I noticed something kinda weird this morning on my Microsoft devel laptop that I wanted to ask others about. Basically, it seems that installing Java 2 SDK, SE v1.4.2_03 (j2sdk-1_4_2_03-windows-i586-p.exe) invokes MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface), which means it runs Outlook in the background without notifying me.
I know it does this because I was recently screwing around with the configuration settings of an install of Outlook I have on my laptop for testing. I normally use Mozilla Thunderbird for email (http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/) on both Windows and Linux, which also easily allows me to share my Windows Mozilla profile (bookmarks, email) when booted into Linux via a symlink to the mounted Windows partition. I was testing an app to change the default Outlook SaveAs/Open Path (http://www.slipstick.com/config/attachfolder.htm) so that another user on my network could open his IMAP account by default instead of his Outlook Personal Folder (didn't work|made shortcut{imap:\\mail.it-group.com\Inbox} instead). I closed Outlook and started other work, which included installing the Java2SDK. When I started the J2SDK install, the installer gave an error that it couldn't locate "mail.it-group.com\Inbox", which reminded me of my earlier changes to Outlook. I know this to be the case, because I reversed the changes to Outlook and the installer then worked normally. Now, my question is: Why does installing the Java2SDK on Windows invoke MAPI (Outlook)? Is it sending an email message to Sun? And most importantly, do other app installs do the same thing? Have you noticed similar activity with other Windows or Linux app installs? It kinda bothers me that Sun does this without notifying me. I can't think of a good reason why it needs to make a MAPI call if not for sending an email. Is there a way to monitor or sniff my port activity to determine what the contents of the email message sent to Sun? Thanks. ===== John Hebert Official BRLUG Linux Curmudgeon Open Source Ankle Biter __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools
