Neeum Zawan wrote:
>     There's a difference between a software feature and an API... 
> Ordinary users would like a File --> Export option.

It depends what you want to convert them into, but sure, many people might. 
Then whoever is on the other end has to import them, and I imagine MS 
doesn't want to provide the customer support lines for that.

Then the problem is, someone exports a bunch of messages, then re-imports 
them. What's the right semantics? Copies of everything? What happens if you 
import them into a machine with a different timezone? Should it adjust your 
calendar entries? Or into a machine without the same address book? Should it 
add the people in the messages into your address book? If you just provide 
the standard MAPI hooks, then the importing application can do what it wants.

Granted, it's a little hard to defend not providing this, given there *are* 
standard formats available. (At least, now there are. Given that MIME came 
around several years after Outlook did, it's hard to say what the whole 
format could be standardized.) But even now, if you want to export calendar 
events, you're not going to be able to copy them between (say) Windows and 
the Mac and GMail.

And, of course, it's a little easier for TB to support exporting messages 
than Microsoft, given that TB isn't trying to make money. :-)

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "We'd like you to back-port all the changes in 2.0
    back to version 1.0."
   "We've done that already. We call it 2.0."

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