Microsoft To Disable ALL Hotmail Outlook Express Access

[brent3000]

Just got this email today :(

Dear Microsoft Outlook Express customer,

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.

We encourage you to download Windows Live Mail at http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview.

And, to make your transition smoother, we've provided answers to frequently asked questions below.

Again, thank you for your use of Outlook Express and we are confident that you'll be just as delighted with the new Windows Live Mail.

Your Windows Live Mail team

Frequently asked questions:

Why are we disabling DAV?

DAV is a legacy protocol that is not well suited for client access to large inboxes. Over time, as we've provided more e-mail storage to our users?and now offer 5GB inboxes for free?a more efficient access protocol is needed.

What are we replacing DAV with?

We have developed a new, much more efficient protocol called DeltaSynch that is far superior to DAV especially for large e-mail inboxes. It enables email clients to only download changes since the last time the client polled the email server for changes. This is much more efficient and high performing than having to download all the headers in every folder as is the case with DAV.

Is DeltaSynch compatible with Outlook Express?

The new protocol unfortunately is NOT supported by Outlook Express and support would require too many changes to the Outlook Express software.

Is there a different or new mail client I can try that uses DeltaSynch?

Microsoft is providing Windows Live Mail, a free e-mail client that has the familiarity of Outlook Express and much more. This free, next generation email client enables users to easily manage multiple e-mail accounts including Windows Live Hotmail and other e-mail accounts that support POP3/IMAP. Windows Live Mail also integrates well with other Windows Live services, is optimized to work with Windows Live Hotmail, and offers:

Offline mail

Windows Live Hotmail account aggregation for those users with multiple Hotmail accounts

Account aggregation for POP and IMAP mail accounts

Rich photo-sharing capabilities

Advanced search via integration with Desktop Search

Safety tools (Anti-Virus scanning, anti-phishing, anti-spam features across aggregated accounts for customers who do not have an Anti-Virus product)

Integration with Windows Live services including Windows Live Spaces

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed aggregation

Ability to send SMS (short message service) text to a mobile phone from Windows Live Mail

Where can I download the new Windows Live Mail client?

You can download the new client at http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview.

[mtrftw]

OE is trash. Welcome to 2008.

[Raa]

Possible fake?

[Pc_Madness]

Possible fake?

Fakes don't usually encourage people to download another MS product. :p

[brent3000]

looking into the email it links to http://microsoft.msn.com/Key=(with a bunch of numbers) which if u go to it takes u to http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview same as other MS emails do the same as well as Xbox emails... SO unless its some real devoted fake...

[Ironman273]

Whether fake or not Windows Live Mail is much better than Outlook Express

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...86a1381033.mspx

[dreamz Veteran]

looks like i'll be moving to thunderbird now.

[brent3000]

same thing different skin

:)

[sundayx Veteran]

Yep I got this as well, very disappointed. But I've switched to Thunderbird so it better not affect anything... or else hotmail will lose another customer.

[brent3000]

does thunderbird not use the same thing as OE to take in the emails from hotmail? I always thought they did.//

[Doli]

looks like i'll be moving to thunderbird now.

You cant use thunderbird for Hotmail unless you use an application. Outlook Express will still work you just cant use it for Hotmail. Maybe you can use an application that will fake pop3 so you can stil use OE but Windows Live Mail is just better.

OE lasted longer than Vista's Windows Mail.

[dreamz Veteran]

i thought you could use the webmail extension to access hotmail. or is that extension what you meant by 'application'?

[Rappy Veteran]

I didn't know people still used OE, you can still access it via Outlook tho?

[Doli]

i thought you could use the webmail extension to access hotmail. or is that extension what you meant by 'application'?

Yea, sorry about that. I mean that you cant access hotmail without some plug-in, extention, or application. Just like for yahoo I need the YPops application to get my mail (they need to go back to free POP3 or IMAP google is killing them with having both for free).

[magik]

All for the better, I say.

BTW, is there any mail client that supports labels a la Gmail?

[Hum]

Worry not.

Someone will soon come up with a plug-in for Outlook, enabling the new protocol. ;)

[sanctified Veteran]

This is not fake, in fact currently outlook users with new hotmail accounts can only access hotmail via a premiun account.

[Scirwode]

i thought you could use the webmail extension to access hotmail. or is that extension what you meant by 'application'?

I'm using Webmail with Thunderbird and I have had no problems beyond the initial startup.

Scirwode

[Neil]

It is true because FastMail has made a post about it and there is no way to get around it.

[Borbus]

does thunderbird not use the same thing as OE to take in the emails from hotmail? I always thought they did.//

You mean POP and IMAP? These are standard email protocols that every client should support (POP at least). However, being standard means the server would have to allow any client to access it. This freedom is against Microsoft's policies so they use some proprietary thing using WebDAV (which is HTTP with some extensions). This allows them to control which client you use.

For your information, Gmail offers both POP and IMAP with its free accounts.

[mad_onion]

i don't really see how this is much of a big deal. the kind of people that are using oe to collect their mail and probably also the kind of people that will install windows live hotmail and be happy with the new features.

or if you use outlook you can use the connector which works for all accounts

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en

[dreamz Veteran]

You mean POP and IMAP? These are standard email protocols that every client should support (POP at least). However, being standard means the server would have to allow any client to access it. This freedom is against Microsoft's policies so they use some proprietary thing using WebDAV (which is HTTP with some extensions). This allows them to control which client you use.

For your information, Gmail offers both POP and IMAP with its free accounts.

does microsoft offer pop/imap for free accounts? i thought they didn't do that.

i don't really see how this is much of a big deal. the kind of people that are using oe to collect their mail and probably also the kind of people that will install windows live hotmail and be happy with the new features.

or if you use outlook you can use the connector which works for all accounts

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en

that's not necessarily true. i use outlook express because it comes bundled with xp and because it's relatively fast (compared to, say, outlook, which feels clunky). if i have to download and install a separate application, why would i choose windows live mail over thunderbird or anything else?

i just read this: http://groups.google.com/group/thunderbird...2eab79b7998d0a#

it seems there are different 'modes' in thunderbird. is there a guarantee that the other modes will work when webdav is phased out?

[Unto Darkness]

What does this mean for Outlook 2007?

Sheesh, M$ is becoming increasingly retarded....

[rseiler]

What does this mean for Outlook 2007?

Sheesh, M$ is becoming increasingly retarded....

Nothing. Like Windows Live Mail, it already uses DeltaSync.

BTW, here's the original announcement about all this:

http://emailsupport.spaces.live.com/Blog/c...!5359.entry

Edited April 22, 2008 by rseiler

[Borbus]

does microsoft offer pop/imap for free accounts? i thought they didn't do that.

No they don't. My post was explaining why they don't offer it. Microsoft need to be able to control their users and that's a lot harder with standard, open protocols.