FACTOID # 7: Israel has a GDP per capita 21 times that of the West Bank and 33 times that of the Gaza Strip.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

Encyclopedia > Outlook Express
Outlook Express

A screenshot of Outlook Express in Windows XP.
Developer: Microsoft
Latest release: 6.00.2900.2180 (Windows XP SP2) / August 3, 2004
OS: Microsoft Windows (discontinued), Mac OS (unsupported)
Genre: E-mail client, News client
License: Freeware
Website: Outlook Express

Outlook Express was an e-mail/news client that was included in versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 98 to Windows Vista (it has been renamed Windows Mail in Vista). It was also bundled with Internet Explorer 4.0, and available for Windows 95 and the classic Mac OS. Microsoft Entourage, which is sold as part of Microsoft Office for Macintosh, has replaced the Mac OS X version. Image File history File links MSIMNO.png Summary Outlook Express icon, screenshot self-made by me. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (960x722, 98 KB) A screenshot of Outlook Express in Windows XP. This is a screenshot of copyrighted computer software for Microsoft Windows, and the copyright for it is most likely held by the author(s) or the company that created the... Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ... Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a software product. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... A software release is the distribution, whether public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product. ... It has been suggested that Maintenance OS be merged into this article or section. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Computer software can be organized into categories based on common function, type, or field of use. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A news client, or news reader, is an application program that reads articles on Usenet (generally known as newsgroup), either directly from a news servers disks or via the Network News Transfer Protocol. ... A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ... The term Freeware refers to gratis proprietary software with closed source. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... A personal information manager (PIM) is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. ... Microsoft Outlook or Outlook (full name Microsoft Office Outlook since Outlook 2003) is a personal information manager from Microsoft, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A news client, or news reader, is an application program that reads articles on Usenet (generally known as newsgroup), either directly from a news servers disks or via the Network News Transfer Protocol. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis and formerly known as Windows 97[2]) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. ... Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ... Windows Mail is an e-mail and newsgroup client included exclusively in Windows Vista. ... Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer, abbreviated MSIE), commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of proprietary graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995. ... Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Microsoft Entourage is an e-mail client and personal information manager developed by Microsoft for Mac OS 8. ... Microsoft Office is an office suite from Microsoft, which is available on the Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X operating systems. ... Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...

Contents

Overview

Outlook Express is a different application from the Microsoft Office Outlook e-mail client which ships with Microsoft Office for Windows. The two programs do not share a common codebase, but do share a common architectural philosophy. The similar names lead many people to incorrectly conclude that Outlook Express is a stripped-down version of Microsoft Office Outlook. Outlook Express uses the Windows Address Book to store contact information and integrates tightly with it. On Windows XP, it also integrates with Windows Messenger. Microsoft Office Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. ... Microsoft Office is an office suite from Microsoft, which is available on the Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X operating systems. ... Microsoft Office Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. ... Windows Address Book (WAB) is a component of Microsoft Windows operating systems that lets users keep a single list of contacts that can be shared by multiple programs. ... Windows Messenger is a (now deprecated) proprietary instant messaging client included in Microsofts Windows XP operating system. ...


History

Outlook Express is the successor of Microsoft Internet Mail and News, an early e-mail client add-on for Internet Explorer 3.0. Internet Mail and News handled only plain text and rich text (RTF) e-mail, it lacked HTML e-mail. Internet Mail and News Microsoft Internet Mail and News was a freeware e-mail and news client and antecessor of Outlook Express. ... Computer files can be divided into two broad categories: binary and text. ... The Rich Text Format (often abbreviated to RTF) is a proprietary document file format developed by Microsoft in 1987 for cross-platform document interchange. ... HTML email is the use of a subset of HTML (often ill-defined) to provide formatting and semantic markup capabilities in email that are not available with plain text. ...


At one point, in a later beta version of Outlook Express 5, Outlook Express contained a sophisticated and adaptive spam filtering system; however this feature was removed shortly before launch. It was speculated on various websites and newsgroups at that time, that the feature was not stable enough for the mass market. Nearly two years later, a similar system, using a similar method of adaptive filtering, appeared as a feature of Microsoft Office Outlook. Look up spam, SPAM in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Email filtering is the processing of e-mail to organize it according to specified criterion. ... Microsoft Office Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. ...


Criticism

E-mail standards

Beginning with the text-based Unix Mail command, E-mail traditionally used the inline or bottom posting styles when replying to messages. Outlook Express, as well as Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook, top-post (show replies newest to oldest) by default. The large install base of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office has changed perceptions of posting style to the point where users have come to expect the top-posting style and are confused by inline or bottom posting. mail is a command line e-mail client for Unix and Unix-like operating systems. ... When a message is replied to in e-mail, Internet forums, and Usenet the original can often be included, or quoted, in a variety of different posting styles. ... Lotus Notes is a client-server collaborative software and e-mail system owned by Lotus Software, of the IBM Software Group. ...


Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange use a proprietary e-mail attachment format called Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF) to handle formatting and other features specific to Outlook such as meeting requests. Outlook Express is unable to read this format. It is confusing to users that attachments sent from Outlook are unreadable in Outlook Express. Microsoft Exchange can mean: Microsoft Exchange Server Microsoft Exchange Client: the native and bundled client of Exchange server up to version 5. ... Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format or TNEF is a proprietary e-mail attachment format used by Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Server. ...


Database corruption

Outlook Express has been prone to a number of problems which can corrupt its files database, especially when the database increases in size due to increasing number of stored emails and during database compaction. This has led to a thriving market for programs which can backup, restore and recover corrupted files. Microsoft has released documentation which may be able to correct problems and restore access to e-mail messages, without resorting to third party solutions.


However, with latest updates applied, Outlook Express now makes backup copies of DBX files prior to compaction. They are stored in the Recycle Bin. If an error occurs during compaction and messages are lost, the DBX files can be easily restored from the backup. In the Microsoft Windows operating systems, the recycle bin is a holding area for files that are to be deleted from a storage device. ...


Security issues

Outlook Express was one of the earlier e-mail clients to support HTML e-mail and scripts. As a result, emails were commonly infected with viruses. Previously, another security flaw was that a script could automatically be opened as an attachment. Another bug was in Outlook Express's attachment handling that allowed an executable to appear to be a harmless attachment such as a graphics file. Opening or previewing the e-mail could cause code to run without the user's knowledge or consent. Outlook Express uses Internet Explorer to render HTML e-mail. Internet Explorer has been widely criticized for having numerous security issues. However, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer both feature security zones to prevent such issues. HTML email is the use of a subset of HTML (often ill-defined) to provide formatting and semantic markup capabilities in email that are not available with plain text. ... A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. ... Scripting languages (commonly called scripting programming languages or script languages) are computer programming languages that are typically interpreted and can be typed directly from a keyboard. ... An e-mail attachment (or email attachment) is a computer file which is sent along with an e-mail message. ...


With Outlook Express SP2 (part of Windows XP SP2), Microsoft has aimed to correct the security issues. Outlook Express now blocks images inside e-mails by default. It uses only the restricted security zone for HTML e-mail which disables scripts and imposes restrictions on what web content can be rendered. It also warns when opening potentially malicious attachments.


Handling of PGP/MIME signed messages

Outlook Express does not correctly handle MIME, and will not display the body of signed messages inline. Users get a blank e-mail and two attachments (one of the message text and one of the signature) and therefore need to open an attachment to see the e-mail. If the email has been forwarded several times, users need to open attached email messages one inside the other multiple times till they reach the parent e-mail message. This bug has still not been rectified. PGP Encryption (Pretty Good Privacy) is a computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication. ... Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet Standard that extends the format of e-mail to support: text in character sets other than US-ASCII; non-text attachments; multi-part message bodies; and header information in non-ASCII character sets. ... E-mail forwarding is the mechanism whereby e-mail sent to one e-mail address (the forwarding address) is automatically forwarded by the associated mail server to another e-mail address (the destination address). ...


Plugins

Outlook Express lacks of add-in support as well as Outlook. There are some objects that were documented in 2003 but are only related to storage (IStoreNamespace / IStoreFolder). It is not possible to get information about what the user selects or modify user interface. Some companies managed to create their plugins hacking the interface using windows hooks. The most popular was PGP plugin. This add-on was important because the license is GPL so lots of companies learned to create their plugins from this example. Time after, in 2003 some companies provided some commercial solutions to develop add-ins. Microsoft Outlook or Outlook (full name Microsoft Office Outlook since Outlook 2003) is a personal information manager from Microsoft, and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. ... The GNU logo For other uses of GPL, see GPL (disambiguation). ...


Support

Outlook Express SP2 is the latest version which is part of Windows XP SP2. Extended support for Windows XP SP2 which covers security hotfixes, will end in 2014.


In October 2005, Microsoft announced that Windows Vista would exclusively include a new application named Windows Mail, based on large parts of Outlook Express source code. Microsoft was also concurrently developing Windows Live Mail desktop, a mail client for its Hotmail service. In May 2007, however, Microsoft announced Windows Live Mail, which combines elements from Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail desktop, and that in the future only Windows Live Mail would be supported, effectively discontinuing Windows Mail. Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ... Windows Mail is an e-mail and newsgroup client included exclusively in Windows Vista. ... Windows Live Mail Desktop is an upcoming e-mail client from Microsofts Windows Live set of products. ... Hotmail is a free webmail e-mail service, which is accessible via a web browser. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... For the web-based e-mail service, see Windows Live Hotmail. ...


Versions and file formats

Outlook Express stores its e-mail messages in different formats depending on the version.

  • Outlook Express 4.0, which was included in Windows 98 (June 1998), stored messages in *.mbx files (similar to the Mbox format used in UNIX based systems).
  • Outlook Express 5.0, which was included in Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) (June 1999), switched to *.dbx files, with a separate file for each mailbox folder.
  • Outlook Express 5.0 was included in Windows 2000 (February 2000).
  • Outlook Express 5.5 was included in Windows Me (June 2000).
  • Outlook Express 6.0 was included in Windows XP (October 2001).
  • Outlook Express 6.0 SP2 was included in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (August 2004).

Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis and formerly known as Windows 97[2]) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. ... Mbox is the name for several different things, including an electronic mail file format. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis and formerly known as Windows 97[2]) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. ... Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K) is a preemptive, interruptible, graphical and business-oriented operating system that was designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor 32-bit Intel x86 computers. ... Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (IPA pronunciation: [miː], [ɛm iː]), is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft. ... Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ...

See also

Windows Address Book (WAB) is a component of Microsoft Windows operating systems that lets users keep a single list of contacts that can be shared by multiple programs. ... Internet Mail and News Microsoft Internet Mail and News was a freeware e-mail and news client and antecessor of Outlook Express. ... Windows Mail is an e-mail and newsgroup client included exclusively in Windows Vista. ... For the web-based e-mail service, see Windows Live Hotmail. ... There are several different types of news clients, depending on the type of service the user needs - whether intended primarily for discussion or for downloading files posted to the alt. ... The following tables compare general and technical information between a number of e-mail client programs. ...

External links

Microsoft

Other sites


  Results from FactBites:
 
Inside Outlook Express (1281 words)
After spending two days with the Outlook Express development team it was apparent that they have been listening to our complaints, suggestions and feedback, and have devised some exciting new approaches to solving long-standing issues.
The Outlook Express that will be included in Windows Vista promises to be a great advance over current versions.
Microsoft has released an update for Outlook Express on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 that includes fixes for two very old bugs: the so-called Begin bug in which OE sees an attachment that does not exist, and the Watched message or "loose catch-up" bug.
Outlook Express Repair - recovery of corrupted DBX files. Repair dbx files. Fix corrupt dbx files. (564 words)
Outlook Express Repair - recovery of corrupted DBX files.
Repair Outlook Express messages from corrupted DBX files, recover damaged Outlook Express folders, repair DBX files placed on removable media such as CD/DVD, repair DBX files in batch mode.
Repair Tool for Outlook Express is a standalone Outlook Express email recovery application that is capable of repairing OE messages preserving the original folder structure (a separate subfolder is created on the disk for each Outlook Express folder).
  More results at FactBites »

 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your location
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.