The web has been inundated recently with articles about whether or not you should upgrade to Microsoft’s new Vista operating system, and/or Office 2007. After all the recommendations, are you any closer to making an upgrade decision? When it comes to updating to Office 2007, the new Outlook (and Exchange 12 server on the backend) will likely drive most firms and companies to upgrade. Outlook 2007 and its online doppelganger, Outlook Web Access (OWA), have a number of features that make the switch well worth the investment, most of all because it simplifies tasks in the applications many of us live in.

Time savers like a better search, dragging e-mails into the calendar to create appointments, and tasks appearing in the calendar should help everyone stay focused on their work. Another feature is message classifications that allow actions to be performed based on message type. For instance, messages classified as “Attorney-Client privilege” can have be “stamp” with a privileged label and a copy automatically sent to the firm's compliance officer. The web version, Outlook Web Access, closely mirrors the look and functionality of its desktop brethren (provided you are using Internet Explorer 6+), making it easy to check your email from anywhere and begs the question whether the desktop version is necessary at all.

While the new Ribbon user interface in Office 2007 may turn users on or off, we feel that Outlook 2007’s features will drive many to do the upgrade. Note that Exchange 12—that makes this all happen—has some pretty steep requirements. We will have more in future posts.