Twitter Users Launch a Stir Against Microsoft After it Brushes Aside Web Standards for Outlook 2010
Social media agitation took a new shape when Campaign Monitor an email marketing software provider started Fixoutlook.org. Now before we talk about the site and the response it generated on Twitter, let’s see what exactly has caused the agitation if one can call it that.
The core problem as Campaign Monitor notes on their blog is this:
After testing the latest beta of Outlook 2010 and seeing the same poor standards support as 2007, a senior member of the Outlook team confirmed they plan on continuing to use Word to render HTML emails. Not only that, but early tests indicate that HTML support in the Word engine has not been improved in any way. Same bugs. Same quirks.
There is a small history to it, Microsoft had originally hurt designer sentiments when it removed its HTML engine and replaced it with Word in 2007. A lot of us were hoping things will turn around in later versions but as this news says it certainly is not the case.Microsoft’s explanation quite simply is that having another engine instead of Word to render HTML mails is that ti will affect the overall performance of outlook in terms of the content being created and consumed.
What MS probably is not understanding is that a lot of mails that are consumed are not necessarily created on Outlook.
Anyway, coming back tot he social media agitation – the website Fixoutlook.org. Campaign Monitor created this creazy site after hearing about the news. It is an excellent example o crowd sourcing and even web development and standards for that matter.
The site looks like this
And what you see in the background are Twitter profile pictures of everyone tweeting about the need to Fix Outlook. The current status of twets is a huge 12300 odd, and it is picking up every second, #fixoutlook is in fact the top trending topic now. Awesome skills on display.
So why are so many people getting on board this ‘Twigitation’. Partly because a lot of people simply hate MS and Outlook, but more importantly because getting standards adopted has been a prime issue in web designer land. Following standards greatly improves the web experience.
Secondly, Microsoft themselves have asked for Feedback, and this effort is surely an in your face feedback for Microsoft. I am sure as this topic gains momentum a lot more people’s profile would be on the site’s wall and it will be a number MS can’t possibly ignore. It will put them in a situation where they either accept the demands of the numerous users or ignore them at the peril of their brand as a deaf company.
What’s been surprising is the pace at which the site’s growing (literally it was at 4k odd when I began the first draft here). And it shows an excellent way to highlight social media and its effectiveness. So go ahead, go to fixoutlook.org and click on the image which says “have your say now” and become part of some social media focus group feedback.
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