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Hi everyone! My name is Michael Affronti and I'm a program manager on the Outlook team here at Microsoft. I've been an avid blogger for a few years already, and am now very excited to start a technically-focused blog on my work here in Outlook. I work on some very cool features in Outlook 12 and will use this blog to describe the what, why, and how we've implemented them the way they are. 

Here's a preview of what I work on and what I'll be blogging about...

Instant Search
Outlook 12 will see the advent of 'Instant Search', a totally new and wicked fast in-line searching system that let's you find your data in Outlook - wherever it is, instantly. 

RSS Aggregation
Being a blogger and RSS syndicator for several years, I welcomed the opportunity to build RSS aggregation in Outlook 12. Our "Just Like Mail" implementation is an exciting and innovative way of reading and managing your RSS information, and will allow deep integration into your daily information workflow.

Sharing Infrastructure
Outlook 12 will sport an entirely new way of bringing external data into Outlook: a piece of infrastructure known as the Outlook Sharing Engine. Our RSS, SharePoint, and WebCalendaring support are all built on top of this new engine and it allows us to implement these components easily and deeply into Outlook.

Looking Forward
I'll leave out what I want to eat for breakfast tomorrow. :) You can, however, expect some musings about the direction of the core technologies mentioned above in relation to the trends and influentials that are driving their adoption and use throughout the software industry.

Again, thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Subscribe to it (using Outlook 12 - you lucky Beta 1 users!) and provide feedback on what I post. Your comments are important and I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    December 16, 2005
    Glad to hear that we can get some news on Outlook. Any chance of some sneak preview screenshots as we go?

    I love the idea of RSS being integrated into Outlook, I can't wait! :-)
  • Anonymous
    December 16, 2005
    Michael:

    Sorry to bother you with this question but I'm getting excited by MS again after many years of bashing you guys.

    Most beta programs in the "web2.0" world have had an email sign-up (flock for instance) page/waiting list. Is there such a beta waiting list for Outlook 12?

    I use 4 to 5 rss readers (desktop and web based) daily | feeddemon, blogbridge, Thunderbird, rojo, bloglines, ff livemarks, and Habari Xenu | and would love to see your team's take on how best to present syndicated content. Specifically, opml files.

    I look forward to reading your blog. It's funny how the white and black hats (think Google) keep changing in the public's perception.

    I think 2006 will be the year Microsoft gets it mojo back!

    Thanks, Tim Post | Boston
  • Anonymous
    December 23, 2005
    I can't wait to hear more about the Outlook Sharing Engine. Does it implement the Simple Sharing Extensions spec that Ray Ozzie recently discussed? Also, will Outlook 12 support Simple List Extensions?

    Thanks,
    Charlie
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    June 08, 2009
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