Will we ever see Outlook on the RT?

[inteller]

oh ok, so the MacBook Air is not aimed at corporate users?

 

[Laura Knotek]

oh ok, so the MacBook Air is not aimed at corporate users?

Most corporate users do not run OS X (MacBook Air or any other kind of Mac). iOS devices are popular as BYOD, but the business-issued laptops run Windows.

 

[inteller]

you are right, most of them buy a MBA and then dual boot to Win7.....wow magic!

 

[runamuck83]

I hope so

 

[mparker]

If they added it, it would be another reason for corporate users to buy RT. Currently this is considered a show stopper to some.

It's not like there aren't plenty of other show-stoppers preventing corporate IT adoption of Surface RT (and more generally Windows RT). I suspect this rumored Outlook RT is
really aimed at WinRT for x86, though it may well be made available for Surface RT devices as well. I just don't see Surface RT ever being adopted by corporations the way
a Win 8 convertible tablet might be.

 

[kashk5]

It's not like there aren't plenty of other show-stoppers preventing corporate IT adoption of Surface RT (and more generally Windows RT). I suspect this rumored Outlook RT is
really aimed at WinRT for x86, though it may well be made available for Surface RT devices as well. I just don't see Surface RT ever being adopted by corporations the way
a Win 8 convertible tablet might be.

There is no such thing as "WinRT for x86". Windows RT is ONLY for ARM devices. x86 devices get regular Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, both of which already have Outlook available. So an Outlook RT is solely for ARM based tablets, such as the Surface RT.

 

[runamuck83]

There is no such thing as "WinRT for x86". Windows RT is ONLY for ARM devices. x86 devices get regular Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, both of which already have Outlook available. So an Outlook RT is solely for ARM based tablets, such as the Surface RT.

I believe he's talking about WinRT (aka Windows Runtime) programming language which is compatible with both Windows RT & Windows 8. Microsoft made it confusing by naming WinRT and Windows RT very similar.

 

[mparker]

There is no such thing as "WinRT for x86". Windows RT is ONLY for ARM devices. x86 devices get regular Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, both of which already have Outlook available. So an Outlook RT is solely for ARM based tablets, such as the Surface RT.

WinRT is the API that is used to write the Store (Metro) apps - it stands for Windows RunTime. On Windows 8 the WinRT API is supported alongside the traditional Win32/64 API that is used for desktop apps; on Windows RT it is the only officially supported API for 3rd-party developers - Win32 is only officially available to Microsoft.

AFAIK Windows RT got its somewhat odd name from WinRT, but the two are most definitely *not* the same. The English speak English, and the Americans speak English, but Americans are not English (at least not recently).

Anyway, when people talk about Outlook RT, or more generally any other "RT" app, what they're usually talking about is a version written for WinRT and hence capable of running on Windows RT. But most apps written for WinRT will run on both Windows RT and Windows 8 (the exceptions are some games that are compiled to processor-specific native code instead of the processor-independent CLR).

Back to the point I was originally making earlier in this thread. While microsoft may well be working on a version of Outlook for the WinRT, there's no guarantee that they will release it for Windows RT. They have the option of only releasing it for x86 machines; and since the people most interested in a Windows Store style Outlook app are the same ones that also need all the other enterprise stuff that's missing from Windows RT but present in the higher-end x86 versions of windows, I wouldn't be surprised if that is the approach Microsoft takes.

 

[unstoppablekem]

To be honest, I'd really prefer Microsoft add some basic features to the stock Mail app. Just give it feature parity with the Windows Phone mail app and I'd be happy. I personally have no problem with the stock Calendar app and I don't need all the fancy features that Outlook offers (at least not on a tablet, that's for my desktop and work computer).

Like doing cc and bcc, and editing forward and old replies is your thread (in WP).

 

[Wes D]

This is my biggest issue with the Surface - the lack of a strong email and calendar feature. Sure, it works. But it would be a full fledged desktop replacement for me with Outlook. Actually, it would be great to see Outlook ported to WP8 as well.

 

[rmeigs]

This is my biggest issue with the Surface - the lack of a strong email and calendar feature. Sure, it works. But it would be a full fledged desktop replacement for me with Outlook. Actually, it would be great to see Outlook ported to WP8 as well.

Have you looked at Touchdowm? It is in the Store and you can run a free trial. I'd love to see Outlook ported to RT, but this is not a bad alternative if it fits your situation.