Some tidbits are starting to emerge about the next version of Exchange Server, code-named Exchange 14 (How dull is that? Why the heck have Microsoft stopped using interesting code-names such a Touchdown and Titanium?). While details are still rather scant, what we do know is that:

• Outlook Web Access (OWA) will have cross-browser support. While it’s always been possible to access a dumbed-down version of OWA – referred to by Microsoft as OWA Light – with browsers other than Internet Explorer, E14 will enable users to access the premium version with Firefox and Safari. Whether or not Microsoft will choose to add support for other browsers, such as Opera and Chrome, remains to be seen.
• IM capabilities shall be integrated into OWA and so users will be able to see who’s online/offline and initiate conversations right from within their browsers.
• E14 will include what Microsoft call a “turbo-charged conversation view” which will enable users to collapse or group their emails into threads.

And that’s pretty much all that’s known so far. While I’m not sure that the “turbo-charged conversation view” will be a big hit (the current conversation view in Outlook isn’t particularly widely used), it certainly seems that OWA is set to become much more complete. In fact, it may be so complete that I wonder whether some businesses will decide to replace Outlook with OWA.

For more information, see the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog.