COM Like a Bomb: Rust Outlook Add-in
2 days ago
- #rust
- #legal-tech
- #outlook-integration
- Lawyers predominantly use Microsoft Word for document editing due to its default behavior and their reluctance to adopt new technologies.
- Legal workflows originate from three main sources: document management systems (DMS), the desktop, and email.
- Tritium aims to integrate into lawyers' existing workflows by providing access directly in their inboxes, specifically in Outlook.
- The integration involves using COM (Component Object Model) to plug into Outlook, leveraging Rust for implementation.
- A memory corruption issue was identified in the COM implementation, caused by incorrect handling of BSTR pointers, leading to Outlook crashes.
- The correct signatures for COM interfaces were provided to avoid memory errors, emphasizing the importance of proper pointer management in Rust.