Microsoft’s Exchange 14 adds cross-browser support and more

If you have been following the Exchange team’s blog site for the past few weeks since we reported that there was a video out regarding Exchange 14, you may have been disappointed that posts that came out afterward all related back to Exchange 2007. However, finally we have some good news regarding the next flavor of Exchange in terms of Outlook Web Access.

After the initial video posted by KC Lemson, there were plenty of comments from viewers requesting new features for Exchange 14. One of those features that kept coming up was cross-browser support for OWA (Outlook Web Access). Now, in truth, OWA was functional in different browsers — not the premium version, but rather an OWA “lite.” However, with Exchange 14, we will see three top browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari) all playing nicely together. You may be thinking, “What about Opera? And Chrome?” For those we will have to wait and see.

[ Keep up to date on cloud computing trends with InfoWorld’s new Cloud Computing blog ]

Now, the way Microsoft is testing all of this is by going outside its typical dogfood-oriented environment of around 100,000 in-house employees and instead scaling up to 3.5 million users in the cloud through the Exchange Labs project. That was a project that pulled in students, faculty, staff, and alumni to help in testing. As of today, that project has been officially renamed as Outlook Live, and it is still going strong for persons who are students and staff to sign up for free accounts.

However, beyond the browser support, there is more. Now there is a new conversation view within the OWA/Outlook Live interface. So, as conversations come under a single thread, they will be grouped accordingly — similar to what the Exchange desktop client already does. The goal is to facilitate discussion-tracking and reduction of clutter in your day-to-day e-mail use.

Another new feature is an integration of instant messaging directly with the interface that includes presence support. So you will be able to see who is online, available, and so forth directly within the browser.

With these features included directly within OWA (and no doubt within the new Outlook), it may be the case that some companies will opt for internal Outlook Web Access connections for employees rather than using an older Outlook (in the event that they cannot upgrade their Outlook client to harmonize with a new Exchange deployment). No doubt, Outlook will include a variety of features that go beyond the OWA version, but if the browser-based version is as polished as it looks and continues along this road (and if the budget simply doesn’t allow for the desktop application upgrade), then you can see how some may choose to stick with the browser version.

I’m pretty excited to see how all of this plays out. Release dates for Office 14 and Exchange 14 are not necessarily going to sync up, and it looks like Microsoft is really pushing for a cloud messaging solution that can compete with feature sets and browser support, not only for a competition with Gmail (and others) but something that may ultimately compete with its premier desktop messaging client. Regardless of the outcome, these improvements will be welcomed with open arms.