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WINDOWS LIVE

Microsoft Kills Outlook Express Legacy Protocol for Windows Live Hotmail

- Points users to DeltaSynch

By: Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor

At the end of the past week, Microsoft announced that it was killing the DAV legacy email client protocol for Windows Live Hotmail. Distributed Authoring and Versioning protocol was still supported only in Outlook Express offering users the possibility to centralize their Windows Live Hotmail content into the default email desktop client of Windows XP. DAV is a protocol similar to POP3 or IMAP, permitting communications between an email client
and a web-based mail server.

"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," a member of the Windows Live Hotmail technical Support team revealed.

The main reason for the killing of DAV is the lack of efficiency that is now associated with the legacy outlook Express protocol. Windows Live Mail is an upgrade to the email client that ships as a default component of Windows Vista, labeled under the Windows Live brand. Unlike Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail will continue to permit access to Windows Live Hotmail, but via a Microsoft proprietary protocol dubbed DeltaSync. Microsoft specified that it has no plans to offer support for DeltaSync with Outlook Express.

"We have developed a new, much more efficient protocol called DeltaSync that is far superior to DAV especially for large e-mail inboxes. It enables email clients to only download changes since the last time the client polled the email server for changes. This is much more efficient and high performing than having to download all the headers in every folder as is the case with DAV," the Windows Live Hotmail technical Support team member added.

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21st April 2008, 15:25 GMT | Copyright (c) 2008 Softpedia | Contact:
Read by 1,701 user(s) | Rating: | 4 vote(s) so far | Cast your vote:
Microsoft Kills Outlook Express Legacy Protocol for Windows Live Hotmail - USER OPINIONS

Comment #1 by Paul, UK on 2008-04-23, 18:10 GMT reply to this comment 
The change-over has been a really awful experience. After two days of trying to get it to work properly I just stopped and removed it. Two days spent doing nothing else. I have gone back to using Outlook Express an hour ago and its been such a relief. It quickly updated everything and works just fine.

Problems included not downloading any emails, downloading them intermittently, and only downloading headers. Strangely this was only on my hotmail account and not on the gmail account.

I wish I had never heard of Windows Live Mail.

Has anyone else had the same or similar problems?

Comment #2 by Renald on 2008-04-24, 12:36 GMT reply to this comment 
First, two corrections:

1) "Windows MAIL", and not "Windows LIVE", is the name of the email client that ships as a default component of Windows Vista.

2) You state "Microsoft specified that it has no plans to offer support for DAV with Outlook Express". Since Outlook Express has supported DAV all along, and DAV is precisely what is being being phased out (thus crippling both Outlook Express (for XP) and Windows Mail (for Vista), I suspect you meant something like "Microsoft specified that it has no plans to offer support for DeltaSynch with Outlook Express".

Geez people, doensn't anyone proofread their articles before they post them???!!!

That being said, it is with much trepidation that I just learned I must hurry up and test-drive Windows Live Mail if I wish to keep accessing my Hotmail account from my desktop after June 30. The number of horror stories that came up from my first Google search of the issue is anything but reassuring. You can be sure that I will be backing up my Outlook Express mail store folders before I attempt any such migration. Too bad many other early adopters apparently did not know how to do so, or knew but did not consider it necessary to take such a precaution. What were they thinking?

Furthermore, in my professional position as a consultant, I will have to decide whether to endorse and assist in this migration for my clients, or advise against it and recommend the continued use of Outlook Express, particularly where Hotmail access is not required. Thus the results of my personal experimentation with Windows Live Mail will serve as the basis for the position I will adopt professionally...

And finally, may I suggest the addition of a "Preview" feature to your comment submission interface? It is in common use in many Web forums ("fora"?), and greatly facilitates the submission of properly proofread comments...


Comment #3 by Don on 2008-04-27, 17:41 GMT reply to this comment 
stay away from the switch. Its a killer and you will hate it. I switched back.

Comment #4 by Zen on 2008-04-28, 11:07 GMT reply to this comment 
Is there any alternatives to Windows Live Mail Desktop package that uses the new proprietary protocol? I tested Live Mail last year and was appallel by it's poor assembly. The switch is making me seriously think about dumping Hotmail all together.

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