Thanks to brent3000 who posted this in our Back Page News forum, it seems Microsoft is permanently disabling the ability to receive Hotmail via Outlook Express from June 30th. The software giant recommended via email to its DAV protocol users, the free Windows Live Mail desktop utility as an alternative.
Thank you for using Microsoft® Outlook® Express. Our information indicates that you use Outlook Express to access a Windows Live™ Hotmail® e-mail account via a protocol called DAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning protocol). DAV, like POP3 or IMAP, is the way that a mail client communicates with a web-based mail server.
As a valued customer, we want to provide advanced notice that as of June 30, 2008, Microsoft is disabling the DAV protocol and you will no longer be able to access your Hotmail Inbox via Outlook Express. As an alternative, we recommend that you download Windows Live Mail, a free desktop e-mail client that has the familiarity of Outlook Express and much more. This next generation of free e-mail software will allow you to easily manage multiple e-mail accounts—including Windows Live Hotmail, plus other e-mail accounts that support POP3/IMAP. Better yet, Windows Live Mail integrates well with other Windows Live services, and downloads in minutes. After you provide your user name and password, you will automatically be linked to your Hotmail account, providing continued access to your email and contacts.
Link to: Article in Back Page News
Thank you for using Microsoft® Outlook® Express. Our information indicates that you use Outlook Express to access a Windows Live™ Hotmail® e-mail account via a protocol called DAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning protocol). DAV, like POP3 or IMAP, is the way that a mail client communicates with a web-based mail server.
As a valued customer, we want to provide advanced notice that as of June 30, 2008, Microsoft is disabling the DAV protocol and you will no longer be able to access your Hotmail Inbox via Outlook Express. As an alternative, we recommend that you download Windows Live Mail, a free desktop e-mail client that has the familiarity of Outlook Express and much more. This next generation of free e-mail software will allow you to easily manage multiple e-mail accounts—including Windows Live Hotmail, plus other e-mail accounts that support POP3/IMAP. Better yet, Windows Live Mail integrates well with other Windows Live services, and downloads in minutes. After you provide your user name and password, you will automatically be linked to your Hotmail account, providing continued access to your email and contacts.
Link to: Article in Back Page NewsWindows Live Mail can completely replace Outlook Express, as it supports Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo! and POP accounts:
vs 
Windows Live Mail has superior Junk Mail Filters over Outlook Express, although the glass effect is not supported in Windows XP.
The typical excuse will be that "WLM is bloated". WLM has better support than OE for different standards so Im all for this.
Uh?! considering windows live mail desktop is free and superior to any other free email program (the beloved Thunderbird included).... I find your statement pointless .
WL Mail is fast, smooth, full of feature including a good junk mail filter and native built in support for multiple accounts that looks good and is very clear to the user.
WL Mail is fast, smooth, full of feature including a good junk mail filter and native built in support for multiple accounts that looks good and is very clear to the user.
I have a question for you. Would you recommend Windows Live Mail over Office Outlook 2007? I'm just asking, as I'm curious about WLM, as I've only just found out that this existed outside of Windows Vista!
Outlook howvr is a whole other league. though WLM isactually very good in many ways for csual use compared to outlook.
perosnally I use outlook on my laptop ad WLM to download my mail on my desktop, when I do that.
WL Mail is fast, smooth, full of feature including a good junk mail filter and native built in support for multiple accounts that looks good and is very clear to the user.
I have a question for you. Would you recommend Windows Live Mail over Office Outlook 2007? I'm just asking, as I'm curious about WLM, as I've only just found out that this existed outside of Windows Vista!
To be honest, as a pure email client (and news reader) WLMail is better than outlook 2007 but O2007 has other features of course.
It does seem to lack some options though (saving draft emails so they can be accessed by other programs for one).
Dammit.
Was very sad to see this come through...
Hi, yeah, I downloaded the latest version directly from MS. I actually use Outlook at home with OC. Maybe it was a blip. LOL
Just look how old looking it is even from the screenshots above...
Thanks.
windows live mail = hotmail
And if Windows Live Mail is not a desktop client how could it replace OE, Windows Mail would replace OE...
I'm not understanding something...
windows live mail = hotmail
Windows Live Mail - Hotmail (log in within your browser)
Windows Live Mail Desktop - The desktop app.
Windows Mail - Vista version of WLM Desktop (i think?)
Yes, kind of in the feature set, but Vista's built-in version is older.
I.e. they are not equivalents, and Vista users will also gain on upgrading to WLM Desktop.
Outlook Express 6 (brand name) - included with XP, downloadable with IE6
Windows Mail (brand name) = Outlook Express "7" - included with Vista, no separate download. Removed WebDAV (so cannot access Hotmail accounts), added Outlook-like right-hand reading pane, phishing filter, spam filter
Windows Live Mail (brand name) = Outlook Express "8" - standalone download. Added DeltaSync (restoring Hotmail account access), Live Contacts, RSS, better photo support, separate inboxes for different accounts. Despite what you may read, does not contain ads unless you turn them on.
These are simply newer versions of the same program, developed by the same team, just branded differently.
Windows Live Hotmail = MSN Hotmail (web-based)
Windows Live Mail Desktop = no such thing (this was a code name in beta only)
Thanks a lot for clarifying.
It's hard to explain. The bars you drag to resize the display window are thinner than they are in OE or any other mail program.
The "header" part of each message (From/To/Subject part) is a LOT bigger than it is in OE. It takes up twice the space.
You'd think with GMail kicking them in the teeth they'd wise up, but it appears that they aren't. Guess I'll hobble on by with Thunderbird's WebMail extension from now on. Hotmail's web interface is horrible.
Both Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail store individual .EML files for each email you have.
It makes it easier for indexing purposes.
Also, in the event of corruption, you lose only the damaged messages, not the entire database they were in.
If not, sorry MS--it's the only reason I still use Outlook Express. It's "good enough" for me for plain text newsgroups, so unless WLM supports it, I have no reason to switch to something else, whether Microsoft or third-party.
Last edited by _dandy_ on 24 Apr 2008 - 23:45
I really miss the "identities" feature that is there inn OE but not in WLM.
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