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What's wrong with Microsoft Outlook Express
and why you should get rid of it.
Why not use Outlook? It shows you pictures of your grandchildren and plays sound clips of their childish glee. It lets you embellish your email with with custom "stationery". It is simple, fun, free and already installed on your machine. Isn't this the very definition of cool software?
No. MS Outlook and Outlook Express are irresponsibly conceived and poorly coded. They have not-always-visible "features" that compromise your security and privacy. They don't even use the same protocols the rest of the Internet uses.
In short, there is a difference between good software and bad software that looks cool. Outlook and Outlook Express are of the latter variety.
Consider these points:
- MS Outlook is easily the most virus-prone piece of software ever written. The huge majority of Internet viruses and worms could not spread if people didn't use Outlook. You don't even need to be a good programmer to write an Outlook virus. All the tools you need are right there in the program, ready and waiting.
- This is not just because of sloppy programming, although Microsoft has a reputation for releasing software without much testing (which led to disastrous results when Windows XP was released last fall). Microsoft has built its monopoly on ease-of-use, creating software you can use even though you don't know what you're doing. To that end, they have consciously (and cynically) decided that being user-friendly and fun is more important than creating core functionality that would make their software safe to use.
- Outlook and Outlook Express create a hidden record on your hard drive of all the email you send and receive (including its content). You can't see these files unless you have some technical skills, but they're there and they don't go away. Confidential stuff you thought you deleted years ago may be found and exploited by your co-workers, your family, the person you sold your old computer to, or an Internet bad guy who seizes control of your machine through one of Windows' myriad security holes. Netsecurity.com has a good overview of this issue. This page, though you may not like its language, has detailed instructions for finding and deleting the hidden files.
- Outlook Express and Outlook, like other Microsoft applications, do not conform to the protocols that the rest of the Internet uses. A protocol is like language. If we all agree to speak, say, English, and agree not to invent words while we're talking, we can all understand each other. If all Internet programs use the same protocol, and stick to the protocol, then they can all understand each other.
In this case the protocols are SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which you use to send mail, and POP3 (Post Office Protocol, version 3), which you use to receive it. Microsoft hopes to own the Internet some day, so Outlook and Outlook Express add extra proprietary stuff to SMTP and POP3 which other Microsoft applications can read but looks like gibberish to all others. Here's a real-world example of why that's dangerous:
Trinidadusa.net hosts an email discussion list for breeders of Blackbelly Sheep. The software that runs this list is a highly respected industry-standard list server named Mailman. Not long after Windows XP was released, Mailman started refusing a message every now and then because of "suspicious headers", meaning that Mailman detected (erroneously, it turned out) a possible virus in the message. The number of these bounced messages has been increasing. Examination reveals that these messages contain not viruses, but a whole bunch of extra Microsoft headers, some added by Outlook, some added en route when a message generated by Outlook is sent via a Microsoft mail server. These headers include a hidden attachment, which the user doesn't even know is being sent, called "winmail.dat".
Now, as a system administrator, here's my problem. I basically have two choices:
- I can just let the messages bounce and have a bunch of angry users who rightly feel insulted because my server software accused them of sending viruses. This is good network administration but bad politics.
- I could re-configure Mailman to simply ignore the Microsoft headers and deliver the mail. But then what happens when somebody writes an email virus and names it "winmail.dat"? If one user gets it, everybody subscribed to the list gets it.
Being pretty much a curmudgeon, I chose method one, but it's a safe bet that most ISP's are using method two. The result? Everybody on the Internet is a little less safe.
- I can just let the messages bounce and have a bunch of angry users who rightly feel insulted because my server software accused them of sending viruses. This is good network administration but bad politics.
What To Do
It's simple. Get rid of Outlook and Outlook Express. You don't have to use them. There are lots of free alternatives:
- Eudora is attractive, reliable and easy to learn. There are three versions: Eudora Lite (free), Eudora Full Version (costs money), and a banner-ridden full version which is also free. Eudora Lite has all the features most users need. Available for Windows and Mac. Download it from www.eudora.com.
- Mozilla is a suite of Internet clients which includes a browser, an email client and some other stuff. This is very nice software---friendly, free, standards-compliant and open source. Available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OS/2, and others. Get it from www.mozilla.org.
- Pegasus Mail has every feature you can imagine. It is possibly the most powerful (free or otherwise) email client in existence. Be warned that it is designed for power users and the interface assumes you know what you're doing. But if you want the best and are willing to accept the learning curve, head for www.pmail.com.
- There are dozens of others. Check out www.download.com and www.nonags.com.
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