Microsoft emails won't self destruct, firm says

MICROSOFT'S NEW OFFICE doesn't include an update to Outlook that allows emails to self destruct, the company said yesterday.

The question was asked by Peter Sissons, BBC newsreader and special guest at the London launch of the Office System in a hotel near Victoria Station.

Sissons lent an experienced hand to gee proceedings along a bit and demonstrated how to read in straight lines. The less experienced Microsofties on stage looked decidedly wooden in comparison. Why do these companies decide to go all Harold Pinter and stage such an event as if it's a theatre and they are experienced thespians, we wonder? It bored me stoopid.

Anyhow, Sissons kicked off the brief Q&A with the question, obviously scripted beforehand - judging by the answers, that is, not manner of the professional and, we imagine, damn expensive, Sissons.

Biggest Microsoft cheese of the day in London, Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President of Office at Microsoft, said the reports were untrue. He said copies of the mail would stay both on the sender's machine and on the server. But users could disallow the forwarding of emails they sent, he said. There's nothing of course to stop them cutting and pasting the whole thing and sending that instead, though, we suggest.*

"So it's a feature," replied Sissons, in a reply that suggested he didn't understand whether the emails self destruct or not.

Microsoft dished out evaluation copies of Orifice to the assembled hax. When we've got a spare day or two we'll investigate the whole caboodle and let you know. µ

UPDATE
No, we're wrong (cough!). You can't cut, paste or print the protected emails. These are delivered in a special packaging and you have to download a special reader from Microsoft to be able to read those you receive - if you don't run Office 2003, that is. We haven't been able to get the reader (which is a Beta) working yet, however.