Exchange 2010 Enables New Client Features

Exchange Server 2010, which became generally available in Nov. 2009, enables new features in Microsoft’s latest wave of e-mail clients, including the Outlook Web App browser interface, Outlook Mobile, and the upcoming Outlook 2010. The new features may reduce inbox clutter, improve voice-mail usability, and give mobile device users a better experience working with their Exchange accounts. However, although older client applications such as Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 are supported by Exchange 2010, only the newest clients can access all the features implemented by Exchange 2010, and the new functionality will require end-user and help-desk personnel training.

OWA Closes Gap with Outlook

Outlook Web App (OWA), which was called Outlook Web Access in previous releases of Exchange, is the Web-based client included with Exchange 2010. Although it supports a subset of the full Outlook client features, OWA has improved with each release of Exchange and OWA 2010 comes very close to simulating the Outlook experience in a Web browser. (For an illustration, see “OWA 2010“.) Further, OWA 2010 supports the same set of features across Internet Explorer (running on Windows), Mozilla Firefox (running on Windows, Linux, or Mac), and Apple Safari (running on Mac), whereas previously the Internet Explorer version supported features that were not available in other browsers. No client-side installation is required to use OWA, making it a good client for users accessing their work e-mail from home or public Internet terminals.