Though they will be released at different times, the user interfaces across Outlook, Outlook Web Access, and Outlook Mobile will become more and more consistent. For example, previously, when someone sent an e-mail, automatic address completion information was stored locally, so if someone sent an e-mail to a new co-worker with Outlook, and then tried to e-mail the same person from Outlook Web Access, auto-complete wouldn't work. Now, that data will be stored centrally and auto-complete will work across Outlook clients.
The company will continue offering Outlook Web Access Lite -- and fewer features -- for "legacy" browsers, though Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer will now power a "premium" Web experience in a departure from the current version of Outlook Web Access, which is more powerful with IE than other browsers.
In announcing progress of Live@edu in January, Microsoft also said that Exchange 2010 would include content filtering features for administrators, message tracking to confirm e-mail delivery, the ability for servers to stay up while moving mailboxes between them, a new Web interface for Exchange administrators, and an improved ability to manage and edit distribution lists. Other new features include better performance regardless of the type of storage Exchange uses, and simpler disaster recovery.
There's also new role-based administration, which means that Exchange administrators can delegate responsibility for some non-IT tasks to non-IT workers. For example, human resources managers could update employee information, the legal department could handle e-discovery and audits, and employees could create their own distribution lists.
Exchange 2010 has been heavily tested already. There are now about 5 million users of Microsoft's Outlook Live@edu program, which is a beta test of the multitenant, cloud-based version of Exchange 2010. That number is up from 3.5 million just at the beginning of this year. Microsoft also is testing Exchange Server externally with a few hundred customers, and is using Exchange 2010 as a production e-mail server for "thousands" of Microsoft employees.
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