Microsoft's new Outlook client moves your email to the cloud (2023)

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Privacy, Data Copying & “AI Food”

  • Core concern: the new Outlook copies all mail (including from non-Microsoft providers like Gmail) to Microsoft’s servers, effectively making Microsoft a man‑in‑the‑middle rather than a simple client.
  • Posters worry this enables large‑scale data mining and AI training (“AI food”), industrial espionage risks, and more breach points.
  • Some highlight that Outlook gets persistent credentials, so Microsoft could theoretically keep syncing even if the user stops using the client.
  • Many see the “cloud” branding as a way to obscure these implications from non‑technical users.

UX, Features & Quality Regressions

  • New Outlook is frequently described as slow, buggy, and feature‑poor compared to “classic” Outlook and the discontinued Windows Mail app.
  • Missing or degraded features: offline access, automation (COM/VBA style), keyboard shortcuts, reliable search (especially non‑ASCII tags), quick actions performance, and robust multi‑window state syncing.
  • Windows Mail is praised as a simple, lean client ideal for novices; its replacement injects ad-like content that mimics real emails and runs in a browser wrapper.
  • Some like certain improvements: less intrusive meeting notifications, better calendar readability, and fewer spammy update emails on meeting edits.

Cloud‑First, Web‑App Everything & AI Strategy

  • Many see this as part of Microsoft’s broader push: everything as a web/Edge WebView app, everything tied to Azure/Office 365, and heavy integration with Copilot/Teams/OneDrive/SharePoint.
  • Outlook “new” is viewed as essentially a wrapper around Microsoft’s cloud, enabling Copilot features but sacrificing local control and performance.
  • Several commenters argue Microsoft is de‑prioritizing native Windows apps and even the Windows desktop itself in favor of cloud services.

Alternatives & Lock‑In

  • Alternatives mentioned: Thunderbird (with caveats about performance and future Exchange/EWS support), WinoMail (Mail clone, but still rough), Mailspring, Roundcube-based setups, and non‑Microsoft office suites like LibreOffice.
  • Some advise owning a personal domain for email to avoid being trapped by Outlook/Hotmail changes.
  • Others note increasing friction: dropped/limited POP3/IMAP access, nudging toward OneDrive, and Outlook.com authentication issues from third‑party clients.

Antitrust, Power & User Choice

  • Several argue this behavior illustrates why modern antitrust laws and structural separations (OS vs apps, search vs ads, etc.) need updating.
  • There’s frustration that enterprises keep adopting Microsoft cloud tools (GitHub, Copilot, O365) despite privacy and lock‑in concerns.