HOME
TOPICS
ABOUT ME
MAIL

 
The new version of Outlook is everything its predecessor was and everything Outlook 97 was not.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Outlook 98: Nothing else comes close -- and it's free


April 12, 1998

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 1998, The Syracuse Newspapers

   An acquaintance once described Microsoft Word as the single most useful software program ever written. I'd probably agree, but I'd rank another program a very close second. It just came out, and you'd be crazy to ignore it. Best of all, it's free.
   It's Outlook 98, successor to Microsoft's heavy-duty, do-everything Outlook 97. The new version of Outlook is everything its predecessor was -- able to handle e-mail, faxes, letters, notes, reminders, appointments and personal contacts on a single PC or jointly across a network -- and everything Outlook 97 was not. That means Outlook 98 is faster, easier to use, far more flexible and much more stable. It even allows users to share calendars, contact lists and general mail folders and their contents across any kind of network -- even the Internet -- without using any specialized server software. (Outlook 97 requires a Microsoft Exchange server to do this.)
   Outlook 97 is the core program of Office 97, the suite of programs Microsoft sells for serious home users and for countless offices around the world. Outlook 98 is designed as a full replacement for Outlook 97, but you do not need any part of Office 97 to run Outlook 98. The setup program checks your software to see what's already installed, then asks you how much of Outlook 98's many features you'd like to use. (You can add anything you've left out later.)
   From now until June 30, Outlook 98 is free if you download it over the Internet. After that time, it will remain free to current users of Outlook 97 or Office 97, but will cost about $100 otherwise. To forestall the mail I'll get asking me to explain this, I'll restate it: Everyone qualifies for a free copy of Outlook 98 until June 30. The version you get for free is not a scaled-down, "lite" version.
   To find out how to get your free copy of Outlook 98, go to http://www.slipstick.com/outlook98/, a Web site run by the world's top expert on Outlook, Sue Mosher. Her site has links to the Microsoft download site as well as explanations of the three different flavors of Outlook 98 -- as an Internet e-mail system with full Personal Information Manager (PIM) capabilities, as a PIM without e-mail capability and as a so-called "client" for a corporate e-mail and PIM system.
   Mosher's site also has a link to a site where you can order Outlook 98 on a CD-ROM for $10. This is ideal if you are not able to download from sites on the Internet. It's also a smart thing to do if you don't have a fast Internet connection, because the download can take as much as nine hours even with a 28.8-kbps modem if you choose the full installation. (The setup wizard knows how to resume the download if it's cut off or if you decide to stop the process. The next time you run the setup program, it will ask if you want to start up where you left off.)
   Microsoft started work on Outlook 98 even before Outlook 97 was released two years ago. Its own beta testers had been complaining about serious flaws in Outlook 97 (mail that sat unsent in the Outbox, lockups that disabled the computer and much more) before the public ever saw the program, and the public introduction brought Microsoft an unprecedented flurry of complaints. Microsoft patched Outlook along with other parts of Office 97 and released the patch last year.
   If you have not applied this patch yet, do it now, before you switch to Outlook 98. (Every user of any part of Office 97 should have this patch applied. If you use any Office 97 programs at work, show this column to the person who maintains your software. In virus protection for Microsoft Word alone, the patch is absolutely essential, and the other features are almost as vital.) The patch is available in a link from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/msoffice/office97/servicerelease/default.ASP.
   Please note that since this article was written Microsoft has released a second patch for Office 97 programs. Be sure Outlook 98 is NOT installed when you perform the first patch, but IS installed when you install the second one.