The future of apps at Microsoft is on the web, at least that’s what Outlook makes us believe via app. The mail and calendar service of the company behind Windows will prepare to have a new version based on the web and capable of running without any problem on the main operating systems. It is Microsoft’s idea with One Outlook, a project that they shared more than a year ago and of which this web app aims to be the result. A change that will also come to the “rejuvenation of Windows”.
As shared by Windows Central, Microsoft is preparing to launch a single version of Outlook for Windows and for Mac. The idea is that at the same time, with this app, it will replace the default and native Mail and Calendar applications in Windows 10. The Mac version will share code with the Windows version and the web version at the same time.
Project Monarch seems to be the code name for this Microsoft project. If the new version of Outlook comes out, it will be able to replace multiple existing Outlook clients currently on different operating systems. Outlook is Microsoft’s quintessential email and calendar tool, with multiple tricks and built-in features.
To achieve this, what you are going to do is rely on the web. In other words, it will be a web app that most operating systems can run without problems. However, they indicate from Windows Central that the app will be slightly adapted so that it feels comfortable and prepared for each platform on which it runs.
One web app for Outlook
Microsoft’s idea with One Outlook is to offer a universal application in which to unify the development of its mail and calendar system . Unified development means it is easier to deploy new features and fix bugs quickly by not having to develop multiple versions at once.
The new Outlook, being a web app, will also resumably be lighter and more comfortable to run on PC and Mac computers. It will also be necessary to see how prepared it is for native and specific functions of each operating system such as notifications, the offline mode or accessibility features. In this aspect, web apps do not stand out especially and are precisely their weak point, however, we will have to wait to see what Microsoft reveals exactly, if it does.
From Windows Central they expect this new Outlook in a preliminary version by the end of 2021. Maybe we’ll see it with the Fall 2021 update and in the beta versions of Windows 10 on the Insider show. Anyway, if you want to get an idea of what this new version is going to be more or less, just use the current Outlook web application, according to Windows Central.