Presented by: Jim Reitz
Jim Reitz is a program manager in the Microsoft Exchange Product Unit at Microsoft Corporation.
Personal computers today are being used for an increasingly wide range of tasks, beyond simply creating and editing documents. Electronic mail has not only become a primary communication vehicle within many companies, but also among individuals, families, and the public at large. Additionally, usage of online information services has dramatically increased, due in large part to e-mail—witness the astounding 15 percent per month growth rate seen by the Internet, in addition to the rapid growth in online commercial services, such as CompuServe® and others.
The growing use of messaging and communication services has resulted in a plethora of software tools. A very real problem users face today is that each of these different information sources and services comes with its own unique software and user interface. Users often have software for an e-mail client such as Microsoft® Mail electronic mail system, a groupware client such as Lotus Notes®, and an online services client such as CompuServe Information Manager, and perhaps some electronic fax software that came with their modem—all in addition to the basic File Manager they use for accessing and manipulating documents.
Microsoft Windows® 95 addresses this growing complexity by including an integrated messaging and workgroup communication system that provides universal e-mail, fax, and information-sharing solutions right out of the box. These different services are all presented in Windows 95 with a single user interface—called Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange is built on the open MAPI architecture, so it can work with many different e-mail systems and information services simultaneously—providing a universal inbox for communication between individuals and workgroups.