly enough you could end up having that device completely wiped so I promptly uninstalled it.
Yeah, you’re talking about MDM (Mobile Device Management) solutions/tech. I’m not an IT employee myself, but I am familiar with these things from work (similar situation as yours), and also because I’m a nerd and like researching these things.
On some phones, like Samsung’s (“Secure Folder”), you can have [essentially] a second, containerized instance of Android running. Or you can think of it like a virtual second user that ultimately you have control of. So what I did was install Outlook in that. Because the MDM permissions (e.g. wipe the phone) would only affect that container.
Otherwise, for everyone else – yeah don’t install work apps/accounts on your personal devices.
Just to expand on this. There is an Exchange specific wipe feature. I think it is quite old school and not really used. Have seen it, but never tested it myself. As per documentation it can perform device wipe, but only if native mail client using ActiveSync is used not Outlook. And it probably does not work with all native mail clients, depends if app has device admin permissions.
Current Intune MDM model always uses separate Android storage so any operation including wipe will affect only this storage not your personal space so employer can not see nor delete your personal data.
In Intune there is another option without a need of enrolling device (MDM) where you can manage supported apps. It’s called MAM. If wipe is initiated it affects only data in all apps that support MAM.
In short, companies / schools cannot really wipe your device if we are talking about Intune MDM. Other MDM solutions probably can.
Activesync
Now, that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time.
My understanding is that it’s called work profile. It’s like having 2 users in the same phone. One is personal and you manage it. The other is company owned and you can only install apps whitelisted by your it admin.
this is still objectionable
why does my employer presume it can commandeer my personal property? the only sound policy is to never let work stuff touch personal computers and vice versa. The workplace is like a gas, if you give it the empty space it will keep expanding to fill it
where the hell did my property rights go once one of my PCs got a radio?
I’d love to keep outlook off my personal phone but there’s no chance I’m getting a company phone considering I’m a shop employee and everything in it is an afterthought for IT. Like our computers still run windows 7.
Unfortunately I need email to do my job, on a ping system for what to test and general communications with coworkers who are often not there or traveling in the field.
That’s fair. I should have said *if you can help it.
here’s some advice from me. Outlook is completely usable from a web browser. This includes phone browsers… just use that if you need your emails on your personal phone.
Sometimes I think about the billions of dollars of wasted productivity caused by Outlook being so bad at rendering email.
I think every day about the productivity lost because people use Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. Maybe even multiple times a day.
Most applications would be fine with plain text, some could use markdown, some would need org-mode, a bit further something like HTML or word-perfect format.
LaTeX
Pain in all holes to use as a daily WYSIWYG-edited format.
Word and Powerpoint are not the worst - just think about all the time lost due to whatever Microsoft is doing in Teams or by random decisions like moving the start button to the middle instead of leaving it where it was since 1995, which automatically renders every corporate training video obsolete.
Sure, Teams is horrible - but at least it only affects people who use Teams. Whereas the abysmal UI and worthless templates in MS Word affects every person who has to read anything produced with MS Word too. It’s designed to make documents ugly and hard to read.
Whichever version it is, I hope that one day I can delete a mail, change my mind, press ctrl-z and it will actually undo the last delete and not some random one from earlier in the day.
I just stopped deleting everything and now use my archive as a trash instead
