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Is Microsoft Trying To Make Windows 10 Mail Worse? (venturebeat.com)

Emil Protalinski via VentureBeat argues that "Windows Mail is unusable, and instead of improving it, Microsoft is looking to drive users away": Microsoft started forcing Mail to use Edge for email links in Windows 10 build 17623 last month. This week, the company started including Office 365 ads right at the bottom of the app. But even these poor decisions are just extra nails in the coffin. Windows Mail has difficulty sending and receiving email. No, I'm not exaggerating for effect. If you have an email open and Windows Mail detects that a new email has hit your inbox, you'll get a notification. Standard stuff. If, however, you then click on said notification, Windows Mail will take you to the open email message, rather than the one that you just clicked on. That's half of the time. The other half of the time this happens, Windows Mail will crash altogether. Apparently having one email open and trying to open another one that just came in is overwhelming for Windows Mail. But that's not the end of it.

Windows Mail is also notorious for not sending emails. Multiple times a week, I open an email, hit reply, type out a quick message, hit send, and alt-tab back to Chrome or Word. Any normal email client will send the message despite the app not being the active window. With Windows Mail, countless times I have wondered why I never got heard back to a specific reply, only to discover hours later, and completely by accident, that the message is still a draft. It's not even sitting in my outbox -- it's just a fucking draft. I end up debating whether to send the email hours late, or if it doesn't make sense to send it anymore. That's not a decision I should have to make. There are of course small features I would like to see added to Windows Mail, like being able to set formatted signatures (as opposed to just plain text), but that's hardly a priority. Windows Mail is unusable, which means Windows 10 doesn't come with an email client. That's incredibly sad.

232 comments

  1. Feature or bug? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Windows Mail is also notorious for not sending emails."

    I kinda like that. Maybe I will get my coworkers to move off Exchange.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    1. Re:Feature or bug? by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 1

      Yeah, less spam!

    2. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      windows mail != outlook.

    3. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correct. Outlook is worse and even slower.

    4. Re:Feature or bug? by war4peace · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exchange Server has nothing to do with Windows Mail.

      Now, Windows Mail is like Notepad. Basic application, doing basic stuff. Sort of "better than nothing".
      There are zounds of free e-mail clients out there, why are you stuck with using Windows Mail is beyond me.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    5. Re:Feature or bug? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There are zounds of free e-mail clients out there, why are you stuck with using Windows Mail is beyond me.

      You & I are not typical computer users; we know that other MUAs exist; know how to find them; know how to install them. Many people would not install a different MUA; if you were to tell them to do it they would not for fear of it breaking their PC. Sad but true.

    6. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now, Windows Mail is like Notepad. Basic application, doing basic stuff. Sort of "better than nothing".

      That's exactly wrong, with no mail client, I wouldn't type out the message and wouldn't think it had sent. But with Winodows Mail, which is WORSE THAN NOTHING...

    7. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      outlook is by far the best email client for enterprise users bar none. if it is slow then you have probably screwed up your machine or have to bogged down with addons.

    8. Re: Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Outlook is a good groupware client but utterly terrible as an email client, even 2016. Poor threading, poor search, ancient modal dialogue boxes, finniky address book search, UI inconsistent with the underlying OS, etc.

    9. Re: Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A 10gb file size limit that causes it to crash and hang constantly, leading you to have either incredibly slow searches or a unreliable program.

      Basically every of if my clients is hitting the 10gb file size bug on outlook. When you have a $3000 pc and you can't do email there's a major problem

    10. Re: Feature or bug? by Brockmire · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The newbies I run into have only used mail in a browser and have never used a client, except for their phone's email account so long as it had good autodiscover and didn't require knowing server names and ports, just needing email and password.

    11. Re:Feature or bug? by war4peace · · Score: 1

      Average Joes use GMail or Yahoo Mail or somethine else, web based. Even Microsoft's Web based e-mail, rather than Windows Mail.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    12. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Correct. Outlook is worse and even slower.

      Outlook and windows mail are for those posers who like to PRETEND they are important enough to get and recieve emails but really isn't.
      The big plus for them is that they are spared recieving spam and accidentially replying to that nigerian prince that would otherwise send them emails asking for money :-)

      Since none of the MS mail programs seems to be able to recieve or send email, then its users are safe! :-)

      all in all... a win for everybody!

      NB! This post is meant as a joke :-)

    13. Re:Feature or bug? by Cederic · · Score: 1

      we know that other MUAs exist

      Are you sure? I don't even know what a fucking MUA is.

    14. Re:Feature or bug? by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

      we know that other MUAs exist

      Are you sure? I don't even know what a fucking MUA is.

      A few seconds search and you would have found what a MUA is.

      PS: why the need for profanity ?

    15. Re:Feature or bug? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      You are talking about average joes under 35. The rest of the even more average joes are using their shitty email service provided by their ISP.

    16. Re:Feature or bug? by Cederic · · Score: 2

      It's how I talk.

      I also use other common words and terms such as 'email client'.

    17. Re:Feature or bug? by chrish · · Score: 2

      Part of the problem is that desktop email clients have been largely abandoned. I guess Apple is the only big company still putting any official effort into their Mail.app, but then that's not an awesome app.

      I've been using Thunderbird for ages, and Mozilla ignoring it for so long makes me sad. I'm hoping it gets an upgrade to the Firefox Quantum base (and a 64-bit build), but I'm one of those folks who wasn't depending on extensions that stopped working...

      Every year or so, I try to find something, anything, that's usable as a mail client for Windows. Every year, I'm disappointed and go back to Thunderbird.

      The biggest missing feature seems to be a spam filter, somehow.

      Mailbird (https://www.getmailbird.com/) is pretty decent, but development of anything other than cosmetic features is glacial, and they don't seem to see the need for an actual spam filter, suggesting you instead depend on your mail server's filters. That's not entirely unreasonable, I suppose, but Mailbird also doesn't support filter rules, so I can't get rid of garbage from spammy recruiters.

      Mailspring (https://www.getmailspring.com/) has the same problem (no filter rules, no spam filter) but the devs have acknowledged that this is a good feature... when they've had a chance to implement it I'll definitely give this another try.

      So many of the Windows mail apps have been abandoned for ages that they can be written off. I wouldn't want to get too chummy with a program that hasn't been getting security updates for a decade.

      Help us Thunderbird, you're our only hope!

      --
      - chrish
    18. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I use Windows Mail for lightweight stuff at home. It works fine.

      To me, this sounds like Mr. Protalinski has some deeper problems with his system.

      Notifications always open the correct mail message for me. But I'm using the current release, not "build 17623". So maybe he should reconsider his use of beta software versions if he can't handle a few bugs and/or report them correctly and in a useful way. (To the developers, not to the whole world via VentureBeat.) The same thing goes for outgoing messages. And for those, it sounds like he has a deeply shitty internet connection, because Mail will try and retry and re-retry until it sends the message. Of course, that could also be a beta update version issue, so, yeah, still his fault, not Microsoft's.

      TL;DR: Mr. Protalinski needs to report the bugs to Microsoft or STFU.

    19. Re: Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's getting a UI overhaul, so some of these gripes nay be addressed.

    20. Re:Feature or bug? by rickb928 · · Score: 2

      If your coworkers *can* move off of Exchange someone is doing it wrong.

      And when you start in with 'whaaaa?', you don't understand Exchange. At all. Think first.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    21. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right. Dedicated email applications do a better job. There's still choice out there e.g. eM Mail, Thunderbird, MS Outlook, the client that comes with macOS, and others. I prefer these over web mail. Many people are still using Windows Live Mail, you'd be surprised.

    22. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can only install stuff from this ms store app don't know why

    23. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plenty of people live under the dead hand of "corporate standards", enabled by risk adverse PHBs whose motto is "nobody ever gets fired for using microsoft/ibm" and once something is in the officially approved image, you are not allowed to use anything else. An Mail comes with the basic OS, so the path of least resistance is to just go with that. That also applies to lots of private machines whose owners don't have the inclination/skill to switch to something else.

    24. Re: Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyone storing 10GB in their PST needs to offload some of that to an archive. Same with the OST, but usually the client only presents you with recent emails in that situation, unless you are doing a search and click get more from server.

      Let me guess they have their PST files on a network share. If they do thats your problem sluggo.

    25. Re:Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PS: why the need for profanity ?

      Why the fuck not, jackass?

    26. Re: Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That 10 GB limit hasnâ(TM)t applied for years. Outlook 2012+ is great. Lots of people in this thread donâ(TM)t have the faintest clue what they are talking about.

    27. Re:Feature or bug? by war4peace · · Score: 1

      No judging masochistic people :)

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    28. Re: Feature or bug? by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      The Gmail search is instant. Outlook search is not.

    29. Re: Feature or bug? by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      Get an SSD you cheap motherfucker.

    30. Re: Feature or bug? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've used all Outlook versions since '97. The last 20 years have seen plenty of UI overhauls but they are normally little more than layout rearrangements and colour scheme changes. I'm still waiting for some decent attention paid to those issues above in all that time and with the current track record I'm not holding my breath.

  2. Use something else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's probably almost as many e-mail clients as there are text editors.

    Why don't you just use something else?

    1. Re:Use something else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean Emacs?

    2. Re:Use something else by Megol · · Score: 1

      The OP wasn't talking about a Windows replacement...

    3. Re:Use something else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably in a corporate locked-down, locked-in environment.

      Microsoft is the welfare queen of the software world. Someday they and their shoddy software will die off.

      Just wish it would happen during my lifetime.

    4. Re: Use something else by johnsnails · · Score: 1

      Whoosh

    5. Re: Use something else by Anonymice · · Score: 1

      Whoosh

    6. Re:Use something else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just wish it would happen during my lunchtime.

      FTFY

    7. Re:Use something else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then work on creating something less shitty than Linux. People will still pay for the privilege of Windows or buy an expensive Mac rather than use the free, dog-turd OS known as Linux.

    8. Re:Use something else by gravewax · · Score: 2

      what organisation on the planet with a locked down corporate image uses windows Mail???? Lots use outlook or other mail clients, in all my years I have never seen a single one that uses windows mail.

    9. Re:Use something else by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      IBM used to hold that position back in the days of the mainframe. There was no way around IBM and they knew it, and of course they behaved like they own your place.

      Guess what: Their time came, and their time went. They are still big, no doubt about this, but even they had to learn that you have to treat customers like customers because else you get shown the finger and then the door.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. FUCKING draft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    A fucking draft huh? What fool keeps using an email client that fails to send email multiple times a week?

    1. Re:FUCKING draft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I also wonder when it became so acceptable to use profanity in articles that are supposed to be considered professional?

  4. Another client? by paolo.redaelli · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why don't you use another client, such as ThunderBird?

    1. Re:Another client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      At home, or if YOU are the boss, no problem. For the most part, its the management upstairs who were wined and dined by Redmond "reps" (agents) who dictate the use of sub-standard software in the workplace. Software, what's that? .. I'm a marketing guy myself; but man is this steak good (ref: Matrix). And if entire cities should "rebel" (posterchild: Munich), MS will turn all things around them into hell until they return to the mormon fold. Anything with "American Corporation" associated with its description must be suspected of being evil. Sad but true.

    2. Re:Another client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Thunderbird is pretty damn good as an email client though? What do you suggest that's better than it and can organize multiple email accounts all in one place, while being as feature complete as thunderbird is by default or through extensions?

    3. Re: Another client? by cheater512 · · Score: 1

      A wine and dined office would be using Outlook not Windows Mail. Which is still terrible but possibly slightly better

    4. Re:Another client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How does that address his point? His point hasn't shit to do with what he uses for email, it's about how out of whack Microsoft and Windows 10 is versus the modern world, where email is essential.

    5. Re:Another client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I will agree with that, assuming the OP is in a position to choose which email client they use. Sometimes, particularly in the workplace, you get to choose between Outlook and Outlook Web Access.

      If allowed to choose your own email client, I would have to give the nod to Thunderbird. Every so often I get the itch to try something new, so I go out and try a number of different email clients. Always end up coming back to Thunderbird. It's rather dated looking, and hasn't gotten any significant updates in years -- looks like there is one in beta right now -- but it works, and it works well. What more do you need?

    6. Re:Another client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is always Outlook. It is web based (Outlook.com) as well as an MS Office Program. Windows Mail seems like the old Outlook Express but apparently much less functional. I however always preferred the full Outlook client from Office to the Express client bundled with the OS. I have been using it for over a decade. Only management can get it where I work, at least that's what I am told. I am stuck with Lotus Notes from IBM.

      P.S. I have also always avoided IE/Edge in favor of Netscape, Firefox or Chrome. It would seem that Microsoft has a knack for not delivering a quality product when it is embedded with the OS.

    7. Re:Another client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thunderbird is pretty damn good as an email client though? What do you suggest that's better than it and can organize multiple email accounts all in one place, while being as feature complete as thunderbird is by default or through extensions?

      Pretty good, but not quite great. PostBox is an almost decent alternative, except for the lack of Google Calendar integration.
      If Thunderbird would separate the account and folder panes, I'd use it and dump the others. But as it is, if you have a lot of email folders, Thunderbird's approach (used by almost all other email clients as well) means that your second, third, and fourth accounts scroll off the screen so you can no longer monitor them at a glance.
      Unfortunately, there's little money to be made by creating a great email client, so no one does.

    8. Re:Another client? by gravewax · · Score: 1

      no organisation wined and dined by Microsoft will be using windows mail, Windows mail is for home users that know no better. In the MS world they use outlook.

    9. Re: Another client? by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      Day 1: where the fuck is highlighting? Day 2: what the fuck is up with this double spaced new line shit? (Ironically, the new lines I see now won't show up on /. for some fucking reason. Using Firefox on Android). Day 3: why is the email filtering stupid? Day 4: why does search suck so much? Day 5: ah, good 'ol Outlook. Wtf? They fucking updated the GUI again? Day 6: fuck it, I'll live with Thunderbird until the next stupid thing

    10. Re:Another client? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Well, it does send out emails and it doesn't crash when it receives some, so it's at least two bits better than what he has now.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    11. Re:Another client? by TommyNelson · · Score: 1

      This. This is the first thing that springs to mind: Stop whining, ditch Windows Mail and get on with your life.

    12. Re:Another client? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I typed in Thunderbird into the Windows store. I got 2 games and an older cartoon. Are you speaking in some kind of code? Are "thunderbirds" what the kids are doing these days?

    13. Re: Another client? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fifteen bucks, little man
      put that sh*t, in my hand...

  5. Of course its crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Their UWP platform is FAIL all round, its just HTA/ActiveX just in a different wrapper, there are zero UWP apps that are a "must have" and developers know this, no users, developers or managers want or asked for a "store" (and associated antitrust privacy/SPOF Windows Live account) in Windows and now WinPhone is dead it doesnt make sense, junk the whole thing, fix the bugs and leave the fucking thing alone.

    1. Re:Of course its crap by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 1

      This. Create a development platform to please those who can only program web pages (and who also have no idea how to design desktop applications), do a half-job defining the APIs and then hand it over to the new team of (very cheap) keyboard-smashing trained monkeys. What can go wrong?

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
  6. Re: So just don't use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because Windows isnâ(TM)t free and I paid for it?

  7. Re: So just don't use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is the only thing that comes in the box, so many people wonâ(TM)t have anything else. Those that are annoyed enough will probably use the Google webmailer, which is worse if you think about decentralization.

  8. Re: So just don't use it? by Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For me I'm using Thunderbird. It's good enough. And it's not like mail is going to change radically as it is now.

    You may think that Thunderbird is a bit old, but it's working pretty well and don't cause any trouble.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  9. They all hate email by joh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Email is de-centralized, it's an open standard and with some effort you can use it for basically everything. So they hate it. They all want you to use centralized, closed platforms with every bit of data going through their servers. They = MS, Google, FaceBook, all of them.

    The fact that you need to jump through hoops meanwhile to get a sane email environment isn't at all an accident. They don't want you to use email. So fucking use it.

    1. Re:They all hate email by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That might make sense if they had a competitor to email, but they don't. In fact Microsoft profits heavily from email, through Exchange servers, Exchange cloud services, Outlook and so on. It is deeply integrated into their platform, hooked in to calendaring, meeting organization and collaboration tools.

      Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence. Just look at Windows 8 and how long it took them to get that UI semi-usable, and even now it's a poor rip-off of much better ones. It's actually a miracle that Windows Mail was ever usable at all, and it was only a matter of time before some UX and .NET experts screwed it up.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:They all hate email by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So if I've got this particular bit of mouth breathing insanity correct, and judging by your low ID luser status I'm guessing you meant exactly what you said... You believe that the fact that software like Postfix and Dovecot are difficult to set up is actually part of a conspiracy by a handful of tech companies you don't like to prevent you from setting up your own e-mail server.

      And this shit gets marked insightful. Probably by the fifteen thousand other accounts you've registered here over the years. Take your fucking meds.

    3. Re:They all hate email by asylumx · · Score: 1

      Nobody on exchange uses the Windows Mail app. They use Outlook. The Windows Mail app is a (horrible) consumer-grade email program, and very few at the consumer level use exchange. They tend to use hotmail, yahoo, gmail as providers.

    4. Re:They all hate email by Cederic · · Score: 1

      hooked in to calendaring, meeting organization and collaboration tools

      This more than anything is why Outlook and Exchange dominate the corporate world.

      Nobody else has done this as well as Microsoft.

      (Yes, Notes does it. But fuck me, it's shit)

    5. Re:They all hate email by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Leaving aside the utter simplicity of fucking up a postfix configuration that leaves you wide open to a world of shit, these are not exactly the all-singing all-dancing email, calendar, collaboration tools that align beautifully to your user management and security systems.

    6. Re:They all hate email by Desler · · Score: 1

      Yeah, using email is so hardcore and edgy.

    7. Re:They all hate email by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the scheme of things, it is.

  10. Obligatory? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Windows 10 is unusable, and instead of improving it, Microsoft is looking to drive users away"
    FTFY

  11. If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If Mozilla actually made a good version of Thunderbird, then Microsoft would have competition but no they have little competition so they can abuse their monopoly just like the bad old days of IE. And Microsoft wants to return to the bad old days with forced Edge usage.

    1. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Tim+Locke · · Score: 5, Informative

      Thunderbird is being updated again. There has already been a new release. Even without that, it is light years ahead of Windows Mail.

      --
      *** On the Internet, no one knows you're using a VIC-20
    2. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      Have you tried Opera Mail?

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    3. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Albert71292 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Have you tried Opera Mail?

      From the Opera Mail download page: "Opera Mail is at the end-of-life stage of its product life cycle. This means neither technical support nor product and security updates will be provided. The product is still available to download, but you will use it at your own risk."

      --
      "A Bird In The Hand Will Poop On Your Wrist"-Benny Hill,1982
    4. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Calydor · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Does that MATTER if the program is actually stable, secure, and useful?

      Would you prefer a decade of feature bloat?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    5. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Been using the unofficial fork of Nylas Mail, which might suit people who want something a little more modern than Thunderbird. It's nice and unlike the original or the official fork (Mailspring) it doesn't require registration.

      Throwing it out there, because I tried Thunderbird recently and was surprised how clunky it felt. That's despite my tastes usually being conservative in terms of UI design. Once of the nice features of Windows Mail is that it has a clean, modern, easy to use UI.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    6. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does that MATTER if the program is actually stable, secure, and useful?

      Would you prefer a decade of feature bloat?

      Only a fool thinks an abandoned product is secure.

      On the other hand, there's just no reason to use Opera mail when Thunderbird exists, and is actually updated.

    7. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a real shame. Opera Mail is the best email client going for people who don't want to use Emacs :)

    8. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      You have seen what Firefox turned into in the past couple years? The longer they don't touch Thunderbird, the better!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird, they would be busy removing every feature that people use, replacing them with extensions, then breaking the extensions, and finally turn it into a Gmail only client.

      Just like the features people used in Firefox was removed and replaced with extensions, which they then kept breaking and finally got rid of alltogether, turning Firefox into a lousy Chrome clone.

    10. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thunderbird is fine the way it is. Mozilla should leave it alone, not ruin it like Firefox.

    11. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      1 and 3 yes, but you need to prove number 2. An end of life product that communicates over a network and has to interprate code to draw on the screen by its nature cannot be considered secure.

    12. Re:If only Mozilla didn't give up on Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      webmail and smartphones are what essentially killed thunderbird. microsoft's os marketshare had nothing to do with it.

  12. Apples and oranges by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Windows 10 doesn't come with an email client. That's incredibly sad.

    Nah, an operating system is there to run the hardware and let 3rd party applications run nicely.

    An email client counts as a third party application in my book. The fact they bundled theirs is just part of their game.

    Thunderbird is good.

    [captcha:unionize]

  13. Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...I've been happily using 'mutt' for the past two decades without any of the problems you described.
    I never ran into the artificial 2 GB PST crash/eat-all-your-email limits. There are no limits in maildir.
    I didn't have to wait for days while incompetent Exchange admins ran eseutil in a futile attempt to recover a massive binary blob mailstore. ZFS ensures data integrity, provides online backups, and the ability to roll back to snapshots instantly.
    I never ran into a company-wide multi-day email outage because of "Me too!" replies (https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/exchange/2004/04/08/me-too/). Most open source mail servers are pretty damn robust and don't charge $2,000+ per server you spin up.
    I never had to wait for my IT team to buy licenses to allow me to connect to my mail server. Only in Microsoft-land do they charge you to buy a mail server (Exchange), while also charging you to buy the client (Outlook) that was specifically designed to talk to that mail server....and then they have the balls to say you need special permission to 'allow' them to talk (CALs).
    I get better compression on my mail when ZFS uses lz4 as opposed to whatever the hell Exchange uses in its binary blob.
    Tracking down messages is ridiculously easy--no multi-step wizard with outputs that are difficult to parse. Just the same old commands every admin should be familiar with: find, awk, sed, grep, and maybe cut.

    I remember one client that would call me almost weekly with an "OMG WE WERE DISCUSSING FIRING A USER AND WE ACCIDENTALLY FUCKING SENT A COPY OF THE EMAIL TO THE ALL-USERS MAILING LIST". We would literally have to immediately shutdown Exchange, then take the server off the network, then attach it to a test network, then bring up a test workstation with a copy of Outlook and convince Exchange we had permission to the sender's email box (even though it's off the domain), then find the offending message and Message ID, then go through 150 boxes by hand to find and remove the message and remember to purge it out of the Deleted Items box...then bring everything back online. It took *hours*.

    But in Linux-land we were able to stop the mail services, cd into the 'sent items' box, find the message ID and run something simple like: grep -l 'message-id' | xargs rm

    We'd run through about 800 linux mailboxes (~1.3 TB) in about 8 minutes and then be back online.

    Fuck Exchange.
    If your company picked Exchange, chances are they've made a *lot* of wrong decisions. Especially like hiring an incompetent IT staff.

    1. Re: Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol, if you knew what you were talking about you might have a better opinion of exchange.

    2. Re: Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Lol, if you knew what you were talking about you might have a better opinion of exchange.

      30 years of running Linux and Microsoft systems and cleaning up after shitty Windows admins like yourself have demonstrated that I know what I'm talking about.

      Just because you can follow a wizard in Windows to install Exchange doesn't make you a systems admin, a windows admin, or a mail admin. It certainly doesn't make you any sort of title with 'engineer' in it. Nor 'architect'. Real engineers and architects solve problems. They don't recommend a solution just because they are comfortable with it. I'm sorry Linux scares you and that you've never bothered to explore the other 90% of IT systems in the world that run some variant of Linux or Unix. But don't worry, obsolescence doesn't hurt *that* bad. You'll be regulated to a minimum wage position swapping out defective keyboards and mice while real engineers and architects build bigger and better systems.

    3. Re: Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol. If you weren't a Microsoft shill, you might not have posted as an anonymous coward. Even Microsoft partners know exchange is a piece of shit.

    4. Re: Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol. If you weren't a Microsoft shill, you might not have posted as an anonymous coward. Even Microsoft partners know exchange is a piece of shit.

      Microsoft 'partners' sit and masturbate to this like this: https://partner.microsoft.com/...

      "Action Pack" partner?

      In the Linux world, we didn't come up with anything quite so gay. We don't have the "Penguin Power Pack" for example.

    5. Re: Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft 'partners' sit and masturbate to this like this: https://partner.microsoft.com/...

      I worked for a company that was an 'action pack partner' for over 5 years. I continually warned them we needed to switch away from the Microsoft garbage and use Linux. They ignored me. After *relying* on it for over 5 years, Microsoft suddenly announced the terms would change and we would no longer get free licenses for on-premise Exchange, Office, and more. Our CEO sat down with our CTO and they calculated out the license changes. In our first year the action pack would become useless (except for our one 'developer' who could totally use the community edition of Visual Studio if he weren't a primadonna. Hell--he could easily use vim because he was doing a bunch of NodeJS shit that deployed to Linux anyways), and we would have to buy licenses for everything. So we'd save ~$450/year on the action pack license, but we would then have to spend nearly $45,000 in the first year to buy new Microsoft software and permission slips to use them. Each year after that would be ~$10k. Microsoft *loves* fucking over their partners.

      Anyways, I had a mail solution up and running within a few hours of the meeting. We migrated all the mail, nuked the Exchange server from orbit and have been running Linux ever since. Dropped our maintenance/admin costs too. We also ditched Windows and Office on quite a few workstations and our total Microsoft bill was about $3k for the idiots who simply can't handle the slightly different look of OpenOffice verses Microsoft Office. (God only knows how they survived the change to the ribbon bar without an aneurysm...)

    6. Re: Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ain't you just a self-aggrandizing piece of work huh? I'm not going to bother writing out a longer reply, so I'll just tell you to suck it.

    7. Re: Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ain't you just a self-aggrandizing piece of work huh? I'm not going to bother writing out a longer reply, so I'll just tell you to suck it.

      I guess you're too stupid to know what that word means?

      self-aggrandizing: increase of one's own power, wealth, etc., usually aggressively.

      Hmm...instead of shoveling hundreds of thousands of client dollars to Microsoft every year, I shovel it into my bank account and the bank accounts of my staff...and the executives...and the board members...and even back into research and development.

      Yup--sounds like I'm self-aggrandizing. And also staff-aggrandizing. And executive aggrandizing. And investor aggrandizing.

      I'm sorry you're too inept to provide value to your company and instead choose to unwittingly provide value for someone else's company.

    8. Re:Nothing to see here... by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

      Only in Microsoft-land do they charge you to buy a mail server (Exchange), while also charging you to buy the client (Outlook) that was specifically designed to talk to that mail server....and then they have the balls to say you need special permission to 'allow' them to talk (CALs).

      You forgot to add in them charging you for the underlying OS as well.

    9. Re:Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You forgot to add in them charging you for the underlying OS as well.

      The Action Pack subscription is truly evil. "Here's all our software development tools for free. Go forth and develop."
      Our company did that.
      They actually came up with a nice solution for a problem a customer was having.
      Then we had to figure out licensing costs...

      Our 'free' SQL Server (our devs didn't think anything about it) ended up costing the customer somewhere in the neighborhood of $8,000 PER CORE to avoid having to pay something like $21,000 in SQL CALs.

      They looked at the price and balked. So we ended up slashing our bill to just a few thousand dollars for several years worth of developer time and the customer decided to accept.

      I convinced them to re-write their solution using Django and Postgresql. The next customer paid $10,000 for our solution and we pocketed the entire amount instead of sending $16,000 to Microsoft and pocketing ~$2,000.

      I wish I could find a copy of those leaked Microsoft documents about migrating Hotmail from BSD to Windows and how Microsoft came to the conclusion that Hotmail would have been impossible to build or profit from if it were done in Windows.

    10. Re:Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://web.archive.org/web/20...

      "To some, this transparency is intrinsic to UNIX, but it also comes from a greater familiarity among system administrators with its internal workings."

      Unix and Linux administrators usually have a greater familiarity with how things work. Windows admins are usually just smart enough to answer a simple yes/no question and then click 'next'.

      "Windows operations still involves too many reboots. Sometimes they are unnecessary, but operators reboot a system rather than take the time to debug it. For example, a service may be hung, and rather than take the time to find and fix the problem, it is often more convenient to reboot. By contrast, UNIX administrators are conditioned to quickly identify the failing service and simply restart it; they are helped in this by the greater transparency of UNIX and the small number of interdependencies."

      Windows users are trained to press the reset button. Linux and Unix users are trained to identify the problem, find a solution, and implement a fix.

    11. Re:Nothing to see here... by Peter+P+Peters · · Score: 1

      Fuck Exchange. If your company picked Exchange, chances are they've made a *lot* of wrong decisions. Especially like hiring an incompetent IT staff.

      Incompetent staff are the ones that bitterly dwell on things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Thanks for the demonstration.

    12. Re:Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      You guys were the incompetent IT staff. Exchange lets you unsend mail. If the receiver has yet to open the email it is erased from their system. If they have opened it they get an email saying to ignore it.

      It sounds like due to your unjust hatred of it you never bothered to learn how it actually works so you always looked for the most complex ways to do something rather than the ways the software was designed to function. There are certainly reasons to hate Exchange, but bad IT staff can occur with any tool. You shouldn't blame poor staff education on the tools. You can curse at how bad Emacs and how it's completely shit when all you know is VI shortcuts, or you could learn Emacs for itself. It doesn't sound like you learned Exchange for itself. You're one of the 10 years of 1 year of experience people.

    13. Re:Nothing to see here... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      But what did you do for shared calendaring etc? Because email is one thing, but Exchange does a lot more than that and presumably you provided equivalent services.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re: Nothing to see here... by avandesande · · Score: 1

      I've used exchange at several companies for years and have never had any problems.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    15. Re:Nothing to see here... by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Some total fuckwit posts anonymously that they shut down an entire corporate email system just to 'unsend' an email, then accuses other people of being incompetent?

      Thanks, I needed the laugh.

    16. Re: Nothing to see here... by tflf · · Score: 1

      Wrong. Self aggrandizement is exaggerating (not increasing) one's own importance or power. Certainly fits the tone and content of your statements. You then chose to resort to ad hominem statements, the go-to position of the logically lazy, or desperate. Please do us all a favor, and and kindly refrain from posting further, until you have something substantive to contribute to the discourse.

    17. Re:Nothing to see here... by max99ted · · Score: 2

      Don't feed the trolls.

      While Exchange does have issues (like ALL software), what he's describing is circa 1998 Exchange 5.5. Obviously has not touched Exchange since then.

      --

      Please stop APK.. you're only hurting yourself.

    18. Re:Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And this is what our progressive, forward looking IT expert is giving to all his users:

      http://www.mutt.org/relnotes/1...

      Welcome to the 1990s everybody!

    19. Re:Nothing to see here... by David_Hart · · Score: 1

      Some total fuckwit posts anonymously that they shut down an entire corporate email system just to 'unsend' an email, then accuses other people of being incompetent?

      Thanks, I needed the laugh.

      On the other hand, if an Exec sent a poorly worded email or email to the wrong group, there could be situations where the result would be horribly bad for the company. In those specific instances it just might be better to shut down access to the email system, preventing people from accessing the email, vs the alternative.

      I'm not saying that the correct procedure was followed. Just that there are situations where more drastic measures might be called for.

    20. Re:Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe he shouldn't have sent those picks of him shtooping his secretary to his wife.

    21. Re: Nothing to see here... by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      What kind of shit were you running that all the users didn't receive that email by the time the fuckup had even dialed your number? If this happens weekly, why didn't you implement something to prevent this? Fucking whiner.

    22. Re:Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree: FUCK EXCHANGE.

      However, it seems that your unixfu stood in the way of powershell. Removing the message from EVERYWHERE in exchange would be as simple as:
      Log first to check:
      Get-Mailbox -Server "exchange"-resultsize unlimited |Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery 'Subject:"*FIRE HIS DUMB ASS*"from:"silly.person@anotherbiz.com"' -LogOnly -LogLevel Full -TargetMailbox "Discovery Search Mailbox" -TargetFolder "SearchAndDeleteLog"
      Then nuke:
      Get-Mailbox -Server "exchange"-resultsize unlimited |Search-Mailbox -SearchQuery 'Subject:"*FIRE HIS DUMB ASS*"from:"silly.person@anotherbiz.com"' -DeleteContent

    23. Re:Nothing to see here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok this is total garbage. As an Sysadmin for more than 8 years with linux and windows background (and basic mac stuff of home use). Your information is severely outdated and false. I have a direct example of a *nix hell of a mail and domain setup that I have changed into a complete windows with maybe 1-2 days of maintenance in a year at max. The setup was this before. Clearos and domain with ldap and mail configured, every pc would ran a thunderbird client with lightning and caldav synchronization to calenders of people (mostly windows devices, some developers ran on linux).
      Here are some of the issues that have happened when doing this setup:
      1. You need extensive nix knowledge about the mail handling, the domain rights and the permissions to setup mailflow (e.g. folders, public/shared folders, calendar entries).
      2. Thunderbird would be extremely sluggish and slow when updating caldav events, cause in nix this was running sequentially, also there was no limit to cache important events or only a certain time frame e.g. 1 year
      3. Mail Permission would have to be manually set, there were no rules on mailbox size/sometimes. Folders would sometimes break or accidentally moved somewhere and admins had to locate and restore that.( we then limited the permissions only to admins and allowed the users to only create subfolders/files, they would accidentally create folders which we had to delete manually too, so not really working)
      4. Users are completely unable to recreate a thunderbird profile or resolve issues themselves, admins have to be contacted several times.
      5. Several independent tools on linux side that each handle stuff differently, e.g. cyrus for permission, postfix/sendmail.
      6. Since users had to have access on other peoples calendars sometimes they would delete all the entries accidentally, thus corrupting a huge amount of entries for all people.
      7. There was also no option to deploy calendars to people, they had to be manually set or set via a login script that would sometimes not work or break something in the client when also updating.
      8. Out-of-Office responders cannot be retroactively changed easily. there was no distinction between internal/external senders. Admins had to check the autoresponder when falsely set. Also no specified timeframe. it had to be manually activated and deactivated. No relay to other people (we would just grant the other people access to the mailbox for that duration)
      And of course a huge amount of documentation of troubleshooting crap for things that should not have to be documented.

      And now the all hated windows world.
      Exchange on premise 2016, active directory 2016:
      1. Users press on Outlook symbol -> Profile created, team calendars visible, permissions already set, shared mailbox set, public folders visible with correct permissions (people cannot delete already existing folders, can add folders/files and delete self created files/folders without problems)
      2. Resource calendars for meeting rooms, Management people have all permissions to all calendars, can set events for projects. Other people can see events, description (no risk of corruption), events can be set private.
      3. mobile deployment out of the box, with quarantive restrictions for new end devices without certificate of domain (easy deployment)
      4. Automatic signature filled via domain profile, Autoresponder template automatically deployed when people leave or are in holidays.
      5. Unified messaging, people get sms/e-mails/voice mails for any kind of communication whatever is preferred at current work of person.
      6. If any kind of problems, Profile recreated >95% of problems solved, rest pst repair work behind while work in online mode or ANY other pc. People can login on any client -> good to go.

      People cry about microsoft a lot, and there are some huge problems e.g. why the hell public folders are not searchable through the outlook client but everywhere else. But when it comes to business and enterprise needs it just fucking covers 99% of the usage sce

  14. Missing emails? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure they're all on a server in HRC's basement.

  15. Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What's the business case for making Windows Mail better? It's not going to sell Windows 10. It doesn't make any money on its own. It's the email analogy to Solitaire and MS Paint. It's probably just there to make sure it doesn't become an anti-trust issue if they integrate it, like Windows has always come with a (crappy useless) email client. And as such they've probably outsourced it to some shit tier support and what you're seeing is code monkeys creating a train wreck. But they don't care because everyone (except you, apparently) will either go webmail, Office 365 or use a third party client.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah. Honestly, I don't attribute this to 'malice'. Incompetence, lack of time, money, resource, and nobody caring? All plausible. Lack of vision. I'd also believe "keeping the thing at lowest common denominator" which means it's a toy, not a tool.

      But, my honest opinion:
      If you think of it as a 'mobile phone email client that accidentally ended up on the desktop' it makes a lot more sense. Only one email open at a time? Save in drafts? That's fairly common (iOS's email does that). And remember, this was Microsoft's approach, mobile versions of apps that work on phones AND desktops...

    2. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The business case is it does not make the rest of your products look worse.

    3. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's the business case for making Windows Mail better?

      Answer: Outlook Express.

      Microsoft stepped up from being a purveyor of operating systems to software that runs on an OS decades ago. So there's that.
      Otherwise I'd say all the other types of OS out there are leagues ahead with mail clients that it is a joke to see w10 mail let alone to actually use it.

      And another comment hit the nail on the head, decentralised. They hate decentralised. They want it centralised, on their servers. Cloud does this (e.g. 365). Stand-alone apps do not and therefore should be made as shitty as possible to compare feature rich to lacklustre.

    4. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Because the Windows Mail client pushes ads. That and it's emulating Office 365 which is just as poor as a mail system as Windows Mail.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    5. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last half year (due to temporary other work assignment) I have had to use Outlook and Office 365 a lot every day. And theyre fecking horrible, so many annoying things...

      Calender notification poping up over email youre writing and you cant just close it and continue writing. "denied ping" and stays there. Seriously?
      Using "send to" in explorer to send a file with email. Forget about opening outlook or looking at the email until its sent away. Whut?
      No sending email and ending up in draft or outgoing? Oh yes, fun fun fun.
      Woooh, opening files with SAME name in DIFFERENT folders?! Forget about it! (Really fun every month shift when you would like to see the previous documents tables).

      It just one thing after another in Outlook, Word, Excel and so on that annoys and fecks up my work flow. It so bad that I after a lot of googling trying to find workarounds or fixes to problems, accually took with me a small laptop from home with Win7 and use it and Libre Office and often bluetooth documents over. My sanity needs the temporary limited rest it gives me.

      And dont get me starting on Win10, atleast my work computor havn't had that "upgrade" yet...

    6. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Rival operating systems include email clients by default. Off the top of my head, only ChromeOS has a significant user base yet doesn't include a client - and there's a reason for that.

      On the desktop, Mac OS X and Ubuntu both include clients. On tablets, Android and iOS both include clients.

      I know Windows doesn't have a major problem with marketshare on the desktop right now... but it is facing real threats given the fact for most applications a machine with a Windows API is unnecessary. That's partially why Microsoft's latest operating system isn't just some incremental bug fixes to Windows 7.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    7. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is what I like about Apple. Their mail-client works superb. Just like the calendar (and to lesser extent the contact-management).

      These are the basics. They should be included.

    8. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Cederic · · Score: 1

      MS Paint is awesome. Especially now it supports more than BMP outputs.

      It means that I know that on any Windows PC I have the ability to capture, crop and save a screenshot. It's the graphical equivalent of knowing you'll have vi on a unix system.

      About as good too ;)

    9. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think of it as a 'mobile phone email client that accidentally ended up on the desktop' it makes a lot more sense. Only one email open at a time? Save in drafts?

      So, you're saying Microsoft has come full circle and no longer understands multi-tasking and has reverted to the old shitty days where they couldn't do it?

      Sorry, there is no excuse for Microsoft to fail to know how to to multi-tasking, it's been around for decades, and they finally managed to mostly try a bad version of it over 20 years ago.

      If their mobile OS isn't multi-tasking, it's a piece of shit. If their desktop OS isn't multi-tasking, they're pathetic.

      These are solved problems, and they're problems MS themselves eventually figured out. Failing to support an app not being in the foreground is inexcusable, and has been for a very long time.

    10. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by nine-times · · Score: 1

      Ok, I'd be fine with that, but then what's the rationale for making Windows Mail a part of the OS with no supported way of uninstalling it?

      I mean, first there's the question of, why build it at all if it doesn't make financial sense? They could just point people to webmail, or include Thunderbird, or just assume that, by now, most people know how to deal with email on their own. Instead, they not only need to pre-install their klunky mail app with the OS, but they have to make it an app that comes pinned on both the start bar and task bar, that can't be uninstalled and can't be removed from the start menu.

      If they're going to push so hard for you to use their app, then there must be some financial gain to it. If there's financial gain to it, then it should be worth investing enough to make it work properly. It's not like email is super complicated.

    11. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      There is a difference however..
      Ubuntu is a distribution of an OS and a set of application software, windows is just an OS which comes with some simple example programs expecting you to acquire real applications separately (and still manages to have a huge installation footprint).

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    12. Re:Intentionally? Doubt it. Financially? Yes. by SlideWRX · · Score: 1

      The irony is that windows mail on mobile (W10M) works fine. Emails always get sent quickly in the background, doesn't crash, new emails sync quickly, etc. I've used mail on W10 desktop and yes, it sucks in all the ways he mentions. If I'm waiting on an email I know was sent, I'll often switch to my phone to view it, because on the desktop it will sit there and 'sync' for five minutes.

  16. makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As far as I can tell, they've been trying to make almost all of their products worse for years. Why should Mail lag behind?

  17. Re:They all hate email (and you) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you know MLB has a satellite in orbit that can read your mind? It's true.

    It's not that they don't want you to use email, it's that they (MS anyway) knows you don't use POP3 or IMAP but instead use GoogleMail, or perhaps Outlook(Hotmail). Anyone smart enough (relative) to need an emailer is smart enough to find something good. Everyone else uses gmail/hotmail, because that's all they know.

  18. So basically Apple then by furry_wookie · · Score: 2

    >Microsoft is looking to drive users away

    So they have basically become Apple.

    I have never seen so companies who do exactly the opposite of what their users ask for and want from them than Apple and Microsoft....oh wait, um HP, Oracle, and IBM probably fit in there too..

    Hm is it just me or do all big tech companies suck

    --
    -- Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventualy invent UNIX.
    1. Re:So basically Apple then by AReilly · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Except that Apple Mail.app, while not flawless by any stretch, is a really great mail client.
      Android has some good ones too: K9 is only missing cross-account message store/move and it'd be as good as mail.app.
      I've tried Microsoft Mail a few times and decided that it just doesn't work (for me.) Outlook works, for small values of work, but is the sort of obliquely painful experience that you'd expect of an unloved "legacy" technology.

      Microsoft wants you to transition to MS Teams. It also doesn't work, but it's much shinier than their mail offerings and has the advantage of locking you and your content into their infrastructure.

      --
      -- Andrew
  19. So many bad clients by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I could list dozens of bad email clients here. I could also list a few good ones. Why not just stop using the bad clients and start using a good one?

  20. Microsoft getting those SaaS subscriptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sorry you aren't giving Microsoft enough of your money... please try again.

  21. Re: So just don't use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    +1

    Also use thunderbird. Highly recommend it.

  22. Re:They all hate email (and you) by joh · · Score: 1

    So you agree?

  23. Windows Mail by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    The Windows of Mail applications - I get it now.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  24. Windows Live Mail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    AKA Outlook Express. Still using it on Windows 10.

  25. MS is abysmal with Email. Always has been. by Qbertino · · Score: 0

    MS spoiled email for everyone back in the day when fullquote became Outlook/Outlook Express default. Until someone comes up with an email alternative and a zero-fuss open source groupware server MS / Exchange and whatnot is going to continue to make E-Mail something you want to avoid.

    Bottom line: MS is a sadist when it comes to email, so yes, they're probably trying to deliberately make it worse.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:MS is abysmal with Email. Always has been. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's plenty of full messenging systems out there (that combine email/calendar/tasks/etc, just like exchange). Hell Colab is even open source GPLv3.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_mail_servers

      And there's plenty of great email clients that will support these various platforms...

      The fact that you think there are not is exactly what Microsoft wants you to think.

      Wait...you're not an exchange admin by chance are you? ;)

  26. And? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That summary reads like your average rant. I thought it may have a point, but apparently not.

    Yes, the mail app built into Windows 10 has always sucked, and has never shown any sign of improvement over time/multiple versions. There's plenty of alternatives; this particular app isn't even worthy of a good rant. Why is this on the front page of /.? Move on. Sheesh.

  27. Don't Be Sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wrongs of this world inspire the creation of something new.

  28. Default Program Setting by Stan92057 · · Score: 1

    2 things, wasn't MS forced,not asked to add that setting to allow customer to choose and use their own choices of programs? The default Program settings. 2. If they are forcing people to use a browser they don't want isn't that breaking that setting that forced on MS by the government. I think its time to revisit that anti competitive law suite again..

    --
    Jack of all trades,master of none
    1. Re:Default Program Setting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only reason I used Windows was for the amount of choice in terms of software and compatibility. Take that away and force me to use Microsoft products as default basically eliminates me staying with Windows.

    2. Re:Default Program Setting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was only for web browsers, and mandated by the European Union.

  29. which begs the question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why are you still using it?
    The mail server for Google Chrome is good. I have used it for years and had no problems. Nothing like you are describing.

  30. Maybe it's wrongthink detection by Kohath · · Score: 0

    How do you know these are bugs and not the people at Microsoft censoring you like Twitter and Facebook and Google censor? Are you sure every detail of all your communications is perfectly and unmistakably in accordance with the cultural orthodoxy?

    Maybe you have been shadow banned.

  31. It's not just windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Android doesn't have a working email client either. It cannot reliable delete email from a mail server. It doesn't matter if you use the stock client, the gmail app, whatever. Google only supports GMAIL.

    It's no shock that microsoft is doing the same crap.

    1. Re:It's not just windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is not true at all. I support and manage hundreds of boxes with google and never see standard imap clients that fail like that. I DO see people forget that they have more then one device on the account and *those other devices* can lock up a email.

    2. Re:It's not just windows by guruevi · · Score: 1

      Android is just poor at having anything working at all. If you're used to Apple and Linux, Android and Microsoft are very poor user/power user experiences

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  32. Re:They all hate email (and you) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No. My point is, no one cares about some app-thing few use. It's nothing more than neglect, not hate for POP3/IMAP. There are finite resources and lots of things that need to be done. HxOutlook.exe is not on the list. Apparently.

  33. Re:They all hate email (and you) by joh · · Score: 2

    Where's the difference if the effect is the same? OK, change "hate" for "they don't care for you being able to use whatever server(s) you may like for your email".

  34. Objection, answer calls for speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Passive aggressive headlines and shaky premise, but hey, it gets clicks!

  35. Thunderbird by demon+driver · · Score: 4, Informative

    Thunderbird is what I've been predominantly using over the last few years, whether on Windows or Linux, but it isn't without severe flaws, either. The probably most annoying: As soon as an account surpasses a critical number of messages and/or folders, notification of new messages does not work reliably anymore and I have to actively click on the bloody folders to see if there's something new even if I've configured them to be updated whenever the account is being checked for new mail...

    1. Re:Thunderbird by Calydor · · Score: 2

      For me, the most annoying bug in Thunderbird is the fact that the 'No new messages' blurp in the corner of the client only stays for two seconds after checking, so you're left wondering if it checked or not if you miss that short moment.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    2. Re:Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why dont you mail the devs and request a configurable setting?
      Or patch it yourself? recompile it with a long timeout

      It's not like some Microsoft P.O.S. right?

    3. Re:Thunderbird by KiloByte · · Score: 2

      the 'No new messages' blurp in the corner of the client only stays for two seconds after checking, so you're left wondering if it checked or not if you miss that short moment.

      But how do you even "check" your mail? Either the new mail is there (visible as bold directory, and a number in the tray icon), or not. Delivery between your server and client is done via IMAP push, so "checking" does nothing (unless possibly your network was down and you want to haste a reconnect attempt).

      I haven't seen a mail server that requires polling anywhere this millenium, so I'd be surprised there's one still alive. In a government agency, perhaps.

      Even text clients like mutt show notifications on the status bar, so at most "checking" involves looking at that terminal. And that's why I have Thunderbird playing role of a glorified biff.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    4. Re:Thunderbird by Calydor · · Score: 1

      I do that by not having Thunderbird open 24/7.

      I'm just your average guy that may receive an email notification every now and then, such as from the post office saying they'll deliver a package tomorrow between noon and 4 pm. So when I expect there MAY be a mail or two waiting, I load Thunderbird.

      Thunderbird proceeds to connect to my ISP's mail server, checks for new messages, and downloads them. If there are new messages that's easy enough to see - new messages with bold titles in the main window. If there AREN'T any new messages that information goes away in a couple of seconds, which as I said leaves me wondering if it connected at all or the attempt is hanging.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    5. Re:Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As soon as an account surpasses a critical number of messages and/or folders, notification of new messages does not work reliably anymore

      Oh, so *that's* why that's been happening!

      My pet peeve: Thunderbird search returns results for the word you searched, plus similar words (different verb endings, etc.). Sometimes I have thousands of matches in this more general search, when a proper strict search would have returned only the single email I wanted. There doesn't seem to be any way to turn this off.

      I have many complaints about their brain-dead searching, and many more about Thunderbird in general, but this specific one is my biggest headache.

    6. Re:Thunderbird by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      On the other hand the junk mail filter is way better than the Outlook filter.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    7. Re:Thunderbird by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      IMAP push

      Well, first, there's no such thing as "IMAP push". You have IMAP idle or IMAP notify. Idle sleeps in a mailbox and gets notified if a new mail comes in - this means you need one new IMAP connection for every mailbox you want to monitor, which unless your setup is pretty simple without much server-side sorting into different folders, rapidly becomes impractical. Notify is far better in that you can select criteria, including mailboxes (explicitly, no wildcards), so notify would be the go-to for any client. You still need to hold a connection open, though - which isn't nice for mobile clients (especially older ones) and not true push. "True" push (you're really just using a generic shared connection elsewhere) comes from out-of-band information (gmail uses cloud pub/sub, for example), but that certainly isn't a part of IMAP.

      I haven't seen a mail server that requires polling anywhere this millenium

      I hate to admit it, but I maintain about half a million users on servers that require poll - NFS mounts not subject to inotify, and all that. I'm sure you'll find it's far more common than you expect for large-scale rollouts.

  36. Tor Browser by emil · · Score: 2

    For those times that I want or need to use Microsoft mail services, I prefer to use Tor Browser to connect to http://outlook.com/ Be aware that Microsoft will prompt for extra security info when they detect your session originates at a Tor exit node. I wish they would refrain.

  37. Android by demon+driver · · Score: 1

    I also think that the quality and choice of e-mail clients on Android is poor. That said, I've been successfully using K-9 mail for some time now, and I've somehow learned to live with its shortcomings, the most significant probably being that while it has the option for several identities it still doesn't allow to configure separate outgoing SMTP servers for them, although it has been a feature request for years now and wouldn't really need rocket science or witchcraft to implement, either.

    (I'm quite sure that K-9 works with GMail accounts, too, and it even does PGP encryption, if wanted.)

    1. Re: Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've used K-9, Bluemail and Mailwise on Android. They each have their best features but I think I'd pick Mailwise as top of the heap. Last time I used K-9 it sucked my battery like there was no tomorrow.

    2. Re: Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Low battery use isn't going to happen with any IMAP-only mail client unless you switch to once-in-a-blue-moon (several hours or more) polling for new emails. Idle/notify (K9 "push") requires you hold a connection open, and poll wakes the device. The low battery mobile use case is to use a vendor-specific out of band push service (which isn't part of standard IMAP, Exchange, Apple, Fastmail, Google each use their own proprietary versions), and unfortunately it doesn't look like there will be a standard any time soon. For K9, set a long poll period and disable push.

  38. No it doesn't try by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It just can't help. The modern Microsoft is even unable to write UI strings in proper English.

  39. Make your own e-mail client by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just find the mail on windows 10 pretty ok. I don't know why it crashes on your side. There are other e-mail managers out there. Why not use one. Maybe those are perfect for you.

  40. Problem with all "modern-ui" aka Metro-style" apps by Dorianny · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problems are not specific to the mail app but mostly showcase the limitations of the "sand-boxed application" model. The whole idea of "one OS to rule them all" was idiotic from the start. Phones and pc's have very different usage scenarios, what works on one doesn't work very well on the other

  41. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I end up debating whether to send the email hours late, or if it doesn't make sense to send it anymore."

    Do that with all your emails and soon enough you will see how meaningless most of them are.

    Email is not an emotional punching bag, it's a communication tool. Buy yourself a diary at Hallmarks for your outbursts and use email only for important messages devoid of time-sensitive tantrums.

  42. Never was any good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Haven't used a Microsoft mail product since Outlook Express. Remember Microsoft Windows Essentials, that was the starting point of their suit of productivity tools for users. Actually Mail was just another push to Windows apps that have completely failed at providing a reliable solution. Now Microsoft trying to marry links opened in Mail to Edge is just another incredibly bad decision by Microsoft.

    1. Re:Never was any good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's an experiment, isn't it? Not a mainstream thing, at least not yet. They will probably get so many complaints from the testers they'll drop the whole notion.

  43. Oblig. by Memnos · · Score: 1
    --
    I don't trust atoms -- they make up stuff.
    1. Re: Oblig. by johnsnails · · Score: 1

      And yet...

  44. I don't know for mail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But for outlook, sure it's worse

  45. Yeah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Windows Mail is unusable

    Windows itself it's not very usable -- compared to Xfce, for instance. And KDE is way more powerful than Xfce.

    > ... which means Windows 10 doesn't come with an email client.

    No, it's worse. Having a gun that will fail you unexpectedly might get you killed faster than having no gun. And in my experience, other applications have imposed limits on what we can do. Word, Excel and the lack of other software -- probably not bought because too expensive.

    > That's incredibly sad.

    Sad for you, for me, but for some of the people who deal the cards, it's business as usual. Security added another dimension to that, because there are things you're not allowed to do... meanwhile the things to which you are allowed simply stop working.

  46. Well duh, it's MAPI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Windows Mail uses MAPI - remember, that awful mail sending/receiving API Microsoft created for VB programmers last century? The app needs to run in the foreground because MAPI runs in the Windows event loop instead of using threads or timers.

  47. yet another short lived mail client by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes because they are going to do what they have done to every email client outside of outlook, create it, move people to it, and then abandoned it. i hate it when people use any Microsoft client outside of outlook or a better 3rd party alternative . because i know with a few years Microsoft will abandoned the platform leaving those users emails stuck in some proprietary database that they cant access on what ever new mail thingy Microsoft is touting this year.

  48. Re:They all hate email (and you) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If no one is there to hear the tree fall, does it make a sound?

      Does anyone really know?
      Does anyone really care?

    This is not a new thing to Windows. Lots of crap apps have always been included. No hate involved. No one cares to make them better. And by cares, I mean priority - if there were nothing else to do, then you could apply for a "THEY HATE ME" claim waiver.

    Do you have nothing better to do than carry on a transcribed conversation on slashdot, inmate 27088? And for sure stay away from ACs. You will never win.

  49. Corruption at work ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    most large corporations produce crap, which is the result of having no real talent, which is the inevitable result of patronism, nepotism and cronyism

    just sayin ...

    1. Re:Corruption at work ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And to add, these modern corps. are plagued by their marketing depts. having way too much sway. Take these contracts to put 3rd party software, source unchecked by Microsoft, into the very Start menu of the operating system - pure marketing dept. stuff. The Windows and Visual Studio teams really need to tell the marketers to take a hike.

    2. Re:Corruption at work ... by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      No, the large companies have plenty of talent, but management always offsets this talent. I've worked with people from Microsoft who were very sharp, and from what I heard about how things work at Microsoft, my description seems to be pretty accurate. Ditto for other large companies. It's usually not the lack of talent that makes awful software. It's awful management.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  50. I don't know. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    All I know is I would rejoice if Ballmer snuck back on campus and hurled a chair at Nutella.

    I am not suggesting or recommending Ballmer do this, let me make that very plain; I simply acknowledge that I would experience feelings of joy over the rhetorical event, were it to occur.

  51. Microsoft is not joined up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So many of my dealings with MS these days make clear to me how disjointed it has become and how desperately it needs a manager who cares about it.

    All these annoying - and not even minor - bugs are the broken windows that New York had to fix to survive.

    FILE EXPLORER CAN'T HANDLE LONG FILE PATHS FFS !

  52. Re:They all hate email (and you) by guruevi · · Score: 2

    If you've ever worked with real users, you'd know that isn't the case. We had Microsoft-boffins thinking the same exact thing about our "corporate e-mail" with ~15,000 users - nobody uses POP3/IMAP and it's a huge headache for Exchange to badly implement it, let's turn it off. We had a small riot on our hand from hundreds of users and even a number of Exchange-to-IMAP instances popping up.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  53. Re:So just don't use it? by Humbubba · · Score: 5, Informative
    That Windows 10 Mail is so disappointing is more evidence Microsoft is putting Windows on the back burner, while it chases the cloud.

    Windows ME, Vista, Version 8 - Microsoft has been having problems here and there with Windows for some time. In 2015, Nadella combined their hardware efforts with the Windows Universal Platform, allowing for cross platform applications [1]. Things didn't go as hoped. While Windows 10 is popular, overtaking Win 7 by February 2018, overall PC sales has been declining. In fact, they have been losing ground for the last 6 years, with a 2.8% drop in 2017 [2].

    Consumer Reports stopped recommending the entire line of Surface PCs in 2017 due to hardware concerns. These days CR rates the Surface Pro 4 positively, but they still claim Microsoft is less reliable than most brands, and Apple is the most reliable laptop brand [3]. BTW, if you're interested, Windows can be installed on a Mac with OS X's dual booting Boot Camp. Best of both worlds.

    Now, Terry Myerson, the leader of the Windows and Devices Group, is leaving Microsoft. With his departure, Microsoft is creating 2 new teams that will prioritize Microsoft's cloud and artificial intelligence products. Perhaps this is an effort to appease investors [4]. With Myerson's departure and this re-prioritization, it's no surprise Windows applications like Mail are having problems. I expect more trouble across the Windows spectrum. Microsoft's head is in the clouds, and their application platform is in the sunset, rear window.

    [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-182823659.html

    [2] https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-vs-windows-7-has-microsofts-newest-os-just-reached-a-turning-point/

    https://www.arnnet.com.au/article/632157/2017-saw-pc-shipments-decline-six-years-straight/

    [3] {May be Paywalled} https://www.consumerreports.org/products/laptop/microsoft-surface-pro-4-384902/overview/

    [4] http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/29/news/companies/microsoft-restructuring-windows/index.html

  54. Welcome to the next generation. called DeMail by Provocateur · · Score: 1

    It was that historic moment when millions of Windows 10 users uninstalled Mail in unprecedented numbers, after one solitary anonymous coward posted on Slashdot how simple it was to uninstall

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  55. Thunderbird new message notification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You can change that as I have my work Thunderbird client setup to keep the notification around for at least an hour (so I can still see it when I come back from lunch).

    I'm not at work and can't remember the details, but if you look around you should find out how it is done.

  56. Re: So just don't use it? by jittles · · Score: 2

    For me I'm using Thunderbird. It's good enough. And it's not like mail is going to change radically as it is now.

    You may think that Thunderbird is a bit old, but it's working pretty well and don't cause any trouble.

    I was using Eudora 5 until the SSL certs being used had too large of a signing key for it to handle. I'm a bit sad, to be honest.

  57. I had some sympathy and then... by niittyniemi · · Score: 1

    From TFA:

    There are of course small features I would like to see added to Windows Mail, like being able to set formatted signatures (as opposed to just plain text), but that's hardly a priority.

    If it's not plain text then it doesn't belong in the body of an email. That's what attachments are for.

    He doesn't do his credibility as a sensible and informed critic of MUAs any good with that statement. Although, to be fair, he's probably correct in saying that the current Windows mail client is a POS; they always have been.

    MS, along with most of the other software vendors, are trying to force their victims^H^Hcustomers to their 'cloud' offerings and potentially never ending huge revenue stream. It may work for a few years but eventually businesses might just wise-up to the fact that running your apps on Azure, which has a tendency to go up and down with the regularity of a whore's drawers, is probably not the best way to run your business.

    postfix, procmail and mutt for the win.

    --
    The Machine stops.
    1. Re:I had some sympathy and then... by billyswong · · Score: 1

      If it's not plain text then it doesn't belong in the body of an email. That's what attachments are for.

      Windows Live Mail (the official download for Win 7 is already removed, and the "web-installer" exe file that novice users downloaded in the past no longer work of course) can do HTML signature.

      Outlook Express 6 (included in Win XP) can do HTML signature too.

  58. Re: So just don't use it? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You may think that Thunderbird is a bit old, but it's working pretty well and don't cause any trouble.

    It's not "a bit old", it's "good enough and does what you want". It has the added benefit that Mozilla have decided to leave it alone, unlike Firefox which they're determined to keep fucking up more and more until their last users decide that since it's just a crappy copy of Chrome anyway they may as well use the real thing.

  59. Re:Problem with all "modern-ui" aka Metro-style" a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Windows Mail is a Microsoft Store style / metro style app, then that makes sense. Don't use those.

  60. No, they are not. by PPH · · Score: 1

    If they tried, they'd undoubtedly fail miserably and end up creating an excellent product.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  61. No. by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    They can't.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  62. Re: So just don't use it? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not "a bit old", it's "good enough and does what you want". It has the added benefit that Mozilla have decided to leave it alone, unlike Firefox which they're determined to keep fucking up more and more until their last users decide that since it's just a crappy copy of Chrome anyway they may as well use the real thing.

    Leaving older software alone seems to be the best way to have software that works. I've been keeping a Windows 7 computer and an old Core 2 duo imac around because newer systems purposely break software, or in this case, are just Microsoft being Microsoft and screwing up.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  63. Claws Mail, baby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claws_Mail

    Multiplatform, runs circles around Thunderbird speed wise and is extensible through plugins. Doesn't allow sending HTML mail (though it can receive it) and is extremely fast in navigating mail folders or finding messages. I keep all my mail inline converted from other older clients, that is about 20 years and tens thousands mails, and it still starts in less than half a second.

  64. Seems to be fine for me by Alastair+Cooper · · Score: 1

    I have to say I use Windows Mail as my primary e-mail client without issue and I'm very happy with it. I have full-fat Outlook configured as well as part of Office 365 which I can use when I want more advanced functions but this is rare for me. I've never seen the bug with mail not sending to my knowledge though I'm now a bit wary. I do wonder if perhaps this is a case of Microsoft being lazy or incompetent with third-party e-mail services (perhaps the IMAP component) as I've only ever seriously used it with Outlook.com.

  65. Windows Live Mail? by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 1

    I'm probably going to get torched for this, but I am actually pretty happy with Windows Live Mail 2012. You can still download it if you search for it.

    It does pretty much everything I want, and is relatively bug-free. (My biggest gripe is if sending an email to an illegitimate address [like someone who mistypes their email and I copy and paste it without looking closely], it stuffs up the send process, sometimes requiring me to force-stop the program, but this happens quite infrequently. Pretty tolerable as the main 'bug'.)

    It has a great search feature (which I use a LOT), signatures can be HTML or Plain Text (which I use as 'automated messages' as well), multiple accounts each have their own separate Inbox, good filtering. The 'Junk' feature is next to useless, but not a lot out there are very good any way, if it's a real concern I'll run the account through Gmail first.

    It's easy to back up (I just save the folders.) You can import and export all your accounts.

    Not a lot of bells and whistles, but it actually does about all I need pretty well. Hopefully Windows doesn't break it any time soon...

  66. It's Outlook Express, but with a twist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The real Outlook backend is there. I've seen it in the task manager. Then, Windows Mail (and Calendar) provide a sometimes-glitchy front end for it. As long as I'm not doing serious work, Windows Mail works OK for me ... except in the tablet. For some reason, having Windows Mail in the tablet open along with Firefox sometimes crashes the Intel video driver. And the MS practice of timing-out email credentials every 3-6 weeks (exact amount seems to vary), requiring re-entry of the password, drives me kind of crazy.

    That said, if MS changes it to tightly integrate with IE regardless of system default settings, it's Thunderbird here we come. So far, it hasn't been worth using Thunderbird on the more portable computers (and the WinPhone only works with Windows Mail). That could change...though I'd miss the cross-client calendar integration.

  67. Why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How much are Microsoft paying the programmers that develop their apps? $15 an hour? Pay up and produce something to be proud of before it's too late. Also, why is Windows Pro riddled with spyware when it's a paid product? Oh yeah, and why does Windows Pro come with children's games? What are you thinking???

    1. Re:Why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The marketing department and the contracts they sign is the reason why children's games - source code unchecked - are in the Start menu of their professional operating system. The marketing dept. is behind many of the decisions coming out of Redmond these days.

  68. Come on now, people by TheDarkener · · Score: 1

    This is Slashdot. We all know Microsoft does shit like this. It's pretty much in their business model. Make default/light apps suck. Bait them toward payed solutions under their own control (i.e. outlook). Profit!

    Also make those apps suck, because....more profit?

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  69. Re: So just don't use it? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I quite like Thunderbird, but my big issue with it is that it renders HTML email using the Gecko engine in the same process that contains all of my mail server login credentials and full access to my email history. I don't know if Windows Mail does this, but Apple Mail uses the same sandboxing as Safari, so if there's a WebKit bug it will crash the renderer process but without a separate privilege escalation vulnerability it can't compromise my mail client. Handling untrusted data using a massively complex renderer in process just seems like a recipe for disaster.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  70. Bettridges law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems to not apply in this case

  71. Betteridge's Law by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Betteridge's Law just got an exception.

  72. what the? by sad_ · · Score: 1

    what the hell is wrong with these windows users.
    don't use it, plain and simple, not as if it is the only email client in the world.
    as if the ads weren't bad enough already (why? does MS need the extra money, really?), you have more bugs then should be normal.
    just install thunderbird and be done with it, never look at this crazy default windows mail client again - there is NO reason to use it.

    don't give me that BS about it being installed by default blahblahblah.
    lot's of people find & use chrome, even worse, lot's of people are 'smart' enough to install crapware on their pc without any help.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
    1. Re:what the? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Because my guess is that few people actually run into the problems poster described. I actually uninstalled Thunderbird and switched to Windows Mail because I was having severe performance problems with Thunderbird. I've never experienced any issues with Windows Mail. It's a very basic app, but it works just fine for me.

      Not looking forward to seeing these changes, especially with links opening to Edge and upcoming ads. May push me to find a different client, or see if Thunderbird's performance is still an issue.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  73. so if thats in your resume, your toast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So anyone on linkedin that is/was part of the Mail team for MS, is doomed to never
    get a job any where, as they should be asked, why are you so shit at coding, even a 12 year old
    could do better with an email client written 100% in VB, or WindowScript even ....

    Maybe this is outsourced to India do some shit house team for $8/k year per coder.

  74. Re:So just don't use it? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    That Windows 10 Mail is so disappointing is more evidence Microsoft is putting Windows on the back burner, while it chases the cloud.

    Oh please, the default mail client has been going down hill since back in 1998 and the only clouds we had back then were ones in the sky and those coming out of the back of a poorly tuned diesel engine.

    Every successive version of whatever mail app Microsoft ships has been worse than the previous one, and that includes its cloud efforts.

  75. Almost like those are BETA versions. Oh, wait... by sabbede · · Score: 1

    They are! The author is talking about insider builds not being perfect. Well, duh.

  76. In my opinion by astralan · · Score: 1

    There is only one edition of Windows 10 that should be made public, and that is LTSB. Comes only with security patch management. No Edge, no Mail, no Cortana. Use your own apps. Take a hint, M$.

  77. Try Scan and Fax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That half-finished excuse of an app is much worse than mail.

  78. Nylas Mail is dead, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From https://github.com/nylas-mail-lives/nylas-mail:

    "MAINTAINERS WANTED The current maintainers of this repo no longer have the ability to devote their time to maintaining this project, and are working with the community to find possible replacements. That being said, it is highly reccomended that you take a look at Mailspring. Mailspring is the spiritual successor of Nylas Mail, and is maintained by the original creator. You will find that Mailspring is very similar, and much more secure than Nylas Mail Lives. At this time, please do not expect any major features or fixes that are not directly contributed by the community."

    1. Re:Nylas Mail is dead, too by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      It's not dead, the maintainers are still accepting patches. What they're not doing is actively adding features. I'm disappointed by the comment recommending Mailspring because Mailspring is a commercial product which requires registration, which is the number one reason why we wouldn't want to be using the original version of Nylas Mail.

      But yes, still alive, just not likely to see any major new features in the near future. And that's fine! Really, it is! Because I don't know about you but I'm tired of decent products being turned into crappy ones because someone thought that, I dunno, making links open in Edge or adding ads to the sidebar would be a really great idea...

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  79. Re: So just don't use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I dislike Thunderbird.
    Somewhere along the way, it decided to make the contacts inscrutable.
    If I want to send an Email to someone, I need to start typing their Email address and let autocomplete help me.

  80. Users won't trust Microsoft for mail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Users will stop using Microsoft applications and services if they don't work well. If MS doesn't want users then I guess it doesn't matter.

  81. Re:So just don't use it? by rickb928 · · Score: 1

    More likely Microsoft is looking forward to cloud-everything, and local mail clients are not part of that dream. Data collection is somewhat more difficult when you've got your own mail server.

    Somewhat.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  82. Low bar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Very low bar.

  83. Re: So just don't use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I miss Eudora

  84. Re: So just don't use it? by Rhipf · · Score: 1

    You may think that Thunderbird is a bit old, but it's working pretty well and don't cause any trouble.

    Thunderbird is a spry little youngster.

    All I have used for years is Eudora (the real Eudora by Qualcom not the open source wannabee Eudora).

  85. Re: So just don't use it? by Rhipf · · Score: 1

    Have you tried Eudora 7 (last version of real Qualcom Eudora)? I am still using it and haven't run into any serious problems yet.

  86. Re: So just don't use it? by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

    I did use Eudora before, but for various reasons I ended up with Thunderbird, and one reason why I'm holding on to it is the junk mail filter.

    But for old mail programs there's also Elm.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  87. What's your point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft is primarily known for substantially-below-average quality software. That is, when you think of Microsoft, the very first thing that comes to mind is garbage software. (Later, as you learn more about them, the second thing you'll realize is that you should never use their products with a network. And then later, darker and less pleasant Microsoft qualities come to mind.)

    (You think their mailreader is bad? You should have tried their web browser! It was infamous.)

    This is like a person with a normal human diet and typical tastes, went to a restaurant called "Shit'z Us" and they ordered the shit burger (compressed human turds seasoned with pigeon droppings and flame-broiled), a side of fried dog shit with human diarrhea dipping sauce, and a shit (secret blend of species' feces) shake. They took a bite of the shit burger and before they even tasted the fried shit and the shit shake, they immediately leapt to the conclusion, "This food tastes like shit!"

    I wouldn't disagree with that person, but I also wouldn't understand their point or their goal. If you needed to do things, why were you using Windows? I don't get it. You would normally never use that OS. What's special about this time? What made you decide to dine at Shit'z Us?

  88. Re:So just don't use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly.

    Also, why isn't Paint more capable and like Adobe Illustrator or Gimp?

    Why isn't WordPad more capable and more like MS Word?

    Why isn't there a bundled CAD application?

    Mapping/geospatial apps are critical! I demand default Mapping, core to the OS!

    AI is the new hotness! Where is the low end and unsatisfying free AI system, so that I can ignore it and use a real tool?

  89. Re: So just don't use it? by ukjoesaar · · Score: 1

    Mailbird

  90. its been bad for a while. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    windows mail has been bad for years,so bad we stopped officially supporting it at our ISP. basically, if it's acting fukky, we tell our subs to download thunderbird.

  91. Simple Rule... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ignoring crappy programming like Windows Mail problems described, there is a simple Microsoft rule:

    If there is something that is useful or necessary in Windows or Office, Microsoft will either hide it or delete it in the next version.

  92. Huh? by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

    Windows Mail is unusable

    Yet, the author has apparently been using it for long enough to catalog all of its flaws.

    which means Windows 10 doesn't come with an email client. That's incredibly sad.

    It also doesn't come with a text editor or web browser, cry me a river.

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  93. Syncs when it wants to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Open the app, grab coffee and a donut, comeback and watch the wheel spin. Or just use your browser.

  94. Re:So just don't use it? by Humbubba · · Score: 1
    rickb928 said

    More likely Microsoft is looking forward to cloud-everything, and local mail clients are not part of that dream. Data collection is somewhat more difficult when you've got your own mail server.

    Somewhat.

    You could be very much right. Regardless of their purpose, the screw up that is MS Mail says to me that it, and by extension, Windows, is not that important to Microsoft. But I could be wrong - nothing new there.

  95. Re:So just don't use it? by Humbubba · · Score: 1
    Back in '98, almost everything Windows sucked, clouds or no. Jeez, back then, I rebooted to DOS to run games. All things considered, MS Mail worked as expected. It did suck. It wasn't Outlook, but YGWYPF.

    I've always thought Microsoft's had a responsibility to fix its products' problems, MS Mail included. I stand corrected.

  96. Re: So just don't use it? by jittles · · Score: 1

    Have you tried Eudora 7 (last version of real Qualcom Eudora)? I am still using it and haven't run into any serious problems yet.

    Didn't realize it was still in production, to be honest. I'm sure it can handle the latest and greatest crypto. I will take a look. Thanks for the heads up.