Even Microsoft thinks Outlook is bloated and slow

Microsoft has admitted that its Outlook email and calendar app is too weighty and slow, releasing a new version, essentially a lighter and faster email client for the times you want to send snappy messages.

Dubbed “Send”, Microsoft suggests the new app is for use when “... you just need to send a quick, short note to your co-worker”. Outlook's fine for that task, Redmond reckons, but perhaps not as fine as a tool “built specifically for those brief, snappy communications”.

Send is just such a tool. Redmond's using the term “in-and-out email” to describe the kind of thing it thinks send is good at and offers examples such as an exchange comprising the question “Are you in the Office today?” and the response “No”.

Microsoft hopes you'll use Send in situations when you'd probably send a text message. The Send spiel suggests you'll use it when “You don’t have time to search your inbox, start a new thread, or even type out a subject line. You just want to ask that person, 'Will you be at the presentation?'”.

Send will synch with Outlook, for Office 365 subscribers in businesses and schools, and will store only messages created within the app. Outlook will store Send messages and normal emails.

Microsoft already offers the Yammer in-house social network, which behaves a lot like Twitter and also does a lot of the things Send offers. And of course the company ran instant messaging service Windows Messenger for years, again offering a Send-like service.

Send iThings only for now, and only in the USA and Canada, so not all Reg readers can figure out where Send fits in the messaging market today. Versions for Android and Windows Phone users – both of you – are in the works, and Microsoft also says “we expect to make the app more broadly available in the coming months.” ®