Re: Hotmail Email

woo

it is happening in an effort to stop script-kiddies turning outlook express into a spam spewer, which is what appears to be happening now.

It isn't going to happen for a while as you point out and i can still get into hotmail outlook express. seems you have a seperate issue.

Reaper

They are claiming the reason for charging is to stop spammers but I don't entirely believe them.

The theory is that by charging they have a credit card number or bank account which allows the spammer to be traced.

While I accept that is true I'm sure a fee of 1p per year would achieve the same results as the £11 they are actually going to charge. I'll be canceling at that point as the Outlook integration is their sole advantage over their competitors.

woo

More info below - copied from an update i was sent
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There’s an important change to Microsoft’s Hotmail service coming which will effect people who use Hotmail with Outlook or Outlook Express.

Outlook 2002 or 2003 and Outlook Express have a feature to let you receive and send email via your Hotmail account but using the software interface instead of the usual web browser method. This is a handy way to store past messages offline or to compose long messages. Setting it up is fairly easy, just create a new email account in the software and choose the ‘HTTP’ or Hotmail option. Though it is labeled ‘HTTP’ in the software it actually uses an extension of the web protocol called WebDAV to communicate with the Hotmail servers.

From now on, only paid subscribers will be able to access their Hotmail accounts via Outlook or Outlook Express. Microsoft says that WebDAV features have been abused by spammers and they need to clamp down on access.

If you’ve been using WebDAV to access your email with an external email client then you have some time to decide what to do. Microsoft says that people who have been using the feature will be given continued access until March 2005.

The paid options are to either join MSN Premium or Hotmail Plus ($19.95 a year). While Microsoft is ‘selling’ this as a anti-spam measure there’s no doubt it may help convert people to paying customers.

It’s just as well this change is getting mentions in various media because you’d never know from looking on the Microsoft sites. There’s nothing on the Microsoft web site devoted to press announcements nor on the MSN or Hotmail sites – even the online help and account policies haven’t been updated.

This change is a sad but alas necessary thing. While it probably won’t make a difference to the amount of spam we all get, it will make things a bit harder for the bad guys.

BoltonMinx

Theyve definitely started doing it. One of my two acc wont synchronise any more

peter_the_piper

Mines still working, they couldn't have forgotten Firefox could they?