A few months ago, I received an email in all of my Hotmail accounts that Microsoft will be disabling the Dav protocol which will break Outlook Express functionality. This was disheartening because I, for one, really dislike Hotmail’s web interface. I find it extremely clunky and slow and would never actually use my email if that were the only way for me to access it. Yes Hotmail is no longer my main email, however I do still maintain three accounts with them for legacy’s sake. From the email/website:

As of June 30, 2008, Microsoft is disabling the DAV protocol and you will no longer be able to access your Hotmail Inbox via Outlook Express. As an alternative, we recommend that you download Windows Live Mail, a free desktop e-mail client that has the familiarity of Outlook Express and much more.

As suggested I downloaded and installed Windows Live Mail since I really did want to continue to use my old Hotmail accounts. As it turns out, it was nothing more than an crappier version of Outlook Express built on top of Outlook Express. Why Microsoft felt it important to make me download and install Windows Live Mail rather than just patch Outlook Express is far beyond me. But I believe the best part about Windows Live Mail is it’s ability to crash after at least 30 seconds to a minute once I’ve exited out of the application:

This wouldn’t be as bothersom, though still pretty bad, if this happened right as I exited. However this always pops up much later which inturrupts me from what I am doing. I’ve installed this on one of my Windows boxes. Needless to say, I will not be installing it on my other Windows box. To further add insult to injury, my other Windows box’s Outlook Express still works fine after four and a half months of use. Microsoft, if you want to continue to have me use Hotmail, you will never disable my Outlook Express. Free or not, I will not use trash, and that trash I happy call your Hotmail web interface and Windows Live Mail.