So a fair amount of Microsoft bashing has happened here on the blog over the past few months.  And while there are plenty of opportunities to blame the evil Empire for their failings and missteps as of late, visa vie Vista, I thought it might be nice to chronicle one of Redmond’s major successes – Outlook and Exchange.

Outlook, especially when it is teamed with Exchange Server, is one of the most pervasive Microsoft applications on the planet – okay, well maybe not the planet but at least the North American business landscape. Sure, sure, I know what you’re going to say, “what about Gmail” or “there’s always Lotus Notes”, not hardly, the fact remains most business users remain ardent Microsoft Outlook aficionados.

While some might say this is simply because there is “no choice” or that “Outlook is too entrenched”, I’ll put forward another theory.  Are you ready for this?  Outlook is actually good!  No wait, it’s better than good, it’s actually the best Microsoft application available today.

Go ahead, take the cheap shot, if Outlook is the best thing: I’d hate to see the worst. But that is not the focus of this story. I will instead submit to you that the user community has actually selected Outlook as their preferred e-mail and personal information manager (PIM.)

Here are just a few reasons why Outlook is the best in class e-mail, calendar, contact, task manager:

Outlook is bloated in all the right ways – We all know about feature bloat and how most users will only need about 2% of all the functions available, and very few will ever use the other 98%.  Outlook is different.  From version to version; Microsoft has actually added usable, desirable, and downright needed new features to Outlook.

Excellent third-party integration – Just about every ISV and his brother has built Outlook based modules or plug-ins, from chat clients to PDF writers, CRM systems to custom database applications, vendors are leveraging the power and ubiquity of Outlook to extend their applications and create a seamless end-user experience.

Ease of accessibility – The goodness that is the Outlook client front end is taken to the next level when it is paired with exchange server on the server side. This configuration is extremely popular, and typical in the business workplace, and allows for the implementation of OWA (or Outlook Web Access), enabling users access to not just e-mail, but Calendar, Contacts and public data via any web browser.  And with the advent of Windows mobile phone devices, Exchange Server can seamlessly update e-mail and contact information for users on the go.

All together in one nice package – Microsoft has managed to brinig all of the most common tasks and functions together into one cohesive application.  Outlook is not the only game in town, but seems to be the one that strikes the right balance of integrated features and ease of use.

Now don’t get me wrong Outlook is not a perfect application, it’s simply the best one that Microsoft has out right now. It’s actually quite shocking to me that with so many alternatives Outlook remains far and away the most popular Windows-based PIM. And like so many other MS applications, once its delegates talons deep into your data’s heart, it’s hard to migrate elsewhere – but that’s another entry for another day.