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Mary-Jo Foley
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Microsoft offers developers new Outlook tools under Apache open-source license

By | May 24, 2010, 9:37am PDT

Last October, in the name of interoperability, Microsoft announced plans to make the Outlook Personal Folders .PST file format freely and safely licensable.

On May 24, Microsoft took a step along that path by making available for download two .PST interoperability tools. The pair — a .PST Data Structure View Tool and a .PST File Format Software Development Kit (along with the related technical documentation) –are available under the Apache open-source license.

Here’s Microsoft’s description of the new tools:

“The .pst Data Structure View Tool is a graphical browser of internal data structures for .pst files that enables a developer to better understand .pst file content. The .pst File Format SDK is a cross-platform library that allows developers to read data stored in .pst files and develop applications accessing the data. In the near future, the capability to write data to .pst files will be added to the SDK.”

Microsoft officials denied last year that they were opening up the .PST format due to any influence from or pressure by European antitrust authorities.

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Topics

PST File, Developer, Microsoft Outlook, Open Source, Apache Software Foundation, Microsoft Corp., Tool, Pst File Format SDK, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Microsoft offers developers new Outlook tools under Apache open-source license
skywin 26th Oct
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RE: Microsoft offers developers new Outlook tools under Apache open-source license
AndyPagin 24th May 2010
As soon as I started reading this blog my first thought was that the EU anti-trust situation was an influence. The shock to MS of actually being told they can't do what the hell they like (and the colossal fine) has maybe had a beneficial effect outside of the EU. Lets hope so.
0 Votes
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An as we've seen
Richard Flude 24th May 2010
MS's documentation is so bad and incomplete that they have to release source.
0 Votes
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Who wants it?
cstrathmore Updated - 30th May
@AndyPagin

.PST is an old sohbet technology, I don't think anybody is really going to want to use chat . What can it provide that's better than what is currently available? I've dealt with .PST portal files in the past and I prefer NOT to use them. Why? Because it's a single source of izlesene failure (you get a corrupted .PST file and instantly all of your email is at risk), and also that it causes everything to be stored in one huge file that grows and grows, and makes it a pain to forum manage. For instance for most backups, it has to copy the entire file over and over. Whereas other software like Mozilla Thunderbird (and others), store email in multiple files which is a much better design.
0 Votes
+ -
Who wants it?
apexwm 25th May 2010
.PST is an old technology, I don't think anybody is really going to want to use it. What can it provide that's better than what is currently available? I've dealt with .PST files in the past and I prefer NOT to use them. Why? Because it's a single source of failure (you get a corrupted .PST file and instantly all of your email is at risk), and also that it causes everything to be stored in one huge file that grows and grows, and makes it a pain to manage. For instance for most backups, it has to copy the entire file over and over. Whereas other software like Mozilla Thunderbird (and others), store email in multiple files which is a much better design.
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RE: Microsoft offers developers new Outlook tools under Apache open-source license
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 9th Oct
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RE: Microsoft offers developers new Outlook tools under Apache open-source license
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RE: Microsoft offers developers new Outlook tools under Apache open-source license
skywin 26th Oct
Microsoft Exchange that is past its end-of-life support date, making spam, troll-management and synchronization difficult. Company officials also are playing up the new Web-based forums ability to provide centralized searchable content and to highlight the contributions of designated experts.
http://www.cambalkon.gen.tr
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