Last week Microsoft announced details of Office 2016 for the Windows desktop. The details included new features for Outlook:

– We’ve replaced the RPC-based sync with a new Internet-friendly MAPI-HTTP protocol that supports Exchange/Outlook connectivity.
– We’ve eliminated the use of foreground network calls to ensure that Outlook stays responsive on unreliable networks.
– With this release of the Outlook client, we’ll support multi-factor authentication through integration with the Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL).
– We’ve reduced the amount of time it takes to download messages, display the message list, and show new email after resuming from hibernation.
– We’ve added settings that allow users to better manage storage by only retaining 1, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days of mail on the device.
– We’ve improved the reliability, performance, and usability of Outlook search, and integrated the FAST-based search engine in Exchange.

Given how widely Outlook is used, improvements that add speed, security, reliability, leanness, and device-tailoring are all good.