Is Verse on prem the end of Connections Mail?

A technote has come to light – marking the end of life for Connections Mail

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21993196

The content states

November 2016 is the end of support for the following versions of ICM V 1.0 (for Connections 4.0), and version 1.3 (for Connections 4.5).
End of support for ICM 1.6 (for connections 5.0) will be one year from the publication of this TechNote, November 17, 2017.

We intend continue to support the latest version of the plug in, 1.7 with Connections 5.5. At this time there are no plans to release IBM Connections mail plug in with Connections 6.0.

So what will this mean for Connections Mail users? For Domino mail customers, the likely hood is that you will update to Verse On Premises (VOP) and consume mail / Connections content in the new Verse on prem UI .. for Exchange users I am not sure .. if any one has the answers please let us know.

I do use Connections mail and I actually enjoy having an overview of my inbox and calander inside connections. As we move to a VOP I can see me using the integration between my mail and Connections a lot, I use the notes sidebar plugins and the Connections desktop and office connectors – so its a natural progression for me and others I work with.

If it wasn’t for another community member posting the technote in the Connections skype chat I wouldn’t have known about this. So I am sharing it as I am sure there are others who do not know about this either. I do still have customers running Connections 4.5 who are now not supported for Connections mail.

As Connections Mail 1.7 for Connections 5.5 is continuing to be supported, it looks like any existing users are ok for now, but there will be no support going forward. Not sure how this will affect users or how many people are using Connections Mail out there in the wild, but I do have a few customers using it. Would love to know your thoughts.