RSSMicrosoft to Extend Outlook with 'MOOL'
By David Worthington | Published December 3, 2004, 8:57 AM
BetaNews has learned that Microsoft is developing a new consumer-oriented subscription service called Microsoft Office Outlook Live (MOOL) that is built on top of MSN Platform technologies.
According to several sources close to Microsoft who requested anonymity, MOOL leverages and extends existing MSN back-end platform infrastructure; services that are available in MSN Premium, such as MSN Outlook Connector; as well as MSN Hotmail integration.
Microsoft considers e-mail to be a core business and plans to continue to explore space in what it considers to be a natural move on delivering rich e-mail services.
With an MSN Premium subscription and Outlook Connector, customers can integrate MSN e-mail, calendaring and contacts with Microsoft Outlook - consolidating their e-mail into one place.
MSN's MOOL will extend Outlook Connector and Hotmail integration even further. Contributing evidence suggests that one possible usage scenario for MOOL would be to enable customers to integrate their Verizon Wireless voicemail into Outlook; ultimately being able to store, annotate, search, and send messages.
Such services may be made available to customers outside of the MSN Premium service.
When asked for comment on the record, a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews, "Over the years we've invested in and refined our services and have learned a lot about what people want in the process. We work closely with the broader Microsoft community as we explore future online service opportunities and ultimately deploy them. That said, we don't yet have any additional specifics to share about our efforts."
No further details are available at this time.
Having access to outlook online seems like a great idea, of course the downside is the security history of Microsoft is not so great.
I always hated the 'MSN' such a bad rip off of AOL and it doesn't even sound good. I basically hate all things MSN and AOL. Once in awhile they get an orignal idea that is useful but most of the time it is stolen from someone else.
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So what kind of idea have YOU come up with that is ORIGINAL?
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Yet another example of M$ move for all applications to be on line and in their control, thus eventual dominance of computers and information.......... Orwellian..........
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i'm cool and i'm gonna use the $ in Micro$oft. yea yea.
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$50 billion isnt enough micro$oft?
You couldnt pay ME to use hotmail.
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It's FREE, so you don't pay to use, and you don't get PAID to use.
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Microsoft stopped customers from being able to check their Hotmail through Outlook Express, supposedly because of abuse (Right) and suddenly they're coming out with a new email client which no doubt, people will have to pay for? Just so people can use a client to check Hotmail? Seriously... Microsoft has a serious issue with greed.
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Well, note that it's not just to check your Hotmail -- and ever since MS announced the planned discontinuation of WebDAV access through Outlook, they explained that one way to continue with it would be to pay for one of the enhanced MSN services (such as the $20/yr extra storage). So MOOL, which is something above and beyond that, shouldn't come as any surprise.
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I make reasonable efforts to stay off Microsoft crack by using an alternative operating system from time to time (i.e. Linux), using a different mail client (i.e. Mozilla), but it feels so good to use the Microsoft crack! Convergence is a big selling point, as is their interface and relative ease of use of their products.
I have both Gmail and Hotmail, yet I still paid $20.00 to have Hotmail Plus. Why? It has calendaring, is reliable, and gives me piece of mind the service will be around for awhile. Gmail (even with the POP3 access) does have lockout periods (which is expected in a beta), and is a bit quirky. A year from now, I will re-evaluate whether to keep the Hotmail Plus service.
With the above in mind, this should be a call to developers to make money by filling in the holes of a niche market. Not everyone wants or likes to use Microsoft products.
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