June 30, 2008: No more .hotmail, .msn, live mail anymore on BlackBerries?
 

I got an email from Microsoft Outlook Express team (communications@microsoft.msn.com)

and here is a straight copy and paste:



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 Windows Live Mail.

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 Windows Live Mail.

Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our online Privacy Statement.

Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052




I don't use Outlook express, I receive all my .msn email through my BIS onto my Blackberry. Does this mean, come June 30th 2008, that I will stop receiving emails on that day?

It says no more POP or IMAP support, but replaced with DeltaSynch? Is BIS compatible with DeltaSynch?

P.S, I have a FREE .hotmail and .msn service that I receive emails on from my blackberry with no extra setup/configs. Worked from day 1.

I wondered the same thing. I don't know the tech issues, but you could always forward from your Hotmail account to a Gmail or Yahoo account, set your reply from address in the Gmail account to the Hotmail account and still have your Hotmail on your BB.

P.S. Astro Boy could kick MegaMan's butt! ;-)

I was hoping to avoid all that just to use hotmail.

and I think the free version of hotmail does not allow forwarding. lol

AstroBoy has nothing on MegaMan X...a charged shot will take out astro's face :P

It only said it was disabling DAV. It said nothing about POP3 and IMAP. If you are getting mail from Hotmail using another client, it shouldn't change.

Or just forward it to your BB email account. Best option would be to just drop hotmail, its crap and leveraged to only work well on Windows with IE. Google mail is better, works with all platforms and works great with the BB.

From Wikipedia

POP3 access, although not directly available through Hotmail, can be accessed via Windows Live Mail, and Microsoft Outlook with Outlook Connector.

Hotmail is often criticized for allowing only paying subscribers to access WebDAV, which allows e-mails to be downloaded locally via a desktop application such as Microsoft Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird (With the WebMail Extension). Hotmail was originally available with WebDAV to all, but the service has been revoked from new free users since 2004. If your Hotmail account is older than 2004, it is still possible for you to access your Hotmail account outside of an internet browser for free with the above-mentioned programs using WebDAV. If you have a newer account you will have to pay for a premium subscription unless you have Microsoft Office Outlook Connector which is available for free, but only to those who have purchased Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007. One may access e-mail messages and contacts in any Hotmail account using Microsoft Office Outlook Connector for free, though access of calendar, tasks and notes requires a premium subscription in addition to the original cost of the Outlook product.

That said, I would say, no, it won't be available on anything other then the free Live program, the costly Outlook program or the web access site. Again Hotmail seems to make its customers jump through hoop to access a mediocre service.

Ok, I sit corrected.

I dropped hotmail 6 years ago after the 10th time of being hacked.

And I dont trust anything I read on wiki its to easy to edit it to say what you want it to say.

i download with pop client, outlook, my hotmail, i push my hotmail to my berry, the acct is as old as msn.com emails. i still dont have an email like this.

well, I frequent other forums and I came upon this:

Support for MSN/Hotmail in Outlook Express ending - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

This person just got the email today as well. I think they're slowing phasing everyone out of it.

My email acct was made in 2002.

interesting, but the way i take that is how outlook express gets mail from it, i use outlook not express, and it uses http according to the acct setup.

i doubt grandfathered accts will all be inactive after the date. and will be pay per use. or subscription base.

HELP! Installing Outlook Connector has messed up my bberry
 

I recently purchased a Dell laptop w/MS XP Professional suite. I was quickly able to synch the Outlook desktop software to my MS Hotmail and link with my bberry. All was well with my world. This week, MS informed me that I could no longer use my outlook interface with my hotmail acct without now downloading Outlook Connector. I did so, and the desktop Outlook still synchs fine with the Hotmail but it no longer gets pushed out to my bberry. I spoke with my cell carrier (ATT), who in the past have been surprisingly helpful, and they had no idea how to fix it.

Do you any of you guys/gals have advice on how I can keep my hotmail acct and link w/my bberry while using the cruddy (but required) Outlook Connector? I need to keep my hotmail address for the time being. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, David:

Yes it does. I currently forward my Hotmail to Gmail.

Please clarify as I would like to replicate this as well.

When I attempt that, Hotmail does not permit it and returns the following error: "You're only able to forward mail to a custom domain or an e-mail address that ends in hotmail.com, msn.com, or live.com. Please try again."

Others say the same thing:

• Can I automatically forward my Hotmail? - Ask Leo!

There are some PROGRAMS that claim to do this, but it appears Hotmail does not allow one to do this via itself.

So... Inquiring minds want to know how do you get it to work?

This is so very typical of M$. Get you on board, then lock you in, so you can't go elsewhere without a major hassle. Do yourself a favor and distance yourself from this monopolistic company. Hotmail is sub par compared to other free services such as gmail, which impose no such ridiculous restrictions on its users.

I dumped Hotmail a long time ago. I was just wondering how "x14" was able to do forward the free version of his Hotmail to Gmail.

IMHO, Hotmail does not permit this while GMail does because, right, the former wants to lock their users with hassles while the latter "locks" users by providing a superior product.

for what it's worth: for those who still need to maintain their hotmail accts here is an option. If you subscribe to MS Hotmail Live PLUS for $19.95/yr, your hotmail emails will continue to be pushed to your bberry. My hotmail emails stopped being pushed to my bberry once I was forced to 'upgrade' to Outlook Connector. After a conversation with AT&T wireless customer support, they told me about me the "hotmail plus" signup option. It is surprisingly difficult to find the link to subscribe to the "plus" service -- i had to google for it. I paid my money and 30 seconds later my hotmail emails appeared on my bberry.

older versions of hotmail allow this feature, by older i mean 6-7 years old. From what I can tell it is part and parcel with the POP3 access. MSFT did away with both of these, unless you pay for it.

For those hapless souls who want to "upgrade" to Hotmail Live Plus so that they can continue to receive hotmail emails on their blackberry, here is the link to subscribe ($19.95/yr). Once you subscribe, go to the bberry site to get another service book and the hotmail emails will start rolling in as before
Windows Live Hotmail Plus