This is one in a series of five teasers from the October issue of the Windows Administration in Realtime e-Journal. This is only a teaser. If you want to read the entire article -- and who wouldn't! -- sign up for your own free copy here.

Exchange 2007 SP1 Returns Public Folder GUI Support
By: J. Peter Bruzzese

The rumors were growing, urban legends spinning across the globe--Microsoft was dropping support for Public Folders in favor of SharePoint. The proof? No support in the Exchange Management Console for Public Folders. Further proof? Reputable tech gurus and even hints from the Exchange Team were leaning that way in posts on the Web site. Words like "de-emphasized" were being used to refer to Public Folders and their future.

Whether these rumors were at one time true is no longer the issue. If they were (and there seems to be some level of oddity in the fact that there is no GUI support in the RTM of Exchange 2007 for Public Folders seeing as how they have been around forever and they are absolutely required for pre-Outlook 2007 clients), it's no longer a concern.

The Microsoft Exchange Team, in an effort to calm the panic and confusion, released an update post to help explain what is really happening. It says "Microsoft will continue to support Public Folders in the next major release of Exchange Server after Exchange 2007." What this means is that there will be support for 10 years after the release of the next version of Exchange (which could be 2 or 3 years from now depending on the release schedule).

This doesn't mean Microsoft wants you to hold off on using SharePoint. The company continues to develop SharePoint and its features and hopes that you will eventually replace your Public Folder structure with a SharePoint structure. In fact...

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