Smartertools announcement of Smartermail 17 came as a bit of a surprise. Ater all, we receive almost weekly updates to SM16. Although Smarter 16 seems to have stabilised, we still haven’t chosen to upgrade our main web server to it and we persevere with the trusty old Smartermail 15.
Will the advent of v17 change all this? Well, I can’t believe Smartertools will maintain three separate products so I would guess that v17 will replace v16 and v15 will no longer be supported after a while.
So what does Smartermail 17 have in store for us? Well, it seems a better integration with Microsoft Office products to make it a true alternative to Exchange Server. This is good news for those wanting to integrate calendars, for example, in a more natural way. This could be a big benefit for some customers and, if the API gives full access to v17 features, integrating calendars with bespoke back-office products (a PIMdesign speciality).
So, at some point, probably this year, we will have to take the decision to move to V16. I must be honest, I;m not a fan of the interface but I guess it does have some good features and is generally quicker and works better on phones and tablets. Whether we go from v15 to v16 or v17 very much depends on how Smartertools are going to market it. It may even have a different look and feel – who knows!
