Hotmail On Your Desktop 235
thomas2you writes "Microsoft has just started its beta testing on a new program, made to have Microsoft's hotmail on your own desktop according to an article on CNET. It's going to be free software, you're going to be able to manage multiple accounts and they are attempting to include the ability to also just control all pop3 and smtp accounts you have, including Google's gmail as well as Windows Live Mail, the successor to Hotmail. From the article, 'The move is a shift for the Hotmail business, which in the past, has charged users who wanted to read their mail using desktop software, rather than a Web browser. Microsoft charged $20 and up for its paid service.'"
Better Solution (Score:3, Interesting)
You might not have known this but there's already a tool out there that lets you connect and check mail from AOL, Libero, Gmail, MailDotCom, Lycos, Yahoo and (the seemingly "impossible") Hotmail. It's called Thunderbird [mozilla.com] with the Webmail extension [mozdev.org]. In fact, I'm pretty sure that there's even a Webmail plugin for Firefox that would allow you to check it automatically through your browser.
So when I saw the headline of "Hotmail On Your Desktop" I thought to myself, "So what?" I pulled up Thunderbird and there it was, Hotmail on my desktop. Am I some sort of sorcerer? No, but if this is news then I must have madd haXX0rz skillz to be able to do this when it's not possible. Or perhaps it's just another lame Slashdot article brought to us by a Microsoft employee that encouraged samzenpus to post it with a nominal paypal transaction? I'm not implying anything, of course...
But I suppose now, you have a choice:
Remember, Microsoft owns Hotmail and, according to the article: That's right, "other Web-based services as well" like the following possibilities:
I don't want it (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I don't want it (Score:2, Informative)
Just had a quick look at it, it's now 250meg, empty, and unused.
Gmail all the way.
Re:I don't want it (Score:2, Insightful)
Just get your own domain name and hosting account and do it yourself.
Re:I don't want it (Score:2)
All this will probably become moot soon enough, when more governments decide to force ISPs to store all data sent to or from their customers.
And remember, as for email, you have no control over how people store what you sent them or what they sent you.
Re:I don't want it (Score:3, Insightful)
Your average cheap hosting company is much less likely to have a solid backup/recovery plan in place than Google.
Re:I don't want it (Score:2)
Re:I don't want it (Score:2)
packets (no reject message, no connect to the server over anything) from any range tagged as "dynamic"
I've been forced to reject all delivery of e-mail from Hotmail to my domain. You might want to try GMail,
Yahoo! or pretty much any other service that uses more intelligent spam blocking methods.
I really don't see what their service has going for them anymore. Your account size just confirms it.
Re:I don't want it (Score:2)
Re:I don't want it (Score:2)
Can one even use Hotmail without a GUI?
Re:Hotmail has MSN Messener going for it (Score:2)
Re:Better Solution (Score:3, Informative)
Besides your solution, I use Outlook Express (included in Windows) for years to access my Hotmail accounts. OE connects to Hotmail using some proprietary protocol, not POP3. It's a bit slow, but I like the abillity to have access to these accounts in the same place as my POP account. This is a free (gratis) solution and it's ad-free.
Re:Better Solution (Score:4, Informative)
I've stopped using this account for the most part. The only reason I periodically check it now is that I've had it long enough that some long lost contacts from high school or college may still have that as the only way to locate me for a class reunion or possibly some former co-workers who may be of use for career networking.
Re:Better Solution (Score:2)
Ah, but apparently this restriction applies only to newly created accounts, and mine are a number of years old. Thanks for the info.
Re:Better Solution (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Better Solution (Score:2)
MSN is tweeky that way... for example there was a time you could pick a domain when subscribing to hotmail. This would include
Re:Better Solution (Score:2)
Re:Better Solution (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Better Solution (Score:2)
My neighbor in college had one of those. Every time he woke me up playing MP3s on his Windows 95 machine too loud, it would blue screen. Of course, the "service" ran on my Linux box... and may have been manual...
Re:Better Solution (Score:2)
Why the hell is this news?
Re:Better Solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a hint: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Now, here's a radical idea: if email is so important to you, why not toss out a few cents and PAY for it? *SHUDDER*
Yes, you heard me: PAY for your email service. What a concept! And it's amazing how many peoples' jaws drop when I suggest such heresy. "PAY for email??? Email is free! Email is SUPPOSED to be free! Email has ALWAYS been free! Why should I PAY for something that I can get for FREE???" Then go on to bitch and moan some more about how much Hotmail sucks...
I outgrew Yahoo's email and decided to pay for the enhanced "Plus" email service from them one day. It was nice to get rid of the ads, and get more filters, more space, better spam control, and a myriad of other stuff. But their customer service sucked, and I needed features like IMAP they wouldn't offer. So I shifted my money to someone else willing to fill that need. So now, for less than a dime a day, I get 2GB of storage, 50MB attachments, up to 1000 address book entries, and IMAP. I use Thunderbird 99% of the time (from various computers) and have the option to use the web interface if I so choose (or am at a computer I haven't set up TB on).
I stopped worrying about lack of features, limits, ads, and sucky customer-service a long time ago. Because I decided if I'm willing to spend a few bucks on coffee a day, I should be willing to spend $0.10 a day for an email service. And which is really more-important to me?
Re:Better Solution (Score:2)
I hear people complain about needing all these extensions to make Firefox really useful, but you need an extension just to login to Hotmail? That must be how they got the browser so lean.
[/end_humor]
Platform promotion? (Score:5, Insightful)
Define "free".
Realistically, I would imagine that it's a teaser that will be Vista only, or will only be fully featured on Vista.
Re:Platform promotion? (Score:3, Insightful)
Free as in beer which can only be poured into a glass one maintains a subscription on. Agreed.
Re:Platform promotion? (Score:3, Insightful)
Software 'teasers' are wrong?!?!? (Score:2)
Even assuming you are right, what is wrong with that? Or are you just saying this because this is Microsoft we are talking about here? Just for example, Apple does this regularly and so do many application manufacturers to encourage users to buy new software versions. Would you expect software makers to make every feature of the newest iteration/major-version of their software products availabl
I stopped using hotmail (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I stopped using hotmail (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I stopped using hotmail (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I stopped using hotmail (Score:2)
Re:I stopped using hotmail (Score:2)
Re:I stopped using hotmail (Score:2)
Re:I stopped using hotmail (Score:2)
Hotmail on my desktop (Score:3, Funny)
Free software? (Score:4, Interesting)
Gee... I wonder. (Score:2)
Re:Free software? (Score:2)
Free as in "paid with your copy of MS-Windows". I will say it's gratis when it is available for other OSes (Mac OS, Linux, FreeBSD, QNX, whatever)
An immaterial product "P" from company "C" can't be said gratis when it only works with another product "Q" also produced by company "C" and that you need to pay.
Well... except as PR !
Re:Free software? (Score:2)
Guestimate of the amount of people using QNX as their desktop - 10,000 (high side, I'm guessing)
Amount using hotmail? 1, 2, maybe?
Amount who'd want hotmail on their QNX desktop?
0.
Re:Free software? (Score:2)
gotmail does it (Score:5, Informative)
You can use it with any mail client. Without any favor from Microsoft
Arrrgh! (Score:3, Informative)
its = possessive
you're = you are
your = possessive
Turn in your swastika (Score:2)
Re:Turn in your swastika (Score:2)
Windows Live Favorites Feature (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Windows Live Favorites Feature (Score:2)
Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:2, Informative)
Has this situation changed? Have they improved their filtering methods?
When I originally left hotmail I went to yahoo since their spam filters seemed a lot more powerful (you could teach it what you thought was spam) however then
Re:Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:2)
I thought this until I found a number of mails that Google decided were spam that were actually were for me. Not to say that Hotmail is better but it still bothers me to know that had I not looked into the filtered mail that I would have thought that I just never got a responce.
Re:Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:2)
A different experience (Score:2)
I did have an account from 97-98 (from before the MS buyout) that I had until 2001 but the spam on that account was out of control. 200+ unsolicited spam emails a
Re:Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:2)
When I originally left hotmail I went to yahoo since their spam filters seemed a lot more powerful (you could teach it what you thought was spam) however then yahoo started to charge for their better filtering service and the spam situation there become unmanagable.
I know what you mean. I just use my account as a spamtrap anymore.
"You have 1812 unread messages:"
Thanks for reminding to do my monthly yahoo mailbox cleanup, btw.
Re:Why I stopped using Hotmail (Score:3, Informative)
My current email solution is to host my own mail server from my home, however, I would like to start using a freemail service since I can't access my home mail server from work due to an overly restrictive firewall/proxy policy.
Depending upon what the firewall/proxy policy is, you might want to consider just setting up your e-mail server to serve webmail as well. There are free webmail solutions for quite a few mail servers. For some of the easiest, it is as simple as checking a box and making sure port
MS creates the email client! (Score:5, Insightful)
With all the email clients out there, one must ponder why MS would create a new product instead of just using Outlook Express. One must also wonder how MS will replace the revenue of allowing users to not user to skip the ads when reading mail.
It is possible that they are just desperate to win back a portion of the market that they still have not understood. MS has missed the Intenet again by not updating IE, and IE has lost some trust. Windows live is going to require a client, and it may be that IE is not going to be that client. it might be that they are thinking of seperating the application interface from the browser. This would be a good thing.
OTOH, it could be that this innovative email client simply shifts the ads from the browser to the client, just like Eudora does. The client could also be some form of spyware.
Why we do know is that MS does not give away product except to gain a share in a long negleted marketspace. We also not that MS says it wil unbundle IE. What all these things mean will only become clear as Vista is released.
MY going to be able? (Score:2)
Re:MY going to be able? (Score:2)
Hotmail? (Score:2)
Re:Hotmail? (Score:2)
Hotmail still whups GMail in the real world... (Score:2)
It's the same reasons why people don't get broadband: "2 Gig? I'll never use it. I only send one or two pictures once in a while. It's good enough for me."
Users? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Users? (Score:2)
Oh, I guess that settles that argument. Give me an f'ing break. There are LOADS of people that use Hotmail as their personal account. Granted I'm not one of them, but so what? Now that I've ranted, I'm thinking the above post is a troll...
Re:Users? (Score:2)
She does access it through Thunderbird though.
hotmail? (Score:3, Funny)
What is hotmail? (Score:2)
Re:hotmail? (Score:2)
Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:5, Funny)
I am left wondering how old the submitter is, and worrying about just how bad the education system is in $country_of_origin.
Perhaps we should set up a charity and a PayPal account - "Help A Geek: Educating Slashdotters in Basic English". What say?
iqu
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
Just look at Taco's policy on article spelling and formatting [slashdot.org]:
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
Well, since you ask, three. English, French and Japanese. I am also learning Chinese, but I wouldn't count on being able to meet your precise requirement yet.
There is nothing wrong with my comma usage - certainly not from the point of view of a person who begins a sentence with the word "and".
Just as long as we are nitpicking, anyway...
iqu
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
Re:Most Ungrammatical Summary...Ever? (Score:2)
I'm sure that is precisely the reason for the difference. I'm not familiar with the Swedish educational system, but I'm willing to bet you were taught English. In America, by contrast, the schools teach something called "Whole Language", which only vaguely resembles English. In fact, it specifically disdains correct spelling in primary school, and never actually gets around to
So what happened to "Web 2.0"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hotmail, should I choose to use it, is already on my desktop, since my web browser brings it to me along with all sorts of applications these days.
Microsoft's sending Hotmail to a pure OS-installed interface only points to the fact that they [can't | don't want to] keep up with other online mail services. Gmail and Yahoo are updating their web interfaces all the time.
Strangely, those web interfaces are still available to me on my desktop.
Re:So what happened to "Web 0.2"? (Score:2)
One Word: (Score:4, Funny)
Hell No.
Sorry - that's two words. I'll release the patch in a month or two.
From the same company... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wouldn't it be better if they instead produced a e-mail client that did not assume email could contain things to be executed, and instead simply let people read their mail? Now that would be original for them.
Of course, there are plenty of free (and also free as in freedom) e-mail clients already, including thunderbird, which includes plugins to do all those e-mail services today, without compromising the security of the machine in the process.
Hotmail is Darn Ugly IMHO (Score:2)
They need a cleaner interface in my opinion.
In other news (Score:2)
Yay! (Score:4, Funny)
Look at the bigger picture folks. (Score:3, Insightful)
Like changing home addresses, phone numbers, bank accounts and credit cards, changing emails service providers is like pulling teeth. It is a painful affair in which you have to be on the ball to contact ANYBODY that knows of your existing information and then let them know the new information. For a while, people will be out of contact with you because they keep sending you email to your old account (because they didn't update their contact information). Even worse is when you try and keep both accounts active, then people forget which one is your newer one and start sending email to both. Honestly, if you have had an email address for more then a few years, you probably have tonnes of contacts to notify if you change that address.
Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc, these companies are not selling you on email services. They are selling you on using their site as a portal to your email service. Google liberally peppers their GMail with GAds, same with Yahoo and Hotmail. They want people to show up, not because of the @whatever.com extension, but because they can indoctrinate you with advertising earning their site revenue.
Hotmail saying "we don't expect you to switch your email provider, just use our software as a portal" is a big step in the right direction. I may not like hotmail, and I will reserve judgement on hotmail's new service until I have tried it out, but Microsoft is realizing that people are not going to switch their gmail or yahoo accounts simply to get a new email address with @hotmail.com at the end of it. But if Hotmail offers a desktop software that allows me to see my Gmail account more easily, or even offers additional features that GMail doesn't offer, then I am all for it.
Consequently, this will inspire Google and Yahoo to offer support for 3rd party email as well which undoubtedly will offer better, more competitive services.
Just like with universal IM integration, email integration into one central app will be beneficial on the whole. It allows a person to set up ONE email account and then they can decide which app/web service they want to access that email through. It means people don't have to go through the hassle of changing email accounts simply because Yahoo or Hotmail or Gmail offers a fancier interface or bigger storage capacity.
Its the beginning of the end of switching email providers like underwear. People can select an email address and then keep it indefinitely, regardless of which companies software they are using to access that email. Don't dump on Microsoft just because they are Microsoft, Microsoft is still innovating the future. Celebrate the fact that by Microsoft doing it first, more will follow, and that is overall beneficial.
Re:Look at the bigger picture folks. (Score:2)
As things are today, if you want an email address, you can:
Option 5 (Score:2)
Re:Look at the bigger picture folks. (Score:2)
How many is "too many?" Three? Five? 21? 256?
Re:Look at the bigger picture folks. (Score:2)
And I suppose it never occurred to you that perhaps Microsoft sees this new "tool" as a way to deprive Gmail, Yahoo, e
Re:Look at the bigger picture folks. (Score:2)
Beginning? People have been doing that for years already. It's called paying a few bucks ($6?
Non-blockable ads? (Score:3, Funny)
no (Score:3, Informative)
No, this needs clarification. The service where you access hotmail from outlook and outlook express is free if you were using it in the past before MS made it a paid service.
Still works for me in OE (Score:2)
I don't understand... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's free and I'm not even tied to a specific mail client, unlike this solution.
And my mail client happen to support multiple accounts too.
Heck, even Microsoft's own Outlook and Outlook Express supports reading Hotmail.
I think I'm missing something here, or Microsoft is reinventing the wheel... again?
Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Patterns. M$ doesn't innovate, not even business strategies. This is just the same old game once more.
Outlook Express? (Score:3, Funny)
Is this going to be a re-branded Outlook Express?
Very very bad news (Score:3, Insightful)
The appearance of these live desktop apps are shifting the protocols for mail access from established standads. Now, in order to access some mail provider's server you need a proprietary application, when really it should not be necesary (IMAP would do just fine). Google still provides POP access (although it is not good enough), but I'd bet that MS will only be accessible via web or its application.
Looks like the part about services being "decommoditized" mentioned in the halloween documents is becoming true.
Very bad news indeed.
Re:Not free? (Score:2)
Re:Not free? (Score:2)
Re:doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Outlook is not a free client and I'm not sure of the ability of Outlook Express to manage multiple accounts nor non-pop3.
Why is this news? Is MS so starved for attention that they have to press release something that has already been available?
Since this isn't MS posting this your point is kinda moot. As far as a press release; I take it you've never seen some of the things that some companies consider newsworthy enough to post as press rele
Re:3 clients (Score:2)
Re:pop access to hotmail (Score:2)