Paul Allen returns to his roots

Jun 23, 2009 12:33 GMT  ·  By

Whether it was the melancholy of the early Microsoft days, or the fact that he was suffocating in the Office Outlook email clutter, it's irrelevant, but fact is that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has launched a management tool for the Redmond-based company's email client.

Allen is backing up Xiant, a company looking to streamline the management tasks associated with Outlook inboxes overflowing with content. The first product it has built is already available for download. It has been dubbed the Xiant Filer.

“It's a return of sorts to Paul's roots,” explained Chris Purcell, vice president of Vulcan Technologies, LLC. “Xiant Filer started as a personal project to help Paul keep up with heavy e-mail traffic. It worked so well we all started using it, which led us to take it to market.”

At this point in time, Xiant is only offering support for Office Outlook 2007 running on top of Windows XP and Windows Vista. However, the company is looking to accommodate users of earlier releases of the Office System and promised that it would also unveil support for Office 2003 soon.

In addition to the technologies enumerated above, Xiant Filer will also require end users to have .NET Framework 3.5 installed. The Beta of Xiant Filer is time-bombed but will offer end users a good 60 days to test drive the add-in for Outlook 2007 before it expires.

“Xiant Filer is an add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook that helps you more efficiently manage your e-mail. Filer simplifies the task of keeping your inbox organized by allowing you to file messages with a single click. Filer also keeps you focused on important topics in your e-mail without being distracted by the contents of your larger mailbox,” reads an overview of the add-in.

Xiant Filer is available for download here.