MicrosoftDave Ahlers wrote:
I already have a start menu to access other apps. The only reason I can see for this feature is to increase engagement with other Microsoft products, at the expense of productivity in the MS product I use the most.
This is so true! MS are just frustrated because nobody uses the "Office 365" entry point app where they are promoting their other Office products that nobody wants or likes, so they decided to plumb that into Outlook and sell it as a new "feature".
Alone the way how it looks makes it pretty obvious that this is not a strategic evolvement of the Outlook UI but rather something external that has been forced into the product, even though it doesn't make the slightest sense for any Outlook user.
The regular Outlook UI already has the ability to show shortcut icons in collapsed state:
If this endeavor would have been about providing something useful for users, they could have just provided the ability to also place app icons there - for users who might want to do that.
But instead they added an additional bar with an appearance that does not align with the appearance of Outlook and when you collapse the Outlook nav pane, you have two bars at the left edge.
This is intrusive - and without doubt, it is done like that by intention. Shame on you MS.
abdias_ruiz - Reading between the lines, I get the impression that this is quite controversial within MS itself. I appreciate that you are not even making an attempt to sell this as a great new improvement or feature, but instead just as "A change in the Outlook User Interface"...
