14 DAY TRIAL // On September 1, 2009, Microsoft killed off a legacy protocol that allowed customers to bridge their email clients with the company’s online email service. As noted last in the second half of August 2009, the Redmond-based company was right on track to retiring Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) at the start of September. Yesterday, the software giant confirmed that the process was irreversible and that users running Outlook, Outlook Express, and Entourage would no longer be able to connect to Windows Live Hotmail and have the email client grab their email via DAV.
“We are changing the way Windows Live Hotmail messages come into Microsoft Office Outlook, Outlook Express, and Entourage. While you may have to tweak some settings, you will notice additional speed and efficiency,” noted a member of the Windows Live Hotmail Team. “Keep in mind, this does not affect access through the web and customers can continue to view Hotmail messages on the web.”
Fact is that DAV got a life extension in 2008. Microsoft initially planned to kill off the legacy protocol earlier, but decided to breathe additional life into DAV because it could not deliver an alternative. However, since the beginning of 2009, Windows Live Hotmail has been upgraded to support the POP3 email protocol. In this regard, the Redmond-based company had green light to scrap DAV, a move which happened on September 1, 2009.
Microsoft is currently offering a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for accessing Hotmail on mail programs, a resource designed to provide guidance to end users on just how to configure email clients to pull down emails from their Windows Live Hotmail accounts. The most obvious choice is, of course, to configure email program to leverage POP3. Also, users can download the free Office Outlook Connector or Windows Live Mail.
“Sometimes we’re not connected to the internet or unexpectedly the service we’re trying to connect to isn’t available – we find ourselves in need of accessing e-mail offline. Windows Live provides you options when things fall down because we understand that people depend on their e-mail for information. With Windows Live Mail or Outlook Connector for Outlook, you can access your Hotmail and other e-mail accounts offline and have a richer experience than possible on the web. So when the unexpected happens, you’ll still have access to your e-mail though the comfort of the mail programs on your PC,” revealed a member of the Windows Live team.
Windows Live Mail 2009 14.0.8089.0726 is available for download here.