I’ve recently gained access to an Exchange Server-based e-mail system and was told that the Web access worked through both Firefox and IE. Well, take a look at these screenshots:
IE7
Firefox 2
As you can see, Firefox “works” but there’s more options and a smoother interface in IE. Go figure.
(I wasn’t going to blog this but someone saw the screenshots in my flickr account and sent me an e-mail regarding how they’d been using Friefox for this and never thought to consider that it might work better in IE. I figured that with one person there might be others so I’ve shared it with you here.)
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
7 Replies to “Outlook Web Access”
“Someone” here. Two notes:
1. Somehow, I’m not astounded that a Microsoft application is tuned to work better in IE than in any other browser.
2. At home when I’m using it, I prefer the Firefox version…even now that I know there’s a choice. YMMV, of course.
I also use the IE tab when using Outlook Web Access. It works quite well. I am surprised that people are surprised by the fact that it looks and functions differently in FireFox than in IE.
Speaking for myself it was more of a “duh” moment than a “surprise” moment when I realized there were differences. I’ve set my copies of Firefox up with the Always Open in IE extension so that when I go to that site, IE launches instead of it opening in Firefox.
As for IETabI’ve been told that using that extension actually introduces IE-based security problems into Firefox so I don’t use it. Launching it in IE instead keeps me aware that I now need to surf a little more carefully and that Firefox stays as secure as it should.
On the other hand, if you’re using OWA as hosted by your employer, there should be virtually zero risk accessing OWA via Firefox or IE.
Besides, the best protection from malware online isn’t choosing the right browser, it is exercising good human judgment.
“Someone” here. Two notes:
1. Somehow, I’m not astounded that a Microsoft application is tuned to work better in IE than in any other browser.
2. At home when I’m using it, I prefer the Firefox version…even now that I know there’s a choice. YMMV, of course.
Third option:
I use OWA in an IE Tab of Firefox. Works great.
🙂
I also use the IE tab when using Outlook Web Access. It works quite well. I am surprised that people are surprised by the fact that it looks and functions differently in FireFox than in IE.
Speaking for myself it was more of a “duh” moment than a “surprise” moment when I realized there were differences. I’ve set my copies of Firefox up with the Always Open in IE extension so that when I go to that site, IE launches instead of it opening in Firefox.
As for IETabI’ve been told that using that extension actually introduces IE-based security problems into Firefox so I don’t use it. Launching it in IE instead keeps me aware that I now need to surf a little more carefully and that Firefox stays as secure as it should.
On the other hand, if you’re using OWA as hosted by your employer, there should be virtually zero risk accessing OWA via Firefox or IE.
Besides, the best protection from malware online isn’t choosing the right browser, it is exercising good human judgment.
How are you setting Firefox up to open IE tabs
I’m using the IEView Lite Firefox add-on. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1429