Slashdot Mirror


Microsoft Will Stop Supporting Windows Live Mail 2012 (office.com)

An anonymous reader writes: "Windows Live Mail 2012 users are on notice: Switch to a modern email client or lose access to any Microsoft email accounts they have," reports InfoWorld. In a Thursday blog post, Microsoft informed users of their Windows Live Mail software that "the time has come for you to upgrade to a new email application." Outlook.com is moving to a new Office 365 infrastructure which uses protocols not supported by Windows Live Mail, meaning its users "will not be able to send or receive Outlook.com email from Windows Live Mail 2012 after your account is upgraded." InfoWorld points out this affects users with email addresses ending with @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, @live.com, or @msn.com.

The Outlook team's corporate vice president posted on the Office.com blog that "We recognize that changes like this can be difficult and apologize for any inconvenience this causes you..." adding that "we are confident that you will love the benefits and performance of the new Outlook.com," and recommending users switch to the Mail app on Windows. The Inquirer reports that Microsoft also emailed the software's users, suggesting that "If you are using Windows 7, you can upgrade to a newer version of Windows to enjoy the Mail app and the other benefits."

5 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Standards? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... Outlook.com is moving to a new Office 365 infrastructure which uses protocols not supported by Windows Live Mail,

    Soooo.... which one doesn't support the standard email protocols that the rest of the world seems to use, the new Office 365 infrastructrue or Windows Live Mail?

  2. There you go again by ITRambo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft, how come much of what you do these days makes life more miserable for computer users instead of making it easier?

  3. That's fine by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I stopped supporting Windows a long time ago

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  4. Re:They are phasing out Windows Live Mail 2012 by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Evolve or die!

    Or just just use services and mail clients based on established, independent standards, and spend your time on more important things than Microsoft's upgrade treadmill.

    Register yourself a domain name of your own so you can control which service(s) will receive your mail in the future while you're at it.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  5. Re: Did they ever really support it... by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They used to, at least much better than this. That's the saddest thing about the Microsoft strategy in recent years: not only are they not delivering the kinds of benefits they should be to justify the lock-in they're asking their customers to accept, they're actually going backwards in several important ways that those customers will notice. They're so busy trying to beat Google and Apple at their own game (and failing) that they've forgotten how to be Microsoft.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.