By: Hana Hoffman, Peak Associate

I apologize for bringing this up because I’m sure most of you are still grieving the discontinuance of the old SFU Mail system. However, due to my frustrations with Outlook, I need to rant.

I spent my first two years at SFU using the old SFU Mail, and I was so attached. It was perfect. Transitioning to Outlook just made life so much more complicated. For the first three months or so, I kept forgetting about the change, and I would waste so much time just trying to find the old SFU Mail (old at SFU but young in my heart). How can I “navigate [my] way towards academic success” under these conditions? This transition has negatively affected my grades by eating up my study time. I would love to do my schooling without having to check Outlook every day, but unfortunately, that’s where the profs and TAs always contact me.

To this day, I still don’t know if it’s called Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook Exchange, or Microsoft Outlook Exchange. Which one am I supposed to search up so I can find the right link to my inbox? My oh my, what a hassle it’s been.

Here’s another anti-Outlook point. Having a new email platform means adding another section on the favourites bar. Back when SFU Mail had the red icon, it was way easier to find. That cute little red logo has been embedded in my head and is irreplaceable. But now, no matter what I name the bookmark, the blue will never catch my eye. What should I call it? NEW SFU MAIL, SFU MICROSOFT INBOX, or LOOK OVER HERE? I just don’t want to look at the word Outlook anymore; it hurts my eyes. When I read that word, I actually read “Out-lookaway.”

Other than the issues already mentioned, what’s your outlook on Outlook? Do you see any benefit from it? Maybe we should all just contact each other through the Canvas inbox so that we only need one app instead of two. Are you impressed by any aspect of Outlook? One thing it needs to do ASAP is to make the unsend option last longer because right now, if you send an email and you don’t click “unsend” within the blink of an eye, then it’s permanently out there. It’s just another piece of technology that mocks the slowness of human reaction speed.

Outlook, get out, bro!