Examples of "MailTips" alerts from Exchange 2010

Microsoft today released a public beta of Exchange Server 2010, its widely used email system, and outlined a range of new features for end users and corporate IT departments. But the one that sounds the most promising -- at least in terms of avoiding embarassment -- is called "MailTips."

"It's like having X-ray vision into your email system," said Julia White, Microsoft's director of Exchange product management.

The feature is designed to alert people that the message they're about to send might not be such a good idea. For example, when someone addresses an email to a person the system knows to be out of the office, MailTips pops up and informs the sender of that fact, suggesting that the message might be better directed to an alternative person.

Even better is an alert that gets triggered when someone adds an external recipient to an internal email thread, from a contact list, for example. MailTips is designed to pop up in that case and points out that the person is outside the company, to make sure the sender actually meant to include that recipient on the message.

The Exchange 2010 beta is available for download via this Microsoft page. More details in this news release. Also see this Microsoft video with Exchange VP Rajesh Jha for more details on all the new features.

Microsoft says it will make Exchange Server 2010 available in the second half of this year. The company also announced that the next wave of Office products, dubbed Microsoft Office 2010, will be offered as technical preview in the third quarter of this year, in advance of their final release in the first half of 2010.

Of course, the effectiveness of MailTips will depend on the implementation and accuracy. If the feature is too annoying, or if it pops up when it's unecessary, people will probably just learn to ignore it. But as described, at least, it sounds pretty interesting.