Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

News.com has a big article about the new "spam blocking" features of the next rev of Outlook (linked). However, if you read the article it turns out not much spam blocking, in fact none, is really taking place. What Microsoft has decided to do is block HTML content in the "preview" pane. This means things like images (even hidden one pixel trans gif, etc) wont make the trip to a web server and wont confirm email addresses. Hardly an effort to block any damn thing. While I do think its a step that is in the right direction, I think its pathetic, its too late and its far too little.

For example why the hell cant you DISABLE HTML EMAIL altogether in Outlook? When is the "feature" coming? Forget about the "preview" pane, for the record you should NEVER use that anyway, but just blocking images there wont help if they are still active in the actual message pane. Microsoft needs to get serious with this issue but of course they wont.

This is very very frustrating. I NEVER allow HTML email, thats why I use the open source, PHP based, SquirrelMail as a client whenever I can (POP and IMAP). By default, for years, images have been blocked when you DO have HTML email enabled, and you can certainly disable HTML and go to plain text if you want with one simple options button click.

However, at the office I am required to use Outlook and I had to download and install a DLL kindly written by another annoyed Outlook user in order to disable HTML email. There is no button to block it, etc (also note the reasons why there is no button, the DMA and Microsoft, etc). Totally stupid, Microsoft doesnt get any points for its new effort to block spam and get serious, quite the contrary it gets hated more for allowing this crap for so long and being the LAST to implement any feature to prevent it, and even then, doing it half ass. Congrats Microsoft.

Also, if you are not aware there are a ton of reasons that email should be plain text. Stop sending HTML email, stop receiving HTML email, "friends dont send friends HTML email."   New Outlook to give spammers the boot: news.com