The best way to get people to use your new product is to get rid of all other options, which is what Microsoft is doing with its in-box Windows Mail and Calendar apps officially in December.
According to Microsoft, the company will wrap up support for its Windows 11 Calendar, Mail, and People (Contacts) apps on December 31, 2024. Unlike most Microsoft apps and services that reach end-of-life support, the Calendar and Mail app will no longer function as usual sans security updates. Instead, the loss of Microsoft supports this time around means the Calendar and Mail app will no longer be able to send or receive mail starting December 31, 2024.
Going forward, Microsoft continues to encourage Windows Calendar and Mail app holdouts to make the switch to the newer Outlook for Windows experience. Earlier this year, Microsoft launched its modernized Outlook web app as a replacement for the traditional Office desktop Outlook as well as the Calendar and Mail app for Windows and did so with a controversial sleight of hand.
When making the new web app Outlook app generally available, Microsoft opted to present the newer experience automatically when users chose the older Office Outlook or Mail and Calendar app icons on Windows 11 devices. Unsuspecting Outlook users were thrown into a featureless and brightly colored UI that resembled the old Office app but lacked many of the same features.
Needless to say, Microsoft backtracked on force-feeding the new Outlook experience to its Windows and Office users and went back into the lab to figure out a new way to move its older user based to what it thinks is the new and better platform for modern email communications.
Microsoft would eventually like to replace the desktop version of Outlook with its web app version but will hold off on touching enterprise customers email experience for at least a few more years, offering support for license-based Outlook until 2029.
As it stands now, Microsoft’s ‘Progressive Migration’ of Outlook users start with the December 31, 2024, deadline for support of the older Calendar and Mail app. Following the EOLS of Calendar and Mail, Windows users will enter Microsoft’s deceptively labeled Opt-out phase where the “new Outlook is on by default, automatically bringing users into the new experience. IT administrators will have at least 12 months’ notice before this stage is implemented in managed Enterprise plans. Users can still revert to classic Outlook during this stage if needed.”
Next up will be a Cutover phase that will no longer allow users to toggle between the new and ‘classic’ Outlook for Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Once again, IT admins will be given at least 12 months’ notice before Microsoft acts on final migration deadlines but most Outlook users should be looking to 2029 as the last year ‘Classic’ Outlook will be offered or supported at any level.
