Outlook Symbols

So, I've been looking into why Office, and therefore Outlook, doesn't
offer symbols to ISV developers creating Office solutions in the same
way that Windows symbols are available to those writing software on
Windows. It took way too much time and emails to get to the right
person for this, but I finally did, and here's what I learned. We (i.e.
some people in Office) are actively investigating the value of
providing symbols, given the cost to publish them.

Cleaning up the .pdb files for public consumption is costly. The first
challenge is removing language that isn't appropriate for public
consumption. Additionally, symbols in code from third party vendors
need to be excluded. ISV developers need to be able to step through
code and see Office symbols but not symbols from third party code -
this can take a lot of work.

Also, up to now there has not been a call from the Office development
community for symbols, so no percieved need exists. Even if there was a
perceived need, it would need to fit into the Office long term strategy
for it to happen. Though I personally would love to see all of Office
and Outlook specifically become a better platform for productivity
tools, I recognize that others may know better than I if that's the
right way to go.

However, the right people are looking at the problem, and I've volunteered my help if the work ever does get done.