It has been reported that Microsoft's new email client, Outlook 2003 - packaged with their up-coming Office 2003 suite later this year - will be, by default, configured to block all externally linked HTML content within email messages. While this will definitely help to combat spam in all its guises, how will it affect branding and systems that rely on web bugs to provide statistical tracking and reporting?

A 'web bug' is an image inserted into a html-based email not to makeup a design or logo, but rather to track and record activity. They are usually tiny 1px X 1px transparent images which are virtually invisible to the recipient, and once loaded, are then able to provide the sender with certain information, such as the date and time the image was loaded, and thus the date and time your email was opened.

Microsoft's bold decision to introduce this feature into their latest and greatest email client is an understandable and admirable one; the amount of spam circulating the Internet at the moment has reached epidemic proportions, and we are all sick of it. I for one am tired of being bombarded with emails informing me of the many benefits that come from having my body parts enlarged, or being told all about the extra 'stamina' I will gain by taking the latest performance enhancing drugs, or even being shown the many fun and exciting positions I can achieve with 'Tina', the girl next door who's apparently waiting for me right now. None of us want these unsolicited advertisements clogging up our In boxes and sapping our bandwidth, but is blocking all images the answer?

Well, the simple answer here is: 'maybe'.

Blocking web-based images will certainly prevent most of the unscrupulous spammers and email harvesters from tracking your movements and determining whether your email address is 'live', however, to the annoyance of many, it may also block some of the acceptable and 'wanted' content as well, such as online marketing statistics and images within permission-based newsletters, and as a result may serve to frustrate just as many users and companies as it helps.

It is estimated that approximately 50% of all business users choose Microsoft Outlook as their email client, and many will need to be able to view linked images as part of their job. Another side-effect which could emerge as spam merchants attempt to 'side step' this problem is that we begin to see huge emails landing in our In Boxes, as spammers give up on linking images and decide to just attach or embed them into the email itself instead, which will only serve to eat up even more of our bandwidth and cause further frustration.

Many online businesses rely on web bug images to gather valuable information regarding their visitors' habits and progress through their site; this feedback allows the company to streamline useability and improve navigational elements, which ultimately serve to benefit customers and enhance their experience. Yahoo, one of the world's most successful and visited sites, would not be where they are today without the kind of insight that this trackable data provides, and online analysis companies such as DoubleClick and WebSideStory are also concerned that these email enhancements by Microsoft could hinder marketers as well.

Legitimate, permission-based newsletter providers who do not also offer an online 'web-version' of their html-based communiqués may also suffer as a result of this decision, so it is important that if you produce a html-based newsletter, you begin to take steps now to ensure that you provide an alternate way for your mailouts to be viewed, otherwise you run the risk of losing branding, logos and html-rich content within your emails in the future.

One such company who have long had contingency plans in place for such an eventuality is e-communications provider, People Logic. As Poochee Hodgson, Business Development Director, explains, "No newsletter should be an island. It is important that you do not simply send your email out without providing an alternate viewing format complete with personalisation; readers need to have the option of being able to click through to a purely web-based version of your communiqué if they need to, so you allow them to view additional content while at the same time providing them with the ability to visit your web site and take advantage of additional benefits you may wish to offer." Poochee goes on to explain that, "Right from the beginning we recognised the importance and need for a web-based version of each newsletter, and the subsequent role they would play. When a subscriber clicks through to the online version of our newsletters, even the personalisation points are carried over: we produce a virtually unique web page for each and every subscriber on our client's mailing lists." It seems that even statistical reporting will be preserved under their system as well, as 'open' rates and click-thrus can be provided with the use of 'read more' links instead of 'web bugs', allowing clients to view accurate reports on each and every publish, even if there are Outlook 2003 users amongst them. "We provide alternative newsletter formats and statistical analysis tools which are not dependant on 'web bug' technology, so although we will look closely at this situation, we are confident that our application will remain supportive of Microsoft's move. Our platform is constructed with this type of development in mind. "

On the other side of the coin, if you're a recipient of a newsletter rather than a sender, and want to leave this default blocking 'on', one solution you can employ to 'filter out' the good from the bad and ensure you still receive the html-rich content in your Outlook 2003 emails is to add a site you feel is acceptable into Internet Explorer's trusted sites. For example, if you trust People Logic and want their images to display, you can open up IE and select Tools > Internet Options > Security Tab > Trusted Sites > Sites, then enter http://www.peoplelogic.com.au. From this point on, all images hosted on this site will appear in your emails and within your Outlook preview pane.

Only time will tell how this move will affect HTML email as we know it, but as Bill Gates himself writes, "Part of the challenge in curbing spam lies in accurately identifying legitimate commercial email. What would help are guidelines defining, for example, whether and when an email is legitimate based on a previous business relationship between the sender and recipient."

It would seem to me that it would be better to first isolate spam and then deal with it on a case-by-case basis, rather than blocking all linked content, presuming that most of it is unsolicited and saying to hell with the rest.

According to a recent Amazon.co.uk pre-order listing, Office 2003 Professional Edition will retail at £429.99 (approx AU$1,048.73), the Small Business Edition will cost £384.99 (approx AU$938.98) and the Standard Edition is said to be £349.99 (appox AU$853.61). Upgrades are reported as being £269.99 (approx AU$658.50), £234.99 (AU$573.13) and £199.99 (AU$487.77) respectively.

The estimated release date for these products will apparently be October 24, however this is subject to change and Australian prices may differ.