E-Mail with Outlook 2003 and Exchange 2003

The most important new collaboration features of Office 2003 support the most established form of electronic collaboration: e-mail. Specifically, the Outlook 2003 e-mail client improves e-mail access from home and from mobile PCs, and helps block unwanted e-mail (i.e., spam). Many of these features work with Exchange Server 5.5 and 2000, the dominant versions of Microsoft’s e-mail and collaboration server. However, Exchange 2003, the newest version of Exchange, provides additional benefits for remote and mobile users and for blocking spam and e-mail viruses. It is also more scalable, reliable, and manageable than earlier versions.

(See the illustration “E-Mail Solution Overview“.)

Collectively, these new features could improve users’ productivity and reduce the overall cost of e-mail per user. Because e-mail is such a critical function, and both Outlook and Exchange have such enormous installed bases, these products will probably draw the most attention from Microsoft’s enterprise customers and partners.