Jason Clarke

It looks like Microsoft has seen the light and will not be restricting access to Hotmail via Outlook for people with existing Hotmail accounts. Good thing; I had fully intended to ditch my Hotmail account in favour of my Gmail account as soon as that restriction went into effect.

To be honest, I get next to no spam in my Gmail, and still get enough in my Hotmail to make it of very little use to me. My Hotmail address has become my throw-away address, and the only reason I haven’t completely ditched it is that every week or so I can just pull its contents into my Outlook Inbox.

Does anyone think that Microsoft went back on their earlier decision to block Outlook access to Hotmail because Google allows full POP access to Gmail from any client? Maybe, maybe not. But all I can say is that Microsoft’s lucky to still have me as a user, and as soon as they make it even one iota more inconvenient to use their service, I’m gone.

From their “Member Communication” (insert lowbrow joke here)

Dear MSN Member,

Recently, Hotmail® announced that in order to improve customer experience and reduce spam and junk e-mail abuse on MSN® services, Hotmail will no longer allow new e-mail accounts to be accessed via Microsoft® Office Outlook® and Outlook Express.

We are pleased to inform you that because you are an existing and valued customer, at this time your current Hotmail and MSN account(s) are exempt from this restriction and you will be able to continue enjoying access to those accounts from Outlook or Outlook Express. However, any new Hotmail or MSN accounts you create will not be accessible via Outlook or Outlook Express.