Not to be confused with the similarly sounding WHS Outlook, Outlook for WHS in a free add-in which allows you to access your Outlook email on any of your home computers via the Windows Home Server Console.
Here’s the lowdown:
What is Outlook For WHS?
The Outlook For WHS Add-in allows you to access your MS Outlook client through the Window Home Server Console. This will allow you to send and receive email from any PC on your network or even via the Internet using the Window Home Server Remote Access.In addition to that it works with common Outlook Add-ons such as Plaxo. This is a free alternative to other commercial add-ins that do the same thing but the difference being the $25 price tag.
Installation Instructions
– Install Outlook to your Windows Home Server
– Configure your email accounts
– Install Outlook For WHS via Windows Home Server Console
Download: Outlook for WHS
1. April 2009 at 1:18 am
At one point I felt bad for TheOfficeMaven but now after seeing this thread I am starting to feel differently. I would be a little upset at first but seriously get over it no. You have made up your mind already. If you want nothing to do with the WHS community and want everything removed from this site then why are you continuing to monitor the comments for this? If you really feel that way and want to walk away, then by all means walk away and stop responding.
I guess it is up to you now Nabeday. Hopefully you can bring us the features that we asked TheOfficeMaven for. Bring us a true web interface that we have been waiting for.
As far as blaming Terry is concerned, in no way is this his fault. I agree with his stance that he shouldn’t deny someone the right to show their work. To blame him and the WHS community is ridiculous. Keep up the good work Terry, this is by far the best site for WHS users.
1. April 2009 at 5:07 am
Well, at least the histrionics have been amusing in a morbid, can’t look away from the trainwreck sort of way.
1. April 2009 at 2:27 pm
I’m glad to see that you’ve re-listed this add-in. I admire your conduct through this issue; I think it speaks well for WGS.
2. April 2009 at 12:50 am
All I can add to this is just WOW!
-Terry you have put together the best WHS site/community and I visit everyday! When I visit, I can expect unbiased answers and reviews. I know you don’t hear it enough, But THANKS!
-OfficeMaven, you can understand that you have been through a lot personally, but your attitude is not one of a true competitor. A true competitor would not cry that someone made a product that is similar (not close to the same) for free. If you were a competitor you would applaud the competition and make your product better to justify the dollars. Your lobby to get a law passed that would put you as a Monopoly on an Outlook Addin is childish. You might consider complaining about the Advanced Admin Console addin – You can create a shortcut to outlook and still open it within the console.
-Nabeday: You have done nothing wrong but instead added competition to the arena.
Competition drives results and better products. So the race is on between you two and everyone is watching!
2. April 2009 at 7:47 am
Not going to be much of a race, as OfficeMaven’s toys have already been thrown from the pram…and future development of his add-in has been stopped!
If he was as close to having a web-based version as he seemed to intimate that he was, then surely this would have been overwhelming proof that his add-in surpassed that of the competition (which currently cannot offer such functionality), and would have justified the $25 cost and no doubt kept his sales continuing.
Perhaps this was a technical bridge too far however, and he finally realised that his product was not, and likely never to be, unique…given that it’s based upon 2 Microsoft technologies (WHS and Outlook) which are pretty locked down in their appearance, and that any existing/future competing product would therefore ‘infringe’ on his so-called development.
Hey I can appreciate that I’d be pretty pi$$ed if I devoted so much time and effort only to see a competing product, but that’s life I’m afraid, and looks like OfficeMaven couldn’t stand the heat!
20. April 2009 at 6:01 am
Wow, this is crazy. Actually I was looking for an outlook server integration but well.
Office…whatever
I fail to see your point. Your addon has nothing that can be copyrighted at all. You think it's genius to display a program window insinde the console? Well, guess what, it's not and all you did was using a few hooks and calls. For some people this might actually be useful. Others, like me, would just run a direct remote connection and could access the whole desktop without even needing an addon like this.
But well, let's be honest about this one: creating a software that fundamentally mimicks another isn't even an issue. Do you know how many free calculators are out there? Or notepad like software? Yes, it's billions. And guess what – what do programmers mostly learn to program first? A calculator! You didn't invent a smart algorythm that is so much faster than anything else out there and now someone stole it. No, what you did was what could and can be done – freely, by anyone out there.
If you would have, lets say, added to the functionality of the home server or the outlook program I would understand your worries – but I fail to see your logic in this. Neither did you manage to create multi-user capability or syncing capability nor any other functionality that really expands something that's already in existance.
Can I ask why you'd try to make money off of something like that? Hosting you say? You got it free on this site and you could potentially get many others to host your files for free with ease. On top of that did you ever pay e.g. WGS for the free forum you got and the promotion? I doubt it. Look, it's simple: Offer a service and people will pay you. Try to scam them and you lose customers.
Speaking of legality. YOU are the one who should be very, very smart now and take back the statement about halting development. You made a contract with your customers and they have a RIGHT to get updates and you need to work on your addon now that you sold a professional version of it. And if you don't they have the right to sue you and either you file bankruptcy or you pay them back what they paid. You understand that right? In how much danger YOU are, do you?
That is also a reason why so many people, and I cheer for Nabeday without a doubt here, release the work they do in their spare time (for mostly themselves (maybe because they didn't pay the ripoff price of 25$ for something simple as that)) and rely on donations to eventually balance their time investment as they start considering demands from the community.
Again: Offer a service and people will pay you.
I don't hope that people will actually really sue you – but you would definately deserve it. It is highly despicable to ripoff customers like that. It is criminal to be precise.
Nabeday,
I wish you the best with this addon and don't get frustrated over what happened. People like you are true contributors that develop the WHS and create diversity. A machine like the WHS is only useful if a broad spectrum of applications is available, to make it applicable. Thus I must say that it's only fair to release such a work and ask for donations rather than trying to ripoff people. If Microsoft didn't want people like you to do this they would've simply included the feature in the first place since they own outlook and whs and would be free to do so. Would officeripoffraven then threaten to sue them too? I wonder… probably he thinks he now found the holy grail to monopolizing Microsoft Homeserver and Microsoft Outlook for AddIN (Yes, not AddON, AddIN – note the pun here) along with his paying clients. I can only hope that many people who use this addin will donate to your cause.
Cheers
df :]
24. April 2009 at 8:53 pm
just read all of these comments. this is ridiculous.
i don't use either add-in, because i don't need such a tool. but as a software developer, i'm quite entertained by the stance that "mike" has taken. what a baby. how old are you anyways? you sound like an infant.
competition exists. get over it. i have competition just like most companies. and when a new one comes out, you compete for the market space.
had nabeday chaged a few dollars less than you, that would have been more of an insult to you. but no more "against the law" or "wrong" as you seem to think it is. in fact, i would have found it quite hysterical.
go cry to your mommy and get out of software development. if WHS Outlook is the best you can come up with, you'd better find a different field. re-hashing someone elses work (microsofts in this case) is not a product worth selling, and i'm amazed you made a dime, really.
2. June 2009 at 11:57 am
Quite an entertaining read.
TheOfficeMaven sounds like a nut job to me. It’s as if Microsoft said, “we’re ceasing development and support of Microsoft Office” simply because of OpenOffice.org or something similar.
The Outlook add-in makes use of the .NET APIs to do it’s work. How many different ways are there to do that? It’s not copying someone’s work or ideas to create an interface that utilizes those APIs. Or, if it is, then one could certainly say that TheOfficeMaven copied Microsoft’s intellectual property in the first place by creating an interface which was designed to copy the look, feel and functionality of Microsoft Outlook.
Weak sauce.
8. June 2009 at 10:35 am
I think i will ask my lawyers group in my own company. Is that right that someone has stolen that idea from mike. I have enough money to lay down an example for every author he think he can do that. So far for that. And is it the truth, then Terry can be have problems that he has published that.
@Terry:
I think it is time that you act now. Don't wait for my action.
8. June 2009 at 11:38 am
Let me know what you find out from your lawyers. Would be interested to find out myself, actually. Feel free to ask them to contact me directly.
Thanks for the comment!
Terry
11. July 2009 at 10:20 am
Uhm, being German myself I fail to see your point. Local law has exactly zero business with international law or copyright.
That’s the funny thing: OfficeMaven does not hold any patents or copyrights so nothing can be violated in the first place. Discussing this, investing money into the issue etc. is pointless and waste of time.
If OfficeMaven thinks he did something unique he can take his idea and try to patent it. If it goes through then he can take actions, if not then not. There are thousands and billions of tools out there that do the same thing. Browsers, anti-virus software, text editors, e-mail software and so on. They can’t prevent others from doing the same, however they can hold patents on certain technology. And in this case it is VERY doubtful that there is ANYthing that can be patented. Since these addons simply use freely available API’s to display another software inside the console or administer it from there. So well, good luck with spending money there. It would’ve been better to buy everyone some ice cream.
Cheers,
df.
12. June 2009 at 7:45 am
Hi Terry, the action has be done. Startup was very good. The Softwarelaw in germany is very strong and clear about that. Ok i will inform you and the users about the actions.
22. June 2009 at 5:53 am
Reading this thread compelled me to sign up – while I haven't seen the 'original' app I'm a bit confused about what OfficeMaven thinks is so special about wrapping Outlook in a WHS window. Perhaps there's something deeply mystical about building for the WHS API but, based on my experience with MAPI apps (disclosure – I wrote Outlook code for an airport and a financial house a few years back), this seems like a pretty straight forward effort. Is there something I'm missing here?
6. August 2009 at 4:58 am
Thanks for the great tips!
18. September 2009 at 5:40 am
Your got to be joking outlook access via the WHS console. Ha.
The console presented is so arcane it is terrible. I use when I have to but accessing the console for email is rubbish.
If the console was web based & smicky (not windows 3.x look & feel) it would be a different story. I admit using outlook via remote access could provide some reason. But naf. Email is common & easy to access on many different devices/situations. Clearly no real analysis done other than aren't we smart!
21. September 2009 at 9:48 pm
just hillarious!
TheOfficeMaven – you really need to do some research before you quote the law – no court anywhere would even consider hearing your case.. and any lawyer would laugh in your face if you suggested it. All your pandering about IP.. do you have a patent? No… then you tough luck an 'idea/process/invention' is not copyrightable – though it is able to be patented.
Would it even be eligible for patent protection… thats questionable… its not particularly an original idea and theres a good case to argue over its obviousness.
Now the source code is indeed copyrightable… are you suggesting this? Well no… in none of our posts have you made that accusation.
So despite your deeply flawed arguments and logic you still maintain that you were wronged… I'm sorry but learning to let go of hurt is an emotional journey you still are yet to learn.
PS. Do you really think it was classy to out Nabeday full name? Or was that some pathetic attempt to have a dig at him – why not be a gentleman and reveal your name
21. September 2009 at 9:50 pm
What I was referring to above in the fourth paragraph should instead read:
Now the source code is indeed copyrightable… but did Nabeday steal your code? – are you suggesting this? Well no… in none of our posts have you made that accusation.
17. January 2010 at 9:16 am
As a full time professional programmer I am astounded at MIKE (The Office Maven)
childish behaviour.
If everyone worked by his rationale, i.e. someone else has written a program to perform a specific task, so NO ONE ELSE in the world can try and do the same and maybe make a better job of it.
If that was the case we would have no competition, no variety in different programs, MY GOD we would only have one OS in the entire world.
As for the intellectual rights garbage, a rights lawyer would laugh Mike out of his/her office.
Glad I stumbled onto this site, was about to pay for Mike’s version, but instead will ONLY use the free one.
17. January 2010 at 9:26 am
I'm pretty too