Newsgroups in Outlook 2007

[Hector C.]

By now, I understand that Outlook 2007 doesn't support natively news
groups. What I don't understand is why MS would leave that feature out
(consistently through all Outlook versions).

Any insights/comments/rumors/guesses on why Outlook 2007 doesn't support
news groups?

++Hector C.

PS. If Thunderbird had a better calendar ...

 

[Gordon]

By now, I understand that Outlook 2007 doesn't support natively news
groups. What I don't understand is why MS would leave that feature out
(consistently through all Outlook versions).

Any insights/comments/rumors/guesses on why Outlook 2007 doesn't support
news groups?

Because ALL versions of Outlook have been aimed at, (and the vast majority
of installations are in) commercial enterprises. Employers don't want or
need to have employees wasting their time on newsgroups...

 

[Brian Tillman]

By now, I understand that Outlook 2007 doesn't support natively news
groups. What I don't understand is why MS would leave that feature out
(consistently through all Outlook versions).

I suspect they leave it out because Outlook Express (and now Windows Mail)
seems a perfectly adequate newsreader. Moreover, there are plenty of free
ones. If MS were to include NNTP natively in Outlook, there'd be even more
cries of "monopoly".

 

[F. H. Muffman]

Because ALL versions of Outlook have been aimed at, (and the vast majority
of installations are in) commercial enterprises. Employers don't want or
need to have employees wasting their time on newsgroups...

And those commercial enterprises have generally been running Exchange, which
always had the ability to pull in newsgroups, it was doubly pointless.

Heck, I've always been a little sad they added RSS functionality.

 

[Ben M. Schorr, MVP]

This question has been floating around for years and Google Groups could
undoubtedly give you hours of reading on the subject.

However....

* Bloat - no sense adding NNTP support to Outlook when Outlook Express or
Windows Mail or any number of other NNTP readers do the job fine.
* Supply/Demand - only a small (but vocal) minority of Outlook users seem to
want it and so MS chooses to devote their finite development resources on
other features.
* Future of NNTP - as web forums continue to evolve I think there is a sense
that NNTP is a technology with a limited future.

My opinions only, not an official MS position, of course.


--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
http://www.officeforlawyers.com/outlook.htm

 

[Peter Flindt]

Ben M. Schorr, MVP wrote at 12.09.2007 :

...
* Future of NNTP - as web forums continue to evolve I think there is a sense
that NNTP is a technology with a limited future.
...

On the other side, a lot of MS Blogs, MS Websites and the Vista Help
refer to the MS Newsgroups, not to MS Forums. :/

OK, I never understand why MS use Forums AND Newsgroups (some about the
same content), but this is another question.

Peter

 

[F. H. Muffman]

On the other side, a lot of MS Blogs, MS Websites and the Vista Help
refer to the MS Newsgroups, not to MS Forums. :/

OK, I never understand why MS use Forums AND Newsgroups (some about the
same content), but this is another question.

Because some people won't use newsgroups. And some people won't use forums.

 

[Hector C.]

The irony is that this is a newsgroup about a program that doesn't (but
should?) support newsgroups.

++Hector C.

 

[F. H. Muffman]

The irony is that this is a newsgroup about a program that doesn't (but
should?) support newsgroups.

Pretty sure that's not ironic. I mean, heck, 98% of the products Microsoft
makes don't support newsgroups, but there are newsgroups about them.

And I have to agree that Outlook *shouldn't* do NNTP.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Forums are easier for people seeking help who don't plan to hang around
forever... they come in, ask a question and leave until they have another
problem.

 

[Peter Flindt]

Diane Poremsky wrote at 13.09.2007 :

Forums are easier for people seeking help who don't plan to hang around
forever... they come in, ask a question and leave until they have another
problem.

But there are fools, like me, who search for an answer before they
ask...
I must admit, if I have a MS product problems, I search in the
newsgroups first, then google/LiveSearch, but never in the forums. I
want not see the same questions in the forums again.

Peter

 

[Ben M. Schorr, MVP]

For the most part the Forums and the Newsgroups are actually the same -- in
other words if you were to go to the Forums you'd see the same posts you see
in the Newsgroups. Just two different interfaces to the same content.

--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
http://www.officeforlawyers.com/outlook.htm

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

One of which works marginally. The other is abysmal.

 

[Dale Kaeff]

For those who must have newsgroups in Outlook there are third party
addins some of which work quite nicely<MapiNNTP>

-----Original Message-----
From: Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] [mailto:[email protected]]
Posted At: Thursday, September 13, 2007 3:38 PM
Posted To: microsoft.public.outlook
Conversation: Newsgroups in Outlook 2007
Subject: Re: Newsgroups in Outlook 2007

One of which works marginally. The other is abysmal.