Whilst Microsoft's Office suite is undoubtedly still the benchmark for desktop application software there is one of its programs that has been in danger of being overtaken by outside competitors for a while now. Outlook's status as the premium personal information manager is under potential threat from the rapid expansion of social networking sites and sophisticated email upstarts such as Google's Gmail which offer strikingly similar benefits without entailing any cost. In this respect Microsoft's 2010 upgrade to its Office suite is arguably more important for Outlook than it is for any other of its programs.

The good news is that Microsoft have incorporated many of the aspects that made these recent rivals so popular, adding them to the already established and beloved operations that Outlook has represented for the past 14 years. The result is a piece of information software truly ready for the demands of the 21st century.

Microsoft recognise that email and the way that people communicate via email has changed and they are not afraid to adapt their software to reflect this shift. To this end they have developed Conversation View which allows users to follow threads of electronic communication in a more accessible and intuitive manner.

Conversation view collapses replies to email threads into a 'conversation' thus making it much easier to follow the sense of a series of related emails without having to trawl through individually sent messages one by one. This method reflects the way people communicate on social networking sites, as one long conversation with various different parties chipping in at various different times.

So far, so Gmail you may say. But where Outlook scores over Google is in recognising that whilst a flowing email conversation may often be desirable the opposite can just as equally be true. The sending out of an important piece of information to a wide range of people can conceivably generate multiple replies from each and every recipient and result in a conversation which is endless and banal. Outlook gives the user the option of ignoring the conversation and thus hiding the deluge of repetitive replies generated.

The other key area where Outlook is taking on the social networking sites is its Social Connector, or to give it its snappier title 'The People Pane.' The People Pane imports data from the user's Outlook contacts from sites such as Facebook or Twitter to the user's account. This means that the user is notified whenever one of their contacts updates their status or replies to an event.

The thinking behind the People Pane is primarily business related but with the social networking phenomenon showing no sign of retracting subsequent versions of Microsoft Outlook could well emphasise the social community aspect of its software over its more corporate considerations and take on sites such as Facebook in their own backyard.

By acknowledging the huge developments made in online communication Microsoft have made a wholesale break with both email tradition and the Microsoft way of doing things. The Conversation View and Social Connector are much more than just minor tweaks and so it is well worthwhile enrolling on a training course to get your head around using Microsoft Outlook in a completely different way.