Outlook 2003 Adds SMS Support

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110706,tk,dn051303X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...n051303X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"A Swedish mobile messaging company's software will be offered for integration into Microsoft Office 2003, allowing users to send SMS (Short Message Service) messages from Microsoft Outlook.<br /><br />The SMS Executive product from Stockholm-based General Wireless AB will be included in Microsoft Office Marketplace, a listing of products and services that work with or complement Microsoft Office. General Wireless and Microsoft will work together on the offering in Sweden first, but the agreement is global and can be extended to other markets, according to a General Wireless statement released Monday."<br /><br />Nice! Anything that I use that gets integrated into Outlook is good news for me. I've made this simpler for myself and my wife by creating mobile@ aliases on our personal domains that forward to our cell SMS addresses, so it's pretty easy for me as is, but I'll be interested to see how Microsoft integrates this functionality. Guess I'd better install that Outlook 2003 beta that arrived yesterday. :wink: I still don't use SMS that much unfortunately, though I want to use it more. I need to go to T9 boot camp!

[David McNamee]

This should be pretty cool.

Now if we could just get RSS and NNTP integrated into Outlook I wouldn't need three different apps open that collect messages.

[ianbjor]

Now if we could just get RSS and NNTP integrated into Outlook I wouldn't need three different apps open that collect messages.

You can get RSS feeds in outlook, using NewsGator. http://newsgator.com

[bdegroodt]

Now if we could just get RSS and NNTP integrated into Outlook I wouldn't need three different apps open that collect messages.

You can get RSS feeds in outlook, using NewsGator. http://newsgator.com

That's a nice work around to today's Outlook abilities (Or lack thereof regardin RSS), but I'd prefer to see something closer to Ximian that displays in your Outlook Today screen. In an ideal world, it would sync via ActiveSync as an option.

But on the subject of SMS- Hurray! I think there's so much more for SMS than what we do now in North America. I wish there was a way to send SMS to the TV of a user. Kind of a sticky note on the TV screen (Seeing how this seems to be the center of most homes) or to a landline phone set.

[JonnoB]

If you have no Exchange Server, you can install this product (http://www.accpacmessenger.com) and get fax, voice, and sms integration as well into Outlook.

[beq]

We do that too (mobile@ aliases). And eNom offers a nice basic web-to-SMS page too.

As for unified messaging support into Outlook, when I'd researched/evaluated phone systems for our company many vendors had such solutions available also...

At home though I'm trying to install Cyrus 2.2 IMAP server to use w/ Outlook via Bynari's InsightConnector, www.bynari.net/index.php?id=7 (it's not about unified messaging though)

[Transfxb]

Ericsson already proposes a free add-on that integrates into Outlook 2000
to write, send and receive SMS from and to Outlook.

[FredMurphy]

I wish there was a way to send SMS to the TV of a user. Kind of a sticky note on the TV screen (Seeing how this seems to be the center of most homes) or to a landline phone set.
If Microsoft have their way the focus of the home will be a PC running XP Media Centre with notification of your waiting emails/SMS on the login screen.

I can't remember the manufacturer, but I know you can get a landline phone that will receive SMS messages, although until most people have this facility it's not much use.

[fyiguy]

It looks like what MS's plan is to use SMS to let you know that "You Got Mail" on your Mobile phone or more particularly your Smartphone or PocketPC Phone Edition, since it is small data it won't cost much to implement and is fairly quick, the user then can choose to "logon" to their faster/more expensive connection and download the mail if he/she so chooses. It would be cool if they could implement this with a SPOT device as well, imagine a watch that lets you know that email has arrived...

If I remember there are some folks in China using this already via a cool add-on for Office XP. The add-on incorporates Sina's text-messaging SMS system for cell phones,smartphones, and PocketPC Phones into software aimed at office workers. The new service allows people who use Microsoft Office XP to contact roving mobile phone users and to send and forward them e-mails, contact data, tasks, notes and calendar events. Such information updates would come in as short text messages to cell phones and other mobile devices and it is supposed to be one of the new touted features for Exchange 2003 that is slated for release this fall.

[Jason Dunn]

The new service allows people who use Microsoft Office XP to contact roving mobile phone users and to send and forward them e-mails, contact data, tasks, notes and calendar events.

Indeed! The ability to recieve data-rich SMS messages is one of the most underrated features of the Smartphone - you can configure a Smartphone over the air in this manner. I think we'll see the same technology trickle into future Pocket PC Phone Editions as well.

[GregWard]

I wish there was a way to send SMS to the TV of a user. Kind of a sticky note on the TV screen (Seeing how this seems to be the center of most homes) or to a landline phone set.

I think the Sky DigiBox (in the UK) does the former and - over here at least - there's a "funny" phone thingy from Amstrad called the E-mailer. The latest version - I think! - does sms'ing. But then there's about a billion sms's a month in the UK now!!!

At least it means the technology is out there somewhere!

ps Anybody that wants to do web to sms (or vice versa) I found Xara modules very good. I have no connection - just a satisfied User. :D

[gregr]

You can get RSS feeds in outlook, using NewsGator. http://newsgator.com


That's a nice work around to today's Outlook abilities (Or lack thereof regardin RSS), but I'd prefer to see something closer to Ximian that displays in your Outlook Today screen. In an ideal world, it would sync via ActiveSync as an option.

Not sure what you mean here - I don't think I'd consider NewsGator a "work around". For the Outlook Today comment, you can add links to your Outlook Today screen which go to your news folder or any subfolders within it, so you're at most a single click away. And if you wanted to, say, display the last 10 news posts on your Outlook Today screen, that would be trivial to accomplish; look at NewsPage.htm in the NewsGator distribution for an example of what you would need to do.

On the ActiveSync comment, this is of course an ActiveSync limitation. Workarounds would be to either store RSS posts in your Inbox, in which case they would be auto-synced, or use a more capable synchronization client.

-GR

[bdegroodt]

You can get RSS feeds in outlook, using NewsGator. http://newsgator.com


That's a nice work around to today's Outlook abilities (Or lack thereof regardin RSS), but I'd prefer to see something closer to Ximian that displays in your Outlook Today screen. In an ideal world, it would sync via ActiveSync as an option.

Not sure what you mean here - I don't think I'd consider NewsGator a "work around". For the Outlook Today comment, you can add links to your Outlook Today screen which go to your news folder or any subfolders within it, so you're at most a single click away. And if you wanted to, say, display the last 10 news posts on your Outlook Today screen, that would be trivial to accomplish; look at NewsPage.htm in the NewsGator distribution for an example of what you would need to do.

On the ActiveSync comment, this is of course an ActiveSync limitation. Workarounds would be to either store RSS posts in your Inbox, in which case they would be auto-synced, or use a more capable synchronization client.

-GR

It just lacks the grace and clean interface/display that Ximian has. Looks like when I use Outlook to browse a web page. Just doesn't do it for me. Great idea, but I'd be happier if it was all in Outlook natively (RSS/NNTP/Email/PIM).

[gregr]

It just lacks the grace and clean interface/display that Ximian has. Looks like when I use Outlook to browse a web page. Just doesn't do it for me.
Not to beat this to death, but if you don't like the HTML display, you can turn it off. And either way, you can read RSS posts as separate items in Outlook, just like you read e-mail. Which means you can organize them any way you like - separate folders per feed, a single folder but grouped by feed, or whatever you like.

I don't understand what you're looking for, I guess...

[bdegroodt]

It just lacks the grace and clean interface/display that Ximian has. Looks like when I use Outlook to browse a web page. Just doesn't do it for me.
Not to beat this to death, but if you don't like the HTML display, you can turn it off. And either way, you can read RSS posts as separate items in Outlook, just like you read e-mail. Which means you can organize them any way you like - separate folders per feed, a single folder but grouped by feed, or whatever you like.

I don't understand what you're looking for, I guess...

Not a big deal. Not like there's much more conversation going on at this thread...so let's beat away :D

This is more along the lines of what I'm used to and appreciate.

http://www.ximian.org/images/screenshots/evolution/summary.png

[Steven Cedrone]

This is more along the lines of what I'm used to and appreciate.


Boy, it was Joan's Bday and you hadn't even gotten her a gift yet... 8O

Last minute shopper huh??? :wink:

Steve

[bdegroodt]

This is more along the lines of what I'm used to and appreciate.


Boy, it was Joan's Bday and you hadn't even gotten her a gift yet... 8O

Last minute shopper huh??? :wink:

Steve

Ximian Evo screen shot from their site. :lol:

[gregr]

This is more along the lines of what I'm used to and appreciate.
Ok, I see what you're saying. Actually, this could be done in about 10 minutes with a little HTML editing of your Outlook Today page, and the 1.2 version of NewsGator which is scheduled for release next week. Hmm...maybe I should post a sample somewhere...

-GR