Ever worked on Outlook support for years, just look back to the product, something changed a lot and something unchanged.
For the Outlook programming part, it does have a lot of changes.
In the history of Outlook programming, there are so many ways: Outlook Form (VB Script), Visual Basic for Application (VBA), COM Add-in, Outlook View Control programming, etc. In fact, the digital dashboard which now is named "web part" in Microsoft SharePoint Service first appeared in "Outlook Today".
Well, looking at today’s Outlook programming: Outlook Form is seldom used now (it is WWW world and who uses the form); Outlook Object Model is widely used, but it has many limitations for security reasons begining from applying the Outlook Security Update. Though we can use the Outlook Security Features Administrative Package can bypass some limitations, it is not so freely as before; What is widely used should be .NET, using Office Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs).
However, something is not and maybe won't change. The Outlook Object Model is still the same, either you are using .NET or VB, even Script.
Outlook Developer Center in MSDN
Microsoft Outlook Programming
Jumpstart for Administrators, Developers, and Power Users
Outlook is a great product. I know many users are just using it as an email client (especially not connecting to Exchange server), but in fact it is positioned as a Personal Information Manager(PIM). Try to explore and you may find more. :-)
This is my first blog in weblogs.asp.net
My formal blog is in http://jack.whyyoung.com and i registered a blog in http://spaces.msn.com/members/jackgu
Now, I am thinking to combine them all. :-)