Microsoft Opening Outlook's PST Format 319
protosage writes to tell us that Microsoft Interoperability is working towards opening up Outlook's .pst format under their Open Specification Promise. This should "allow anyone to implement the .pst file format on any platform and in any tool, without concerns about patents, and without the need to contact Microsoft in any way." "In order to facilitate interoperability and enable customers and vendors to access the data in .pst files on a variety of platforms, we will be releasing documentation for the .pst file format. This will allow developers to read, create, and interoperate with the data in .pst files in server and client scenarios using the programming language and platform of their choice. The technical documentation will detail how the data is stored, along with guidance for accessing that data from other software applications. It also will highlight the structure of the .pst file, provide details like how to navigate the folder hierarchy, and explain how to access the individual data objects and properties."
Standard Slashdot response (Score:1, Insightful)
This is yet ANOTHER example of Microsoft's continual battle against the open source community! This company is EVIL and needs to be destroye..
Oh wait.
Yet another MS "spec"... (Score:2, Insightful)
PST format a dad design idea from the start (Score:5, Insightful)
But honestly, using the PST format in other applications sounds like a terrible idea to me: Those monolithic PST files, which Outlook uses to store mail data get corrupted easily (at least in my experience) and storing all your email data in one gigantic file always struck me as a really bad design choice anyway.
Re:Oh no... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it is much more likely the reason is (4).
(4) As standards committees and governments adopt open formats, Outlook is at risk of being rejected for the closed format. Opening the format ensures the benefits of the Outlook/exchange server will remain the industry standard in software and support purchases. Like IE, expect some features to simply work better on an Exchange Server with Outlook on Windows while unsupported applications on a foreign OS may have random errors and glitches.
what happen to the obligatory tag? (Score:3, Insightful)
what happen to the obligatory tag that gets added on Slashdot to a post about Microsoft "opening up" something, the "itsatrap" tag.
here are some prime examples:
Microsoft Partially Opens Proprietary XML Format [slashdot.org]
(mainly because this happened: Microsoft Open Document Standard Not So Open [slashdot.org])
Microsoft Releases Linux Device Drivers As GPL [slashdot.org]
in fact, there are plenty of other examples in the " itsatrap [slashdot.org] " tag-egory
Re:I can't help but wonder what their motives are. (Score:5, Insightful)
Opening PST means being able to more freely move Outlook data between mail programs such as Evolution. The more interoperable the mail client is, the less it matters if all your engineers are on Linux and all your marketers are on Windows, as this is likely just a step towards being able to have say, Evolution, fully support being able to talk with an Exchange server. If you can get all of the features of Exchange across platforms at the expense of opening specs of a mail client that they don't really make that much money off of anyway, then they'll likely be able to make some more sales of Exchange server.
From a purely technical point of view, that may or may not be optimal, but if every part of the business could tie in with the Exchange server regardless of what operating system they need to run for the rest of their tasks, then it makes it all the more attractive from a business standpoint.
I could just be off base though, but it seems like that is a possible eventuality. This just has to do with data storage I think, but even being able to import contact lists, mail boxes, etc, more smoothly is a good start, I'd say.
Re:PST format a dad design idea from the start (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly that is why they are opening it. The next version of Outlook will use a new format.
Re:Then explain this (Score:4, Insightful)
Well.. um.. the first one shows that we don't care, and the second one shows that we would figure it out if we wanted it.
Re:I can't help but wonder what their motives are. (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry, but I don't see any evidence of Microsoft's attitude changing.
I hear lots of talk and activities such as the Codeplex Foundation, but scratch a little under the surface and it all looks like more of the same old microsoft: crush competitors, destroy alternatives to Microsoft dominance on the desktop, make tactical partnerships and strategically ruin the partner.
Basically when Microsoft holds out the hand of friendship, first check if there's a knife in the other hand.
Re:Who will benefit from this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Its not a standard. Its just documentation about an internally developped format that was never fully documented before so that the european union finally shuts the hell up. Nothing more. If people find it useful, so much the better.
Re:Who cares about PST files anymore? (Score:5, Insightful)
Our central IT dept gives us something like 100MB of quota on the Exchange server. Running out of quota? The official advice is 'save your stuff in a PST file'.
Of course you can't save your PST on the IT dept-supplied backed-up network drive because MS say "don't do that". So people end up with PST files on unbacked-up local storage on a particular machine...
Re:Never even heard of it (Score:3, Insightful)
A documented binary format is better than an undocumented one
As long as
A) the documentation describes the stuff that exists in the real world, rather than what it would look like in some alternate universe (as is MS's usual tactic.)
and
B) the documentation isn't a bunch of "OOMXL"-like "implement this like Outlook 97 did"
Re:Oh no... (Score:5, Insightful)
Let me add another reason:
(5) They don't care about the outlook format because Sharepoint is the new closed format. They don't care if your outlook mailboxes (or .doc or anything else) is in an open format because you put it all in sharepoint. You still can read your mailbox with another program, but because the "metadata" of your IT infrastructure (which isn't a single file, but a lot of files with owners and relationships between all them) is stored in sharepoint you're tied to it for the eternity. This is a brilliant move - Microsoft can convice governments that their outlook and office and all their apps are using open formats, but no government will ask about the openness of sharepoint because it's not an application that reads some kind of document.
Re:Oh no... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Simple: three words (Score:3, Insightful)
To update to Thunderbird, or Pronto [muhri.net] like I use. It's particularly useful for business users wanting to migrate off Outlook and have access to a decent code monkey.
Thank you RMS (Score:2, Insightful)
And the iconoclastic tree of RMS bears another fruit. You can bet that without the pressure exerted by free and/or open source software and its advocates this would never have happened...
(I now await moderation punishment for having mentioned the name of him is not to be named...)
Re:PST format a dad design idea from the start (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed that nobody else will want to use this awful, awful format. However, opening it is very important, as it now makes easy to get your mail *out* of that format. There's a lot people's mail locked up in a lot of PST files with no easy way to get them out.
Re:Simple: three words (Score:4, Insightful)
I thought that, until I joined an organisation that used Lotus Notes.
PST oh how I miss thee.
Re:Then explain this (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, seriously, why should TB re-invent the wheel? If theres' one thing i learned from my first library algorithms class, is that if you re-invent the wheel, you're going to take longer and end up with something that isn't likely to be round. The NIH syndrome is very wasteful of human resources.
Re:Never even heard of it (Score:4, Insightful)
"Data portability has become an increasing need for our customers and partners as more information is stored and shared in digital formats. One scenario that has come up recently is how to further improve platform-independent access to email, calendar, contacts, and other data generated by Microsoft Outlook.
As a linux mail admin, I'm excited that there may soon be a possibility for Dovecot to deliver mail directly into a 2 GB .pst file sitting on my mail server because the PST format*snort* is so*choke* superior to maildHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry--I couldn't keep a straight face.
Re:Who cares about PST files anymore? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's more than MS saying 'don't do that'!
The PST format requires a lot of small direct I/O, and when you mount one over CIFS/SMB you run the serious chance of filling up the queues on the client or even the server. I've brought down a fully-loaded and patched Server 2003 box with a PST -> PST transfer over the wire, and by 'down' I mean really down, not responsive, not accepting new connections, and needing a reboot.
I've restored so many corrupt PST files from backup that I'm considering setting up a Dovecot IMAP server just as a mail archive for my users. It wouldn't send or receive mail, just act as an 'archive' for stuff they want to keep around forever.
Re:Oh no... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's precisely because .pst doesn't matter that much, but the client-server protocol does, that MS is opening.... the .pst format, not the protocol.
You'll be able to manipulate the data locally, but as soon as you want to send it to or from the server, you'll need exchange/outlook.
nothing to see.
Re:Oh no... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Then explain this (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, seriously, why should TB re-invent the wheel?
Do you really not understand this? It's really very simple. It' is better for one programmer to spend 100 hours implementing a .pst import function for Thunderbird than for 10,000 users to spend 2+ hours each (make that 5+ when it is a Linux user who has to install Windows, then Outlook just to import a .pst file) figuring out how to import their data. I don't know what your class taught you but I'm pretty sure most schools teach that it's better to spend 1 hour of programmer time than 100 hours of user time. It usually comes right after the lesson about how computers are supposed to make human life less tedious etc.
Re:Oh no... (Score:3, Insightful)
over 12,000 emails in my inbox
I know I'm hijacking the thread, but buy, read and implement "Getting Things Done". Seriously. You will thank me later.