The support for Windows Mail, Calendar, and People apps will end at the end this year. Outlook takes over the spotlight.

Windows Mail, Calendar, and People apps will not be around for much longer. It's sad news for those who still use these apps on a daily basis, but Microsoft will soon end support of them.

This won't stop the apps from working, but it will significantly reduce their functionality (via Windows Latest). On New Year's Day 2025, you won't be able send or receive email using the Mail and Calendar apps. However, your old emails, contacts, and events will still be exportable to "new Outlook", a new and improved version of old Outlook.

Microsoft claims that the updated Outlook software will allow you to "write better emails using advanced AI", consolidate all your email accounts in one place, "trust Microsoft security to keep your emails and files safe from phishing or scams", and "trust Microsoft security to keep your emails and other documents safe from phishing or scams". Microsoft has had some security issues in the past, so this claim is a bit bold.

The users can switch from the new Outlook Preview to the old-school Outlook using a slider toggle. However, it is not clear how long this will continue to be the case.

Windows Latest states that you can choose to open Outlook the new version when Mail & Calendar is booted, or reject the option with a "not Now" prompt. The new Outlook will open regardless of whether the next boot occurs. You can also downgrade apps to prevent this, but they will stop working as well on December 31.

I tried to replicate Windows Latest's results, but clicking the "Try the new Outlook slider" resulted in nothing but a broken icon. It was a bit of a mess, but I've played with my computer enough over the years to not blame Windows directly.

Outlook is still a new product, but it appears to be gaining traction. There are many third-party apps that you can use for email and calendar, and many of them will likely be accessed through browser windows. Native Windows email, calendar, and contact support is changing. For now, the attitude seems to be "like it or lump"