MSN Ends Hotmail’s Free Outlook Access

27 Sep, 2004 at 7:42pm ET Article published in Tech

Comments

1. 
   27 Sep 2004 ~ 10:21pm entropy Monday when? Today? Cuz I just got my Hotmail email, worked fine, but maybe they're planning on doing it later tonight...
2. 
   27 Sep 2004 ~ 11:24pm croc_

   KingFish wrote:

   Citing a rise in spam abuse, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN division has ended free access to its Hotmail Web-based e-mail service through the Outlook and Outlook Express clients.
   
   
   Source: eWeek

   
   ........ so lame.
3. 
   28 Sep 2004 ~ 5:13am Lord_Night so If I pay for this (which I dont and dont need), what kinds of extra new stuff do I get.
   I mean I am paying for a service I should get better service..
   
   (ok ok stop laughing I know this is Microsoft)
4. 
   28 Sep 2004 ~ 8:24am KingFish Do they think that spammers won't be paying for outlook/outlook express accounts since they make so much money from spamming? It may disuade some but won't stop it.
5. 
   28 Sep 2004 ~ 2:25pm BLuKnight You know, they promised 250 MB of space months ago, and I still haven't seen it. Perhaps it's going to take them a while to do this. Either way, I'm fed up with Hotmail. If they yank access so I can use Outlook with it, I'm pulling it's plug. I'll use yahoo instead. If I install a third party plugin, I get the same effect.
6. 
   28 Sep 2004 ~ 2:48pm BLuKnight Update
   
   I just wrote Hotmail telling them what I thought of their new policy. If you don't want to just piss in the wind, I'd recommend you tell Hotmail the follie of their ways. But, if you don't really care one way or the other, that's cool as well.
7. 
   1 Oct 2004 ~ 8:08pm BLuKnight What do you know... I got a response:
   

   Regarding your issue on Outlook Express, I would like to inform you that, MSN no longer supports the ability to download Hotmail to a Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express inbox for only newly set up accounts. This change in an effort to help protect you from junk e-mail.. (Note: If you have a free Hotmail account and you have already set up Hotmail to download to Outlook or Outlook Express, you can continue to use this feature.) Junk e-mail distributors (spammers) have been known to exploit MSN Hotmail accounts through Outlook and Outlook Express to send unwanted messages to MSN Hotmail customers and others in the e-mail community. By making this feature available only as part of a subscription service, we can more effectively help protect customers. Requiring customers to provide billing information helps us to limit the amount of unsolicited e-mail that MSN members and others receive. If you currently have a free-Hotmail account and you want to configure Hotmail to download to Outlook or Outlook Express, you can upgrade to MSN Hotmail Plus or MSN Premium. Both of these paid subscription services support this feature. For more information about upgrading from a free MSN Hotmail account to an MSN Hotmail Plus or MSN Premium subscription to enjoy this feature and more, visit http://join.msn.com

   
   So, it looks like the no access to Outlook and Outlook Express is only an issue for new accounts, not old ones. That sounds better, but there has to be a better way.