Next Exchange features e-mail 'mute' button

Exchange 2010's conversation threading feature, as seen in a screenshot of Outlook Web Access.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The next version of Microsoft's corporate e-mail server will not only offer the ability to view e-mail by conversations, but also the option of "muting" any thread that a user would rather not take part in.

Conversation threading, a popular feature from Google's Gmail, and the mute option are several of the new features in Exchange 2010, the next version of the company's e-mail and calendar server. The software is entering public beta on Wednesday, with a final launch slated for the second half of this year.

Among the other features of the product, which has been code-named Exchange 14, is something Microsoft has dubbed "MailTips," which offers warnings when one might be about to commit an e-mail faux pas.

"MailTips is kind of like a guardian angel before you send the mail," Microsoft's Rajesh Jha said in an interview this week. For example, it will warn a user if they are about to send an e-mail to a large distribution list or if they are going to send an attachment outside their company's firewall.

Microsoft is also building in new archiving features into Exchange 2010, features that will allow companies to store a user's e-mail archive as well as make archived messages available to users when they are not at their desktop or laptop PC.

Many of Exchange 14's features work in the Web-based Outlook Web Access program, but to use them on the desktop will require Office 2010, which isn't due out until the first half of next year, Microsoft said.

"Exchange is leading the way," Jha said.

Microsoft is already using Exchange 2010 to power its Live@edu service for schools and universities. Customers of Exchange Online, Microsoft's hosted service for businesses, will have the option of moving to the new Exchange after the server software is released, Jha said.

For a bit more on Exchange 2010, here's a video I shot with Jha during an interview at his office earlier this year.

[Collin1000]

Stealing ideas (Conversation view) from things launched 5 years ago... WTG MS.
If it had been the other way around, this would be playing out in court,

[ncalishome]

Oh please go troll elsewhere... there have got to be a load of patents surrounding this functionality and Microsoft will either pay up (they do pay to license stuff on occasion like every other commercial software company, duh) or if it's on shaky ground they'll fight it. If they've licensed it's already done and we wouldn't have heard a thing about it.

[monkeyfun14]

Colin stop wasting our bandwidth with your trolling.

Your comment is a waste of kb's

[moneycat]

SO then I guess Apple owes MS for stealing the touch screen phone idea.

[Mr. Dee]

Ina, when you say, public beta Wednesday, do you mean the 'Exchange 14' server software will be available for download and testing?

[Joel_Be]

Cool, they've re-invented the Kill file...!

[userNoname]

Not only conversation threading, conversation muting too originates in Gmail. Maybe Google should advertise that feature a better way. FYI it's under "More actions" menu.

[Vegaman_Dan]

And Eudora had this feature nearly a decade earlier. Your point?

[helloWorldasdf]

Hmm - I have been using conversation threading since Exchange 2007 & Outlook 2007. What exactly is new in O14/E14?

[rcrusoe]

'Many of Exchange 14's features work in the Web-based Outlook Web Access program, but to use them on the desktop will require Office 2010, which isn't due out until the first half of next year, Microsoft said.'

MS just can't accept that business communications should work exactly the same regardless of the operating system of the client device.

[gp2792]

not sure you understand this...it works for owa because owa is a web front end for exchange directly. But 2007 outlook client doesn't support a future (for exchange) feature. That is hardly uncommon and has nothing to do with the OS of the client device. Why would Outlook support something that hasn't been introduced yet?

[shootfirst]

Wow MS again tries to sell others ideas as something they came up with. As for using exchange 2010 for edu accounts, I have seen how it works and it isn't that great. Notice however instead of getting the same features we get from google for free (aka looking at annoying ads) we get to pay for them and the MS logo.

[rcrusoe]

Australian schools know how Exchange works (and costs) too.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/23/15-million-australian-students-dump-outlookexchange-for-gmail/

(btw, there are no ads in Google edu accounts)

[gp2792]

gmail is fine for students, although so is live@edu. However, there is absolutely no way i would ever use any webmail for corporate use.

[rcrusoe]

@gp2792. We allow our users their choice of client (Outlook, mail.app, Thunderbird, etc.) but the majority of them prefer our Pronto! webmail. http://www.communigate.com/carrier/screenshots_pronto!.html

We never have do client upgrades, and combined with the fact that we allow unlimited storage, it virtually eliminates calls to the help desk.