Lotus-flavoured Outlook available

Microsoft announced on Friday free software that lets companies running IBM's Lotus Domino email server - designed for the Lotus Notes email application - give employees access to Microsoft's rival email program.

Microsoft Outlook 2002 Connector is add-in software for the IBM Lotus Domino Release 5 messaging server, that, when installed on a Lotus Domino server by a system administrator, lets a company's employees tap into Outlook 2002 and use most of its calendar, contact management and email functions. Employees can also choose to continue using Notes.

Ralf Harteneck, vice president of Microsoft's communication and meeting services group, said in a statement: "Many of our customers with Domino servers have told us they would like to give their employees the opportunity to use the latest version of Outlook."

Outlook normally works with Microsoft's Exchange server.

Lotus has offered its own Outlook connector software for several years, but its efforts to keep the program updated has likely been a burden and generated low revenues for the company, said Robert Mahowald, an IDC analyst.

But for Microsoft, connector software could serve as a selling point to persuade companies that rely on the Lotus server to switch to Exchange and other bundled products.

Dawn Kawamoto writes for News.com