jrx said:
Why can't Outlook view image attachment in-line the same way outlook
express
can? This appears to be a backward step in what should be a 'fully
featured
product'
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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...604d77dbf&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.general
Outlook Express is geared toward a consumer market of user wanting a
*personal* e-mail client. As such, it is less secure. Outlook is
geared towards its major customer: the corporate user. Don't expect
different e-mail programs to provide the same set of features;
otherwise, all e-mail programs would be exactly the same so there would
be only one e-mail program. Outlook and Outlook Express are not related
products nor is OE a "lite" version of Outlook. Use whatever e-mail
program that best matches your needs. Since you want an image preview
area at the end of the body of your mails, use OE since you deem this a
critical feature (for you).
As has been proven in the near past, viewing pictures can lead to
security violation in penetrating into your host. Not too long ago, any
e-mail client that displayed images could result in malware getting into
your computer. The problem was not with Outlook Express or with any of
the e-mail programs that displayed images but instead with the graphics
engine back in Windows used to render the image view, so the
susceptibility was back in Windows but through a portal opened within
the e-mail client that displays images automatically. The problem
didn't exist with Outlook because it doesn't automatically show images.
OE users gots infected, not Outlook users.
It is expected that if you receive an attachment in an e-mail that you
must take an action to actually view or save it. Mails that you receive
at your company are expected to contain work-related content, not your
personal e-mails. If there is an attachment, it is something that you
are expected to save or discard separately of the e-mail (i.e., you
don't save important attachments in just the e-mail). Opening any
attachment, even to simply view it, can represent a security risk. It
must be a deliberate choice by the user to obviate the built-in
security, and so it is also the user's responsibility for security.
Automatically opening an attached file, even an image file, precludes
that security. I believe OL2007 may provide an option to include a
preview of attached image files (but you'll have to decide if you want
to risk the stability of your computer with betaware) but hopefully it
is a user-configurable option which is off by default.
