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A Touch Of Microsoft Irony

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My laptop is still out for repair, and Adobe IT sent me a temporary one so that I could at least connect to VPN and get some work done. Rather than configure Outlook on this temporary machine, I’m just using Outlook Web Access (the Exchange web interface). But here’s the ironic part of all this, Outlook Web Access won’t run properly in the default browser, Internet Explorer. It throws JavaScript errors, the little blue e spinning endlessly, and never actually loading any data. So, I installed Firefox on this maching, and bingo, Microsoft Outlook Web Access works in that browser. Too funny.

18 responses to “A Touch Of Microsoft Irony”

  1. Jacob Munson Avatar
    Jacob Munson

    That’s just hilarious! Can’t get their own product to work with their own product, while it does work for their competitor. Sad…

  2. rodrigo Avatar
    rodrigo

    very funnythat’s the M$ world…

  3. Pete Avatar
    Pete

    I can’t speak to your specific issues — I’ve never had a problem running Outlook Web in IE — but you have to admit that it’s a pretty slick "rich" web app, especially when you cosider that it has been around for years.

  4. Andrew Steele Avatar
    Andrew Steele

    What version of IE were you running Ben? You make reference to the Blue E which sounds like an older version.

  5. Ben Forta Avatar
    Ben Forta

    Andrew, you are right, it’s not an e, it’s the Windows logo – running IE 6.something.

  6. Adam Cameron Avatar
    Adam Cameron

    Ben… your IT dept gave you a laptop with a bung install of IE on it. This is an indictment of Adobe IT, not Microsoft 😉

    Adam

  7. Lior Avatar
    Lior

    Are you using the (VPN and OWA) or (VPN or OWA)?

  8. Russ Avatar
    Russ

    No, it’s not a problem with the laptop he was given, it’s a known bug with IE and Outlook Web Access. It only works with Firefox and not IE 6+ on XP.

  9. Ben Forta Avatar
    Ben Forta

    Lior, it is Cisco VPN, and then OWA loaded over the secure connection.
    Not that I care, it is workign fine in Firefox.
    — Ben

  10. Craig Avatar
    Craig

    At one point during the monopoly trial, someone proposed that Microsoft be split in two, the OS and the apps, I believe. If you use IE vs. Outlook here, you have to think it would not have gone well.

  11. Lior Avatar
    Lior

    Russ, I must disagree with you, there is no ‘bug’ with IE 6+ on XP and it working with Firefox only. The only time I have seen an issue was OWA accessed through an ISA proxy, which is not relevant once you establish a VPN tunnel.
    or
    it could be what Adam Cameron said
    or
    you may be using a mix of public and private IP (or domains) once you establish a VPN tunnel.
    BTW Ben, you cannot search you mailbox using Firefox.
    Phew, sorry, the SA in me came roaring out.

  12. Ben Forta Avatar
    Ben Forta

    True, OWA does less in Firefox (I suspect that if IE is not detected then a simpler UI is generated), but it does do one thing more, it actually works! Something to be said for that.
    — Ben

  13. Adam Cameron Avatar
    Adam Cameron

    Yeah, sorry Russ: that’s a load of ballocks. OWA works just fine on IE6/XP.

    Adam

  14. Russ Avatar
    Russ

    I’ve never seen a successfull instance, guess I’m terribly unlucky.

  15. Qasim Rasheed Avatar
    Qasim Rasheed

    I have been using Outlook Web Access for our Exchange 2003 for quite a while on IE and Firefox and it seems to be working fine. Infact on IE it has several more options and the interface seems a lot like usual desktop outlook.
    Thanks

  16. Cam Avatar
    Cam

    For what it’s worth, I’ve had the same experience. When trying to use OWA with IE 6 on Win XP, OWA just sits there saying it’s loading although and the inbox never appears.
    Firefox 1.5 works just fine with OWA. Since I prefer Firefox anyway, it’s no problem. It is ironic, though!
    It’s helpful to know it’s not just me!
    – Cam

  17. John Farrar Avatar
    John Farrar

    Works on our network. Wonder what the issue is myself. We have had some serious issues getting ColdFusion PDF Reports to show when doing things like screen refreshes. Apparently the cached content doesn’t display right, but if you do a fresh call it works. This is an area where Flex might show itself a more reliable technology than DHTML and AJAX. Not sure the whole thing will play out… but this is somewhere that is "right" for AJAX or Flex, since the browser cache shouldn’t be the difference.

  18. Felix Avatar
    Felix

    Not sure this will resolve your problem or not, but I’ve kinda experience as the OWA inbox is only displayed "Loading…" after the IE updated at the Exchange 2003 server, goto
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296232/
    Good luck.

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