---
title: "Lookout – A Farewell"
url: https://lookeen.com/blog/lookout-a-farewell
lang: en
description: "Looking for an alternative to Lookout? Since 2007, the Outlook Search Lookeen has been available instead, allowing you to search your desktop as well!"
author: "Axonic"
published: 2010-08-20T12:07:04+00:00
modified: 2026-11-11T07:18:26+00:00
---

# Lookout – A Farewell

![The Alternative for the former Lookout: the Desktop Search Lookeen](https://lookeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/lookout-logo.png)

[Find out everything about the successful successor to Lookout, Lookeen!](https://lookeen.com/product/overview)

## 2003: Microsoft Buys Lookout

Enriching Microsoft Outlook with advanced search functions was a profitable and successful business venture for Lookout. All the more understandable that Microsoft made the strategic decision in 2003 to acquire the Lucene-based search tool and integrate it into its own company. This, in turn, apparently led to a halt in development and an end to support for the search tool itself. Lookout was developed for Microsoft Outlook 2003 and under .NET Framework 1.0. As a result, the search tool became obsolete for a large number of Outlook users when they switched to Microsoft Outlook 2007.

## 2007: Initially, Chilibase Filled the Lookout Gap

At the time of Outlook 2007’s release, Axonic Informationssysteme GmbH was developing the social networking tool Chilibase. Chilibase aimed to identify connections between contacts, emails, and email contents, process them, and accelerate workflows in the email environment. Chilibase launched at the same time that Outlook 2007 began increasingly displacing its predecessor. For former Lookout users, Chilibase offered a way to compensate for the loss of Lookout. Nevertheless, customer conversations increasingly revealed that Lookout’s search function was simply missed and no immediate alternative could be found.

## 2008: Lookeen Completely Replaces Lookout

The end of Lookout undoubtedly left a gap for many businesses and private users. Inspired by customers, Axonic GmbH launched a corresponding market research analysis in late summer 2007. It quickly became undeniably clear that an alternative for Lookout was necessary. The advantages of a fast, smart, and easy-to-use index search had become too well established. This was the birth of Lookeen, which is also based on Lucene. To this day, Lookeen has established itself as THE alternative for Lookout across multiple versions. We have continuously adapted and improved Lookeen according to customer feedback. Lookeen is also supported by the latest Lucene versions, just like those used by many internet search engines or Wikipedia.

Convince yourself: [The Lookeen search even surpasses the functionality of Lookout!](https://lookeen.com/download)