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Microsoft Hotmail/Passport Service Interrupted:UPDATED
Oryx Gazella writes "Unable to access Hotmail this Christmas morning? This would be why!
You may have received an error like "unable to locate host", or "no such domain" after your browser was directed from www.hotmail.com to lc2.law5.hotmail.passport.com. There are no NS records for the domain passport.com in any of the root name servers. Hotmail (www.hotmail.com) uses the Passport Service (www.passport.com) which allows users of the Microsoft Messenger Service to login using their "Passport" and to add other Passport members to their contact list. The new MSN Messenger Service 2.0 is integrated with MSN Hotmail and Microsoft Outlook Express for real-time email notification, and retrieval.
" Not being a Hotmail or regular Windows user for that matter, I cannot verify this - but I've gotten several e-mails from people this morning wondering about it.Update: 12/26 01:39 by H :Click below to read the quite humourous conclusion to this story.
Effugas writes "Oh, this is just beautiful. Linux user Michael D. Chaney of Doublewide.Net, upon reading of Microsoft's Christmas loss of the passport.com domain, took it upon himself to donate $35.00 for the world's largest software company to restore service for its customers. I've heard about Linux empowering its users to truly prevent downtime, but this is ridiculous ;-) I'm still laughing--Merry Christmas, Microsoft, from the Linux community to you! "
Folks, it's 6:00AM CST and Hotmail is again accessible. passport.com is finally resolvable again:
[root@dialerServer: localhost
Address: 127.0.0.1
Name: passport.com
Address: 207.46.198.16
By golly, I think I fixed it.
Do you have ESP?
Generous Linux user pays past due Microsoft Bill
World richest man doesn't pay his bills
The Geek who saved christmas
Microsoft lets Passport.com registration expire
Bill Gates is such a twit
(has nothering to do with the story
but i'de like to see it anyway)
Microsoft sold your Ewallet for $35.00
NSI blips off Microsoft
Bill Gates get charity from Linux in christmas
Microsoft lets passport.com expire.
_________________________
ms often claims that "there isn't any one source for suport" in Linux. This is a good thing, and it is related to the passport.com outage. here's why.
When passport.com went out early on the morning of the 25th, a loose band of Linux users from around the world (using /. as there hub) set to work on the problem early Christmas morning. Never thinking about themselves, never considering that it was a holiday, all they knew was that it was a network, and it needed fixing.
These selfless acts of working a problem through to a solution is not only common in the Linux comunity, it's standard.
At first, many people thought it was a problem with Hotmail (as the original story stated), but it didn't take long to find out that it was something else.
While many people suspected a problem in DNS, the first sign of what the problem might be, came from an anonymous user at 9:30 AM confirming earlier thoughts that it may be a NSI related DNS problem.
*** ns.cw.net can't find passport.com:
Non-existent host/domain
> www.passport.com
Server: ns.cw.net
Address: 204.70.128.1
Other users expressed thoughts that the domain was shut off by non-payment (Hydrophobe on 09:44 AM -- Saturday December 25 1999 CST) but didn't give details.
Still, many thought perhaps faulty DNS caching may play a roll. After all, ait would be rare for a domain like passport.com (who controls purchases at nearly 30 domains around the internet) would be out.
Then at 09:53 AM -- Saturday December 25 1999 CST /. user zyklone@hotmail.com hit paydirt when he looked up passport.com at: https://payments.networksolutions.com/
Also, /. user vovin posted a few nslookeps to confirm that the DNS was indeed where the problem was.
Less than an hour later: by Trailer Trash (mdchaney@michaelchaney.com) on 10:58 AM -- Saturday December 25 1999 CST (#90)
(User Info) http://www.doublewide.net/
Hey, I paid it for them. Merry Christmas, Microsoft.- ------------------------------
---- Your transaction was successful. Payment has been posted for the domain.
-------------------------------------------------
Details of your transaction are given below. You may print this page for future reference.
Card Type: MASTERCARD Card Number: [SNIP]
and boom, the domain was back up and running.
distributed support in action
This is also an axample of why monopolies are bad things. ms, to fat lazy to care about it's customers, left all the passport.com users disapointed just when they needed the service the most, in the heart of the holiday buying season.
And all of this could have been prevented by a simple $35,00 payment.
_________________________
On this day--of all the possible days that the year is long--on this very day apart from all others, one might have held out a scintilla of hope for a tiny bit more charity, caring, and compassion than is otherwise customary. But one would then have been forgetting the nature of our medium, the particular allure of faceless lack of accountability, and the bilous hate, hurt, and harm that daily spew from Slashdot. Though the morrow bring ample opportunity for once again being the poster children for Man's inhumanity to Man, why put off till tomorrow what could be mercilessly inflicted today?
Peace to you and yours.
Something on my portable PC has killed the passport system, but Hotmail is too dumb to notice. If I try and go to www.hotmail.com I just get stuck in a redirection loop. Since my Hotmail account will simply fill with Spam now (I don't use it for any real stuff) I don't really care - but still, someone here might...
Acording to ms own press release, (found at:http://www.passport.com/directory/) this isn't just a hotmail issue. They have several domains signed up to use a service that ms itself wouldn't pay $35.00 to maintain.
The list: ArtSelect.com
BottomLineMac.com
Buy.com
CDW Computing Solutions
Costco Online
Crutchfield Electronics
ephones
ePCdirect.com
Flowerbud.com
Flowersandgifts.com
FurnitureFind.com
Giftpoint.com
Kabang.com
LEF.org
Lodging.com
MSN eShop
MSN Gift Certificates
My Shopping Club
OfficeMax.com
RedTag.com
Sandrine.com
TooHome.com
Toytime.com
Umbra.com
VCOM.com
========
Like most linux users, I would like to see electronic comerce thrive and progress, but in a safe secure manor.
Therefore, we should consider it our duty to inform the webmasters at these domains that ms doesn't have there interests in mind. That ms could care less about the success of there venture. That ms left the passport.com domain down in the middle of the holiday buying season, and that they should be held liable for all contracts expressed or implied.
If we each pick a domain and send an email informing them (be nice!) of the way ms has handled themselves in this situation, perhaps they will think twice about partnering with a monopolist that wouldn't give $35 to help them.
_________________________
NSI probably just lost MSFT's original payment. They've done it before. Been there, done that, didn't have any fun and I bet I'm not the only one.
Neat gesture, though, and it's probably the fastest way of dealing with this kind of problems with NSI. Almost as fast as sending 20 $100/minute lawyers to their head office.
Thank god there's competition in the registration business these days... I hope microsoft sue the clothes off from them (after which everyone can do the same to microsoft. Excluding Bill, that would be just too disgusting to see)
I'm in Belgium, it is now 17.23, and hotmail works.
superblog.org: all your favourite blogs on o
Hi. Here's a list of webmail servers. Some are the same as what you listed (what you want to avoid), but I bet you'll find one you want to use from this list. http://www.2bmail.co.uk/ http://www.888.nu/ http://www.alloymail.com/member/login.page http://www.amexmail.com/ http://altavista.iname.com/member/login.page http://email.angelfire.com/ http://www.anti-social.com/ http://www.apexmail.com/ http://www.arcademaster.com/ http://www.artic.net/posti/ http://www.asiancityweb.com/ http://www.asiapoint.net/netroamer/nrmail/nrmail.c gi http://www.astrosfan.net/ http://www.backpackers.com/ http://www.basemail.com/ http://www.bboy.com/ http://www.bellsouth.com/ http://mail.bigassweb.com/ http://www.bimamail.com/index-en.html http://www.biz.st http://www.businessweekmail.com/login/businessweek .asp http://www.busymail.com/ http://WWW.Byteme.com/ http://www.casablancaresort.com/ENetMail/ http://www.ccnmail.com/ http://mail.chek.com/ http://www.chickmail.com/ http://www.chinalook.com/ http://www.christianmail.net/ http://www.clubvdo.net/ http://www.cmpnetmail.com http://email.cnnsi.com/member/login.page http://www.email.ro http://www.coldmail.com http://conk.com/mail/index.htm http://www.coolmail.com/ http://www.cynetcity.com/ http://www.dwp.net http://www.dejanews.com/ http://www.digitalmail.com/sal/e4e.htm http://www.discovery.com/mydcol/mydcol.html http://www.thedoghousemail.com http://mail.dog.com/ http://www.easypost.com/ http://www.educastmail.com/ http://www.ehmail.com/ http://www.email.com/ http://emailit.to/email/default.asp http://www.splendiferous.com/ http://mail.entrepreneurmag.com http://www.eudoramail.com/ http://www.ethos.st/ http://fetchmail.com/ http://www.fiberia.com/ http://mail.finfin.com/ http://www.flairmail.com/ http://www.flashemail.com/ http://www.flashmail.com/ http://www.fnmail.com/ http://www.focus-asia.com/ http://www.fcmail.com/ http://www.freeaccount.com/ http://www.freemail.com.au/ http://www.freemail.nl/ http://www.freemail.co.za/ http://www.freeweb.essenet.it/ http://www.londonoffice.com/ http://gmail.garfield.com/garfield/login/login.asp http://mailgate.theglobe.com/email/ http://www.gnwmail.com/ http://mail.gocubs.com/ http://www.goplay.com/ http://www.worldmailer.com/ http://www.gurlmail.com/ http://mail.happypuppy.com/ http://www.headbone.com/hbzmail/ http://www.hello.net.au/ http://www.hitthebeach.com/ http://freemail.hongkong.com/ http://members.hotbot.com/nc_join.html http://www.hotmail.com/ http://www.id-base.net/Mail/ http://freemail.idg.net/member/login.page http://www.ignmail.com/ http://www.imaginemail.com/ http://InfoBank.au.com/welcome.html http://pic2.infospace.com/webmail.html?r=hp http://email.ivillage.com http://www.jamaicamail.com/ http://www.jpostmail.com/ http://www.jewishmail.com/ http://www.jmail.co.jp/ http://www.juniormail.com/login/juniormail.asp http://www.justicemail.com/ http://tw.joymail.com http://www.kmail.com.au/ http://mail.kmsp.com/ http://mail1.korea.com/ http://www.kunani.com/pop/freemail.asp http://www.latinolink.com http://www.law.com/main2/freemail/ http://www.edmail.com/ http://www.liquidinformation.net/ http://www.log-me-on.com/welcome.htm http://www.looksmart.com/ http://www.lycosemail.com/ http://win.mail.ru/cgi-bin/splash http://www.mailbox.sk/ http://www.mailcity.com/ http://www.mailexcite.com/ http://www.mail.forum.dk/ http://www.mailtag.com/public/default.htm http://email.martindale.com/member/login.page http://www.mauimail.com/ http://mail.medsite.com http://www.megapoint.com/roam/ http://www.mixmail.com/ http://www.mrpost.com/ http://www.myownemail.com/ http://www.myworldmail.com/ http://www.n2mail.com/ http://www.netaddress.com/ http://www.nimail.com http://www.netradio.net/nr-mail/login.html http://www.nj.com/njoemail/ http://www.netnet.com.sg/ http://www.newmail.net/ http://www.operamail.com/ http://our.st/mailjunction/index.asp http://www.parsmail.com/ http://www.pemail.net/ http://philippines.to/ http://www.pinoymail.com http://www.planetarymotion.com/ http://www.popmail.com/ http://www.post.cz/ http://www.post.sk/ http://www.postmark.net/ http://www.postmaster.co.uk/ http://www.pousa.com/ http://www.prontomail.com/ http://www.quikmail.com/ http://www.RaceMail.com/ http://www.rocketmail.com/ http://www.rsnmail.com/member/login.page http://www.sacbeemail.com/sacbee/login/sacbee.asp http://www.safarimail.com/ http://www.salu.net/ http://www.sawasdee.com http://www.sentrismail.com/ http://www.schizo.com/email/ http://my.SchoolSucks.com/SchoolSucks/login/login. asp http://www.sharewaredevelopers.com/sdmail/ http://mail.spaceports.com/index.asp http://email.sportsline.com/member/login.page http://www.starmedia.com/cgi-bin/choose.pl http://www.start.com.au/StartX/Index.asp http://mail.starting-point.com/ http://www.storksite.com/ http://studentcenter.infomall.org/free-email.html http://webmail.switchboard.com/member/login.page http://www.supernews.com/ http://teleserve.dynip.com/mail/ http://www.thirdage.com/community/email/ http://www.unbounded.com/ http://usenet.zzn.com/email/login/login.asp http://www.virginriver.com/ENetMail/ http://www.visto.com/ http://www.vlmail.com/public/default.htm http://www.netivate.com/mail/login.htm http://www.walla.co.il/ http://www.webmails.com./ http://www.webstar.com.my/ http://www.whomail.net/ http://www.women.com/membership/email.html http://www.wowmail.com/ http://www.xoommail.com/ http://mail.yahoo.com/ http://www.yawmail.com/ http://freemail.yeehaa.com/ http://www.ynnmail.com/ http://www.youvegotmail.net/index.htm http://www.zzn.com/ http://www.zensearch.net/ http://www.zdnetmail.com/ whew.... bongart@nettaxi.com
Netscape Webmail has been real flakey, too. I couldn't get in at all two days ago; the "premium services" have been "temporaily suspended" for a while now and just today when I tried to look up the message I saved with my Slashdot p/w it told me "message temporarily unavailable".
Does anyone have any opinions as to which webmail (Lycos, Yahoo, Netscape, Hotmail, OperaMail, etc.) is the best. By best I mean:
1. Reliable! 99.99% uptime!
2. Quick access.
3. Everything else (sub-folders, filters, etc.)
-chill
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
According to whois the person at Micros~1 who will receive that email is Carolyn Gudmundson, assuming she still works for bill after this... he is known for a very low tolerance of mistakes after all....
.: 206 703 2641
Registrant:
Microsoft Corporation (PASSPORT6-DOM)
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
US
Domain Name: PASSPORT.COM
Administrative Contact:
Micosoft Hostmaster (MH37-ORG) msnhst@MICROSOFT.COM
425 882 8080
Fax- -
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
MSN NOC (MN5-ORG) msnnoc@MICROSOFT.COM
425 882 8080
Fax- PATH
Billing Contact:
Gudmundson, Carolyn (CG6635) carolyng@MICROSOFT.COM
+1 (425) 882-8080 (FAX) +1 (425) 936-7329
Record last updated on 25-Dec-1999.
Record created on 02-Oct-1996.
Database last updated on 26-Dec-1999 13:38:06 EST.
Domain servers in listed order:
DNS4.CP.MSFT.NET 207.46.138.11
DNS5.CP.MSFT.NET 207.46.138.12
cat >>/etc/named.conf <<'EOF'
zone "passport.com" {
type forward;
forwarders 207.46.138.10;
};
EOF
Assuming, of course, that you are running your own BIND (which IMHO, is nearly always a good idea). Otherwise, add the required entries to your /etc/hosts file.
Not running Unix? Too bad, isn't it...
Let's face it. Hotmail going down is no big news. What is interesting is how 90% of the internet goes down every time there's a holiday because no-one's around to maintain the servers yet as far as the news media is concerned, Y2K is the only problem.
I've been using it for a couple years now and it's great. I've only seen it down once, and what a piss off that was (three hours, but I'm a whiner).
Here.
Merry Christmas 5l45hd07 b17ch35!
(Just kidding, I'm not 1337 enough to have come up with that on my own, my kid sister is a h4x0r.
"Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
Congradulations. You get it. You understand the "bazaar" form of open source software development.
To answer your question I would say that no, this isn't the first time that a solution was ferited out here on slashdot(/.)
Perhaps this particular solution was solved a little faster than others(it was easy:), but everyday people pose questions and get results.
The realtime moderation system here on /. allows the truly insightful and informative responses to instantly be subjected to peer review around the world, and float to the top. Where else can an engineer judge there thoughts and ideas so quickly?
Just as an example, the current top story on /. talks about game software, and a persons ability to cheat at that game if the source code is open sourced. Someone, somewhere has worked through this problem before, and in less than an hour, there have been 4 (Score:5) responses to the story(including the actual guy writing the software being debated.)(see here:1 2 3 4 ).
This kind of peer review and moderations without censorship allows the best ideas to flurrish, and all the other ideas to keep flowing.
_________________________
I just got off the phone with a reported from the merc news. I filled him in on the details of the story and put him in contact with Michael Chaney to confirm the details.
If all goes well, this will be a breaking story on GMSV tomarrow.
and remember, you heard it on /. first!!
_________________________
Hey, I spoke with the reporter about two hours ago- at 6:30PM CST. My guess is that we'll be hearing more about this, and I'll keep the /. crowd updated.
Do you have ESP?
"Always on" static internet connections, like cable modems and DSL are on the increase. Running your own SMTP server at home is becoming a more viable option for a lot of people.
---
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
You see, those adds for people with Linux/BSD skills were not only filled by zealots, but by full-fledged UNIX-guerrillas! Don't worry folks, everything's going to plan. Soon enough, we'll have the whole MS compound sealed off, then we'll move in for the kill -9...
Microsoft purposefully takes down Hotmail, and then blames in on the crappyness of FreeBSD? Then slam FreeBSD big time and replace it with a Windows NT solution they just happen to have waiting in the wings.
Ooooooohhh. Conspiracy I say. What do they have to lose if they do this? They get to slam FreeBSD and promote Windows NT all at the same time. And its fairly clear that most people don't really care if Hotmail goes down for a little bit anyways, nor care if its secure. (I'm thinking about the security problem they had a while back.)
I just thought I'd share that nice juicy rumour I heard from my friend who works over at Hotmail and is involved in the decission making process. (He will of course go unamed and I will not provide anything to back up my claims.)
But remember: don't blame things on stupidity and incompetence when you can blame things on conspiracy. Or is it the other way around? :)
Oh, and I'm not dissing FreeBSD. I like it. So blah.
; > DiG 8.2 > @a.root-servers.net passport.com ; (1 server found) ;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch ;; got answer: ;; ->>HEADER- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 10 ;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUERY SECTION: ;; passport.com, type = A, class = IN ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: COM. 1D IN SOA A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.internic.NET. ( 1999122401 ; serial 30M ; refresh 15M ; retry 1W ; expiry 1D ) ; minimum ;; Total query time: 300 msec ;; FROM: argo to SERVER: a.root-servers.net 198.41.0.4 ;; WHEN: Sat Dec 25 08:31:33 1999 ;; MSG SIZE sent: 30 rcvd: 107 There ya go.
- Jase
They send you a little spam, but you can run it into a separate "bulk mail" mailbox and delete it all with a single click without ever even looking at it.
- Robin
I am in US, and going to http://www.hotmail.com doesn't work. But I notice that if I use Microsoft messenger, it works. Is this a move by Microsoft to force people to use their own IM?
Hrmm.
------ Curiosity killed the cat. {satisfaction brought it back | it didn't die ignorant | lack of it is killing mankind
Some nameservers have the domain cached.
They should stop working in a few hours.
Geez... I and thought that typing fetchmail followed by pine was easy enough. Webmail is so slow anyhow. I don't know why people bother. It's not any easier that configuring fetchmail and pine, which is probalby quicker than signing up for crappy webmail service, and the only limit on your mailbox size is your HD. Flipping web mail. Educate people so they can run their own MX if they want. Long live DSL! Long live Sendmail! It aint that hard, honest guv.
Everyone is living in a personal delusion, just some are more delusional than others.
Whoo, it appears that they might actually have forgotten to pay.
I did a check on https://payments.networksolutions.com/
and they actually have an unpaid invoice.
Domain Name passport.com
Invoice Number 11395965
Amount Due $35.00
Billing Contact Information
Gudmundson , Carolyn
Phone: +1 (425) 882-xxx Fax: +1 (425) 936-7xxx
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond , WA 98052
UNITED STATES US
Hotmail really isn't down, it's only that the domain name returns a bad address. If you really need to log in, save the following as an HTML file on your computer and open it with a browser. Should work with any javascript-enabled browser. Tested with Netscape, IE, and Opera. Needless to say, that this is very insecure, and you shouldn't leave this file lying around.
---cut here---
<html>
<head>
<noscript>
<meta http-equiv=Refresh content="0; url=http://www.hotmail.com">
</noscript>
</head>
<body onload="document.pform.submit(); ">
<form name="pform" action="http://www.hotmail.com/cgi-bin/dologin" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="login" value="[yourlogin]">
<input type="hidden" name="passwd" value="[yourpass]">
<input type="hidden" name="rru" value="/cgi-bin/folders">
<input type="hidden" name="js" value="yes">
</form>
</body>
</html>
---cut here---
--
I just wanted to let you folks know, that www.hotmail.com (Microsoft) is down, because Microsoft didn't pay a $35 bill to Network Solutions. Hotmail uses "passport" services that reside within microsoft's "passport.com", which is no longer resolving from the Internet Root Servers, because of non-bill pay. Proof of this glitch can be found by going to https://payments.networksolutions.com/ and typing in "passport.com". It seems Amount Due is Amount Due, and even the big guys can't get away without paying their bills.
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
-----------
"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
If you have IE 5.0, open Outlook Express and go to the Tools menu and select the Accounts... option. Add your hotmail account and voila... You've got mail. Use the Send and Receive option on the Tools menu to download/send mail. I've been using that exclusively to send mail for so long I had totally forgotten that hotmail has a web address.
Merry Xmas. Hope that I was of help.
PS: Does anyone know if slashdot cause this?
turns out that my lynx on the machine I run DNS on was not using itself for DNS
It is a DNS problem for lookups on lc2.law5.hotmail.passport.com
A few people have asked abpout alternatives, well, I get my web hosting from some nice Linux geeks over at DreamHost. Well, they let us switch our email provider over to a custom provider, one of which is Big MailBox. I haven't used it, but I have a friend who runs his collage radio station's web page with DreamHost and the email with this Big MailBox deal, and he raves about it. Hope this is useful, I hate webmail, so I have never paid it much heed.
--Nuintari
slashdot : where an opinion can be wrong.
Sorry to say this but I can't help it... Are you an idiot or just lazy?
The post you responded to not only has a URL to go to, but instructions on how to check the facts yourself.
Maybe you need it to be hyperlinked to make it easier for you so you don't have to strain yourself with cutting and pasting the URL into your browser.
Click here and type passport.com. It will show that there is a $35 fee due on the domain name. Twit.
If you've indeed payed the bill, I beg you, please get a hold of someone in the media. This could be such a fantastic headline. and be sure to refer to yourself as a linux user. please please. If you really payed it. use the publicity.
_________________________
Well, you want to know the truth??? You can't handle the truth...
I hope all of you Linux-loving, Windows-hating, console-using, hackers are happy. I've run out of money, and can't afford the passport domain any longer at this time.
You may wonder why the richest man in the world can't afford it right??? Well, you remember that email I sent out regarding our email tracking software??? Well, needless to say, more people actually believed it than I thought would. It actually got onto our Hotmail servers, and seemed to take a life of its own from there. Nobody had to forward it, it just 'spread'.
Anyway, after having paid out to all recipients and forwarders of the email, I'm a little short. It seemed like such a good idea at the time.
Oh well, if nothing else, this is a great excuse to finally scrap those blasted BSD servers, and put in Windows 2000 Premium. You thought service was bad now??? Muwaahahahahahahaaaa........
This is not the last of me...
Sincerely,
Bill Gates
Nope, they go to a web interface where stories are put on hold, posted, or deleted. Sort of a holding chamber.
As for e-mailing without having Hotmail available, damn near every ISP on earth gives you a free e-mail account, and I have probably 10 web-based ones as well...
They do have subfolders... All in all, it's a pretty nice service... Really.
Also earge(mailto:mdchaney@doublewide.net) Michael to contact someone in the media regarding this story. It would make a wonderful headline.
"Generous Linux user pays past-due domain fee"
..the list goes on. .
"Bill Gates recieves charity from generous Linux user"
"Worlds richest man doesn't pay his bills"
_________________________
Hotmail is down and everyone in the world seems to be annoyed. I think it's quite sad that slowly but surely, webmail replaces pop3/imap mail.
;)
Five years ago, when I began using the Internet, only pop3 mail was available. These pop3 accounts were quite costy, but they worked. My university "gave" me my first pop3 mail for free, though.
Then, several companies began to give pop3 accounts for free, in exchange of some data for their files. They were slightly slower than those costy accounts (the bandwith was very weak), but, hey... that was free.
Then came Hotmail & Co. Banners, ads, mail stored only on the servers, poor functionality (filters, and all 'advanced' functions of any pop3 mail client are missing). But above all, a phenomenal waste of bandwith due to the ads, the fact that everytime you want to consult a mail or your address book, the data must be reloaded, etc. I hate wasting bandwith. I hate when my mother checks her webmail on my computer !
With pop3 mail, sending a mail takes 3 or 4 KB for the entire process. How many KB does it take with webmail ?
Now, it's more or less impossible to find free pop3 accounts. Even Internet access provider begin to give webmail instead of real mail to their customers. Does it mean that, in a few years, every mail account will be a webmail account ?
P.S. : I can't understand why so many people believe that webmail is easier to use than pop3/imap mail. When traveling, it's so easy to use a simple telnet (every dumb Win95+ machine has a telnet client which works well with pine) or, even easier, a web gateway like Endymion MailMan. Same layout than hotmail, without the ads !
Stéphane
Instant Karma's gonna get you, Gonna knock you right on the head (John Lennon, 1970)
Jeff