If you use Outlook for email, you probably loathe the idea of having to search for a message. Being able to sort columns by date/subject/author just isn't enough, and the default search is painfully slow. This week a new program was released (well, it's now in public beta) that can make Outlook so much more useful. It's Xobni (that's Inbox spelled backwards).

Xobni is an Outlook add-on that lets you search and sort your email, while also revealing an interconnected network of relationships between you and people you email. Once installed (it requires the .Net framework), it lets you see this how often you've emailed each person, it gives you a list of attachements you may have exchanged, and shows the connections between people you've emailed. It also has some intriguing things like a bar graph of showing the time of day each person typically sends email and an inbox/outbook barometer.

You can also search each of the indexed categories, and the search uses a nice autosuggest feature. For instance, here's a list of documents I have traded with somebody with 'lic' in the title:

Xobni has really opened my eyes to what Outlook should be (why is 2007 so ho-hum??). It's interesting that Xobni was founded by a former Yahoo! vice president of social search, and the company just rejected a reportedly $20 million buyout offer from Microsoft. Whatever the case, it works really well. I just hope it doesn't break anything, since it's beta software and email is critical for my life.

Xobni is essentially a really good and user-oriented index of your email. Some see it as adding social networking aspects to email, but to me this tends towards exaggeration.

If you only use Gmail, maybe a program like Xoopit is the 'social solution' you're after. Apparently, "Socializing Your Inbox Is Inevitable"