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           Microsoft Outlook for Mac Now Free, with Strings Attached

   Adam Engst

   On the Outlook blog, [1]Jeremy Perdue writes:

     Now consumers can use Outlook for free on macOS, no Microsoft 365
     subscription or license necessary. Whether at home, work or school,
     Mac users everywhere can easily add Outlook.com, Gmail, iCloud,
     Yahoo! or IMAP accounts in Outlook and experience the best mail and
     calendar app on macOS. The Outlook for Mac app complements Outlook
     for iOS ' giving people a consistent, reliable, and powerful
     experience that brings the best-in-class experience of Outlook into
     the Apple ecosystem that so many love.

   I haven't used Outlook, but Tonya uses it in her work at Cornell and
   says it's a capable app for email and calendaring. That said, SpamSieve
   author [2]Michael Tsai points out that this free version'which he sees
   as a free tier of service'is ad-supported and requires the "New
   Outlook" user interface that has attracted criticism. Microsoft 365
   subscribers don't see ads and can [3]revert to the previous interface
   using Terminal.

   Another thing to consider before testing Outlook is that the app asks
   you to [4]sync all your data to the Microsoft Cloud to enable features
   that are otherwise limited to Microsoft 365 subscribers or Microsoft
   Exchange Online accounts. (I think you can decline using the Sync
   Directly with Google link in the dialog below, but I couldn't tell what
   happened afterward. I ended up going into my Google Account and
   [5]revoking permissions from Microsoft.) It's not that I don't trust
   Microsoft'the company manages email for hundreds of millions of
   users'it's that replicating all my data in another online location
   feels like adding an unnecessary point of vulnerability from a privacy
   and security perspective. I suppose it could be viewed as a backup, but
   if that's the goal, I would back up locally instead of to another cloud
   location.

   [6]Read original article

References

   Visible links
   1. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/outlook-blog/outlook-mac-for-all/ba-p/3757787
   2. https://mjtsai.com/blog/2023/03/07/microsoft-adds-free-outlook-tier/
   3. https://forum.c-command.com/t/turning-off-new-outlook-in-outlook-16-58/14286
   4. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sync-your-account-in-outlook-to-the-microsoft-cloud-985f9e19-d308-4e85-9d1d-0c6f32f8e981
   5. https://myaccount.google.com/permissions
   6. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/outlook-blog/outlook-mac-for-all/ba-p/3757787

   Hidden links:
   7. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2023/03/Microsoft-Outlook-cloud-request.png

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