Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Pros: Handling RSS feeds

Cons: Speed and HTML rendering

Summary: I have two identical machines on my desk. I have been using Office 2007 on one and 2003 on the other for several months (2007 Beta and now the final version).

Outlook has been the big disappointment in Office 2007. It is very slow and the rendering of HTML messages can only be described as atrocious.

Having the two versions side-by-side as you do real work helps to sharpen the contrast. I have tried to force myself to use the Office 2007 machine for all Office apps so that I can make the transition. This has worked fine for Word and PowerPoint. However, Excel and Outlook have problems. Excel has incompatibilites which means for workbooks I need to share I am sticking with 2003. In the case of Outlook, when I am busy or tired I go back to 2003 because the speed and awful HTML rendering of 2007 is depressing.

I have been doing my side-by-side trial for long enough now. My conclusion? I am going to use Outlook 2003 from now on. I will keep a version of Outlook 2007 on one of the machines so I can take a look at updates and new features. But, at the end of the day, Office tools are supposed to make you more productive - and Outlook 2003 beats 2007 in making me productive.

The article refers to benefits of Outlook 2007 in areas like converting emails to meetings with drag-and-drop. I would strongly recommend the add-in Clear Context. It gives you those features and more with Outlook 2003 or 2007, thus nullifying these small advantages of 2007.

Keith