[Y Me]

A friend showed me his Hotmail inbox page. What a bl**dy mess.

I don't think I have ever seen such a counter intuitive site in my life.

gmail for me although I am disappointed that Google tries to be as controlling as Microsoft. Why won't they just let us be and install and use what we want and not what they think we want?

[gomezz]

Can you you be more specific? Perhaps it is just not the way you are used to. Looks pretty much like any email client interface I have ever used.

[radioanorak]

Y Me
you & your friend look here
www.gmx.com
Thirteen million users cant be wrong

[GetFrodo]

Originally Posted by radioanorak

Y Me
you & your friend look here
www.gmx.com
Thirteen million users cant be wrong

Thirteen million users can be a lot more wrong than 425 million Gmail users...

(Point of information: I have come to terms with and learned to accept the arse-banditry that is Gmail and probably every other free email provider)

[Daedroth]

How is Google or Microsoft stopping you from being able to "install and use what you want"?

You decided to sign up to their service. Also, they aren't forcing you to stay. There are plenty of other email services available.

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by Daedroth

Also, they aren't forcing you to stay.

They make it difficult if there is no exit strategy which lets you take you old emails with you to a new service.

Which is why Thunderbird is in my bad books after trashing years of emails during one version upgrade including losing my licencing info for one piece of software.

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by gomezz

They make it difficult if there is no exit strategy which lets you take you old emails with you to a new service.

Which is why Thunderbird is in my bad books after trashing years of emails during one version upgrade including losing my licencing info for one piece of software.

Surely you made backups of your emails? Quite easy with something like MozBackup.

Was that Thunderbird really the only store of your email? No, cloud counterpart?

[Daedroth]

Originally Posted by gomezz

They make it difficult if there is no exit strategy which lets you take you old emails with you to a new service.

Which is why Thunderbird is in my bad books after trashing years of emails during one version upgrade including losing my licencing info for one piece of software.

I'm pretty sure you can use the filtering options or using IMAP to forward all emails from Gmail to another email account.

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by TheBigM

Surely you made backups of your emails? Quite easy with something like MozBackup.

Oh, I made backups alright before "upgrading". Just the new version refused to do anything with them.

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by Daedroth

I'm pretty sure you can use the filtering options or using IMAP to forward all emails from Gmail to another email account.

Well that is one way that is applicable to most email services. Can be a bit of a faff though and often loses critical info such as original timestamping. I have only migrated emails three times over twenty odd years though (Demon to ? to TB to Outlook) so my experience in this area is admittedly limited. I have been using Hotmail/Outlook webmail happily for some years now but with emails automatically scraped from my ISP mail server so I have two online copies of the important stuff and locally saved copies of the *really* important stuff as well.

[Y Me]

Originally Posted by Daedroth

How is Google or Microsoft stopping you from being able to "install and use what you want"?

You decided to sign up to their service. Also, they aren't forcing you to stay. There are plenty of other email services available.

If I wanted Windows 8 Apps, I don't, but if I did, I would have to have a Hotmail account.

I like gmail because I have got used to it.

The new Outlook screen seems to have no clues on it as what to do, where are your contacts? - click people ffs. How do I enter their address in an e-mail? - no clues - useless.

I am a mentor at a computer club for older people and loads of them come in saying they have lost their contacts.

From what I am told a lot of people have had their e-mails moved from the Inbox to Deleted when their account ha transferred to the new look. Has anyone on here experienced this?

[Daedroth]

Originally Posted by Y Me

The new Outlook screen seems to have no clues on it as what to do, where are your contacts? - click people ffs. How do I enter their address in an e-mail? - no clues - useless.

I just logged into my old account and I select "New" from the top, then I could enter a message on the right, and enter someone's name or email in the "To" box on the left. The website isn't that hard to use. No idea about the 'app' for Windows 8 though.

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by Y Me

If I wanted Windows 8 Apps, I don't, but if I did, I would have to have a Hotmail account.

I like gmail because I have got used to it.

You can use GMail with the Windows 8 mail app. Any other IMAP or Exchange ActiveSync email account will also work with the app.

When you are in the mail app, open the settings charm to add new accounts.

Some people, who are inflexible, do struggle with the metro UI initially. But generally those with some common sense figure their way around.

[Y Me]

I don't understand you TheBigM. I'm not struggling with Windows 8 just I don't like the assumption that I have a Microsoft account - I haven't - and I don't want one.

I buy a lot on-line; a lot of companies ask that you "like" them on Facebook for positive feedback purposes. I damned if I'm going to get a Facebook account just for this. If they can't ask for feedback properly then they can do without it from me and - yes - I know - I'm a dinosaur; but I've managed the last 62 years without Facebook so I think I can manage whatever is left to me without it as well.

[Helmut10]

Hotmail is dead forget about that.

I would agree with what you are saying, Outlook Mail and Gmail, Webmail interfaces are vastly overly complex and a mess to configure.

However if you use Email client Software like Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird then you don't see it, most of the time anyway.

They are being provided as free, so well, that's what they're like, take it or leave it. Others have been mentioned so why not try one of those instead.

[Daedroth]

Originally Posted by Y Me

I don't understand you TheBigM. I'm not struggling with Windows 8 just I don't like the assumption that I have a Microsoft account - I haven't - and I don't want one.

I buy a lot on-line; a lot of companies ask that you "like" them on Facebook for positive feedback purposes. I damned if I'm going to get a Facebook account just for this. If they can't ask for feedback properly then they can do without it from me and - yes - I know - I'm a dinosaur; but I've managed the last 62 years without Facebook so I think I can manage whatever is left to me without it as well.

Why can't they assume that? It's their products at the end of the day. You chose to use Windows, you accept that they offer more than one service. You also accepted the streamlined approach Microsoft are taking with Windows 8. If not, then don't use Windows any more.

Also, TheBigM meant that the email 'app' in Windows 8 can be used with other email providers, not just Microsoft's Hotmail/Outlook.

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by Helmut10

Webmail interfaces are vastly overly complex and a mess to configure.

Not in my experience.

[Scarlet30]

I've never been a fan of Hotmail so was skeptical when they announced Outlook as its replacement. I've tried & tested Outlook webmail it seems OK, a lot cleaner and more efficient than I expected. Gmail is the overall winner for me, though. Never had any issues with it at all and the ads aren't too 'in your face' which is another hate of mine. The only thing about Gmail I dislike is that you have no control over the period of time it takes to check for mail for any other accounts you have set up. This isn't hugely important but it would be nice. I guess if it was a main email account with important info you wouldn't have it running as a secondary account via Gmail anyway.
For a free account offering virtually unlimited storage, not many annoying ads, easy to use and a lot of control over the way it works ie. conversation view preferences, labels etc it's second to none. Oh and it supports IMAP which makes it even better

[Daedroth]

Originally Posted by Scarlet30

I've never been a fan of Hotmail so was skeptical when they announced Outlook as its replacement. I've tried & tested Outlook webmail it seems OK, a lot cleaner and more efficient than I expected. Gmail is the overall winner for me, though. Never had any issues with it at all and the ads aren't too 'in your face' which is another hate of mine. The only thing about Gmail I dislike is that you have no control over the period of time it takes to check for mail for any other accounts you have set up. This isn't hugely important but it would be nice. I guess if it was a main email account with important info you wouldn't have it running as a secondary account via Gmail anyway.
For a free account offering virtually unlimited storage, not many annoying ads, easy to use and a lot of control over the way it works ie. conversation view preferences, labels etc it's second to none. Oh and it supports IMAP which makes it even better

I agree that Gmail is a very good email service, however their privacy records aren't great. They do like to snoop in your emails for 'targeted advertising'.

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by Scarlet30

Gmail is the overall winner for me, though. Never had any issues with it at all and the ads aren't too 'in your face' which is another hate of mine

I don't see any ads at all using Outlook.

[Scarlet30]

Do you use webmail ad blocker or have you purchased Outlook Plus?

[Scarlet30]

Originally Posted by Daedroth

I agree that Gmail is a very good email service, however their privacy records aren't great. They do like to snoop in your emails for 'targeted advertising'.

I think none of them are flawless regarding privacy, scary but true. Some would argue that's the price we pay for using their free services etc but it does bother me. Gmail say they pick up key words and use them for targeted advertising but again they'd have to be reading the content in the first place for these words to hit their radars so that comment didn't really do them any favours! I'm not convinced any of them offer a completely secure service.

[gomezz]

Originally Posted by Scarlet30

Do you use webmail ad blocker or have you purchased Outlook Plus?

Neither. Turning ActiveX off and using the hosts file seems to suffice. Or access it from my phone.

[chinchin]

Just as I switched ISP company- so cannot now use Orange for my email and wanted to use my Windows Live /Hotmail account instead - the $$$££* site has gone down. Probably due to the migration the the new Outlook. Anyhow couldn't have happened at a worst time!

[Tinky-Winky]

Hi,

You should be able to access your hotmail account via an email client, I have already migrated to outlook.com but did not need to change the settings in windows 8 mail app so the settings must be the same for both.

TW