Microsoft’s new Windows app ‘One Outlook’ has started to leak

Microsoft Outlook’s new email client for Windows, File The so-called “One Outlook” project The company has been in the works for quite some time now, and it seems almost ready for prime time. Some users first managed to download the new app spotted by Windows Central, although it appears to only work for work and education accounts at the moment. Those who can get in find… well, it’s exactly what you’d expect.

We’ve been hearing for a long time that the future of Microsoft’s mail clients will look a lot like the Outlook web app, and in fact, the new app seems to be just that. It’s much lighter and simpler than previous versions of Outlook for Windows and much more powerful than the built-in Mail app that it’s also set to eventually replace. The entire app is hosted online as well, as Microsoft continues to move its services to the web rather than running them exclusively as native apps. (Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.)

“We appreciate the excitement of our upcoming update and will have more to share in the coming weeks,” said Scott Stiles, Vice President of Product Management for Outlook. the edge in the current situation. “The version available for download is an early beta version that is not supported by Outlook for Windows and loses some features and improvements that will be available to our beta testers. We encourage our customers to wait for the beta release.”

The app was reportedly supposed to be in testing in 2021, with plans to eventually replace other customers this year. Now, it seems likely that Microsoft will officially announce the new app at the Build Developer Conference at the end of this month and will move on to replace Mail, Calendar, and eventually other versions of Outlook after that. As for how it works? We’ll have to wait to get our hands on the new app to see, but it’s safe to say that desktop apps that serve as web app shells have a bit of a choppy history. but with Microsoft Long-term payment for progressive web applicationsThe future seems to be coming one way or another.

The transition won’t be easy since many Outlook users have a long history of the way the app works, and a cleaner, more consistent web app-based experience will feel like a huge departure. Which means, at least for a while, that Microsoft will likely continue to provide multiple versions of Outlook to users. But her way forward is clear: In the future, there is only one look. It starts with the web.

Update May 6, 9:00 PM ET: Updated with comment from Microsoft.