I’m mad about Outlook replacing my Mail app, and here’s why

It comes down to this: Microsoft is killing off its superior Mail and Calendar apps because it believes its brain is smarter than yours.

One of my few stressful moments during an otherwise peaceful Hawaii vacation was when I learned Microsoft is doing away with the Mail and Calendar apps. I’ve been an unabashed fan of Mail for years because it does what I want it to do, and nothing else. Mail has a simple, clean, pure interface.

But now Microsoft plans to replace Mail and Calendar with the unified Outlook app interface, beginning next year. Current Mail and Calendar users can test-run the new interface by toggling the “try the new Outlook” toggle in Outlook’s upper-right-hand corner, which flips the interface to the new look. You can then flip back within Outlook by returning the toggle to its previous state. In my tests, the app crashed a couple of times, without losing any data, but then became stable.

So why is Microsoft force-feeding us Outlook? The reasons for Microsoft’s decision are pretty much spelled out in Microsoft’s Outlook announcement post. First, by funneling everyone into a single email application for all our accounts (yes, even Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and more), Microsoft will learn more about what we’re talking about. This matters because Outlook (and many other components within Windows) will eventually become inputs for Microsoft’s Copilot AI engine. The more you feed it information about who you’re talking to, what is being discussed, and so on, the better Copilot should theoretically operate.

The second major reason comes down to unification. There’s always been a fundamental tension within Windows and Microsoft’s apps: Should users work within a single, unified interface, or in separate, purpose-built apps? Mail and Calendar represent the latter approach in its purest form. Outlook believes in the former approach, as your email becomes a jumping-off point for the rest of Microsoft’s Office apps.

So there’s the background. Are you ambivalent about losing Mail? You shouldn’t be, and here’s why…

Outlook clutter

Oh my, the clutter. Outlook simply has so much going on. A left-hand column of applications. A second column of email folders, with RSS, social feeds, and user-created folders…all with potential drop-down menus. Various ways of organizing email, such as Focused Inbox and more. Different preview options. It goes on and on and on.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Yes, Mail includes some of that complexity. But in general, it simply reflects how you’ve chosen to organize your inbox, and adds little more. Where Outlook begins to feel insulting is what we’ll highlight next.

Clutter on top of clutter

Microsoft Outlook already has a search box. And a help function. Both features show that Microsoft is attempting to cut through the complexity of its user interface. But look out, more is on the way. The new AI-driven Outlook Copilot will appear in a sidebar, and can be used to author emails, suggest appropriate language, or search out relevant documents. Do we really need this? These are all capabilities already built in.

I am absolutely in favor of simplifying and automating the processes I listed above, but do we really need even distracting clutter? The reality is that instead of making the interface “simpler” to use, swapping Mail for Outlook will simply add complexity.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Stability questions

As I wrote this, Microsoft was wrestling with an issue that took down Microsoft Outlook for the Web for the better part of a day.

Yes, that version of Outlook is a Web app. Outlook for Windows implies that the replacement for Mail and Calendar will be a standalone Windows app. Nonetheless, with the ability to tap-dance between dedicated native code and web apps, I remain unconvinced that killing Mail and Calendar will go smoothly. Give me a dedicated Windows app that depends only on Exchange as a point of failure, and I’ll be happy.

Killing a critical feature

With Mail/Calendar, I can keep my work meetings on the same calendar as my personal dentist and doctor appointments, simply because Calendar accommodates both work and personal accounts. The new Outlook app does not, and you’ll receive a message saying so. Instead, the new app only consolidates multiple personal accounts. Apparently you’ll need to have both the separate Outlook app for work, as well as the Outlook for Windows app for personal use. This is the whole stupid “personal Teams” / “professional Teams” thing, again.

Surely, we can figure out a way to preserve personal and corporate accounts in the same interface, and simply prevent employees from inadvertently copying data from one to the other? I like specific, purpose-built apps, but redundant apps? No thank you.

Stifling competition

By having a discrete email client—Mail—Microsoft has always held the door open for potentially better email clients to step in. Ditto for Web browsers, calendaring apps, and so on. But now, by killing Mail and enforcing Outlook as your fully integrated Windows email solution, Microsoft is really squeezing the life out of third-party development. It’s already been difficult enough for third-party developers apps to step in and improve the increasingly integrated Windows interface. Now, it will be even harder. For example…

Sunshine.com

Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer has resurfaced as the driving force behind Sunshine, a new app that promises to streamline your contacts. Anyone who tried out Windows’ awful My People app understands that Sunshine offers an opportunity. But where exactly? Not within Windows, as Sunshine is strictly a mobile app for now. So, will Sunshine even take the time to build a Windows app, when Outlook, a driving vehicle for AI, connects so much of the Windows experience together?

Microsoft has said that you’ll be able to download Mail and Calendar through 2024, even if your new PC ships with Outlook for Windows. I plan to and will use Copilot’s AI features, but I also intend to keep using Mail and Calendar as long as they’re available. You should too.