Microsoft says support for its stripped-down e-mail client will continue, but as part of future Windows clients. Outlook Express, Microsoft Corp.'s free, stripped-down version of Outlook, is not on its last legs, contrary to reports published reports this week, Microsoft said. But exactly how Microsoft will continue to support OE remains a bit murky. OE currently ships as part of Internet Explorer. And Microsoft has admitted begrudgingly that it has no plans to continue to support a standalone version of IE going forward. The current and seemingly final version of IE for Windows is Service Pack 1 for IE 6. Future IE releases will be bundled into future versions of Windows only. It seems the same is true of OE, although Microsoft isn't stating the situation as plainly as that. "The word is that Microsoft will continue to ship Outlook Express code in Windows and will support it as needs of customers arise," according to a company spokeswoman, asked for comment on a published report on OE's demise.

The OE team is currently part of the Windows team, the spokeswoman added. She did not comment on whether Microsoft will continue to advance the OE product, or support only the current iteration. There is no information on any change in Microsoft's support plans for OE on the OE home page on Microsoft's Web site. The page states, simply, that users need to download IE in order to obtain OE. Source: Microsoft-Watch View: Microsoft Outlook Express Homepage