June 18, 2026
You’ve Got… Lag
Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly
Click the email, make a coffee: fans say Microsoft made Outlook slower for no reason
TLDR: Microsoft’s new Outlook can take about 10 seconds to open the email you clicked from a Windows alert, while the older version does it right away. Commenters are roasting it as another case of modern apps getting prettier and slower, though some say the real issue is Microsoft’s design, not web-based software itself.
Microsoft wanted the new Outlook to feel like the future. The internet’s verdict? More like the future of waiting. The spark for this latest mini-meltdown is brutally simple: on Windows 11, clicking a pop-up for a new email opens that exact message instantly in Outlook Classic, but in the new version users say you can sit there for around 10 seconds while it loads the whole inbox first. That tiny delay turned into a giant comment-section roast, with people treating it like Exhibit A in the case against modern software bloat.
The loudest opinion by far is that Microsoft keeps replacing working apps with shinier, slower ones. One commenter summed up the vibe as “more clutter, less performance,” while another blamed the broader trend of stuffing desktop apps into browser-like shells. And then came the nostalgia brigade: several users are basically holding a candlelight vigil for older Outlook versions and the retired Mail app, arguing that Microsoft ditched tools people liked for something that feels heavier and clumsier. You can almost hear the collective sigh.
Still, the comments weren’t just angry — they were funny. One person joked that even Notepad now needs a dramatic entrance, taking seconds to open and somehow finding room for AI upsells. Another pushed back on the article’s “web apps are slow” angle, saying services like Fastmail prove web-based email can be speedy, and that this is a Microsoft problem, not an internet problem. In other words: the community isn’t just mad, it’s debating who deserves the blame — and having a field day doing it. For the full saga, see the original report from Windows Latest.
Key Points
- •The article says clicking a Windows 11 email notification in the new Outlook can take around 10 seconds to open the referenced message, while Outlook Classic does so almost instantly.
- •Windows 11 includes both Outlook Classic, a Win32 desktop app, and the new Outlook, which the article describes as a WebView2-based application loading Outlook.com.
- •Microsoft replaced the UWP Mail and Calendar apps with the new Outlook and officially shut those older apps down by late 2024, according to the article.
- •Microsoft postponed the enterprise deadline for forcing migration away from classic Outlook to March 2027 from April 2026.
- •The article attributes the new Outlook’s slower notification behavior to its WebView2 and Chromium-based web app architecture, including multiple browser-like processes.