Windows Patch?

[Guest]

Is Microsoft going to release a patch for all these problems with WinMail?
(For me I want to SEND messages). The methods with the WMUTil is just too
convoluted and probably should only be processed by experts

 

[Julian]

Is Microsoft going to release a patch for all these problems with WinMail?

Unlikely.

 

[Peter]

They are going to replace it with Windows Live Mail pretty soon.

--
Peter
Toronto, Canada
XP Pro SP2 x 2 + Vista Ultimate Triple Boot
P4 HT @ 3ghz, 4gb DDR, 700gb HDD
Soundblaster Audigy 4 PCI Sound
ATI Radeon X1650 Pro AGP Graphics

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

The 'patch' was released May 30th and is called Windows Live Mail:
http://morethanmail.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B7DD1FF3F141F9A1!3459.entry

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

The 'patch' was released May 30th and is called Windows Live Mail:
http://morethanmail.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B7DD1FF3F141F9A1!3459.entry

Gary VanderMolen

I still find Windows Mail, even with its shortcomings, to be preferable to
Windows Live Mail.

They claim that they will start supporting Windows Mail again.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

They claim that they will start supporting Windows Mail again.

I'll believe that when I see it.
And it will be too little -- too late.

 

[Julian]

I'll believe that when I see it.
And it will be too little -- too late.

Besides... what does "again" mean... did they ever?

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Besides... what does "again" mean... did they ever?

Hah, good point. We sure had little luck during the Vista beta
convincing Microsoft to fix bugs in Windows Mail.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Besides... what does "again" mean... did they ever?

Right up to the release of Vista at the end of November.

 

[Julian]

Right up to the release of Vista at the end of November.

LOL that's cute.

Supporting a product only up to the point
where it needs to be supported is priceless.

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

LOL that's cute.

Supporting a product only up to the point
where it needs to be supported is priceless.

This Windows email client situation is becoming ridiculous! Are MS really as
dithery about this as they appear to be? A spruced up OE called Windows
Mail, which seems basically OK, hardly off the starting blocks and it
appears it is to be abandoned in favour of WLM, which is only available in
beta! I'm not a MS basher, but seriously, it doesn't exactly inspire
confidence. Thank goodness I use IMAP, so my emails are not trapped inside a
potentially dead-in-the-water client's database. I really like Vista, but
the email client debacle is a little frustrating. Does anyone have any
greater clarity on what we should expect? If not I will have to seriously
consider moving to a third party client just to get some certainty.

Thanks for any thoughts, sympathy, encouragement, etc.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

This Windows email client situation is becoming ridiculous! Are MS really as dithery about this as they appear to be? A spruced
up OE called Windows Mail, which seems basically OK, hardly off the starting blocks and it appears it is to be abandoned in
favour of WLM, which is only available in beta! I'm not a MS basher, but seriously, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Thank
goodness I use IMAP, so my emails are not trapped inside a potentially dead-in-the-water client's database. I really like Vista,
but the email client debacle is a little frustrating. Does anyone have any greater clarity on what we should expect? If not I
will have to seriously consider moving to a third party client just to get some certainty.

Thanks for any thoughts, sympathy, encouragement, etc.

At this point Microsoft is not even soliciting beta testers to submit
bug reports for Windows Mail, so whatever fixes Microsoft has in store
for Windows Mail are a long way off.

I personally find it very disheartening because I have lived with Outlook
Express for so long that it seemed like an old friend. We all hoped that
WM was going to be a modernized OE, but so far it has not lived up to
its promise. Microsoft is not being forthcoming with respect to what its
future plans for WM are.

If neither WM or WLM receive significant attention from Microsoft
within the next few months, I will probably migrate to Outlook 2007,
since it is already on my computer.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

This Windows email client situation is becoming ridiculous! Are MS really
as dithery about this as they appear to be? A spruced up OE called Windows
Mail, which seems basically OK, hardly off the starting blocks and it
appears it is to be abandoned in favour of WLM, which is only available in
beta! I'm not a MS basher, but seriously, it doesn't exactly inspire
confidence. Thank goodness I use IMAP, so my emails are not trapped inside
a potentially dead-in-the-water client's database. I really like Vista,
but the email client debacle is a little frustrating. Does anyone have any
greater clarity on what we should expect? If not I will have to seriously
consider moving to a third party client just to get some certainty.

Thanks for any thoughts, sympathy, encouragement, etc.

Yes, it's terrible. Windows Mail has enough features missing from Windows
Live Mail (the last time I used it) that I prefer WM to WLM. However, WM
also has bugs that have been fixed in WLM. It's the same programming team.
I can see why MS prefers to have you use WLM, but I don't like the adds and
I won't pay for Hotmail. I also think WLM is uglier than WM, which is
uglier than OE. The real improvement in both WM and WLM is that they got
rid of the awful DBX files and store each message as an individual EML file.
Unfortunately, I can't decipher the names to know which file is which
message without opening the files.

I am not happy about the whole mess.

 

[MICHAEL]

* Gary VanderMolen:

At this point Microsoft is not even soliciting beta testers to submit
bug reports for Windows Mail, so whatever fixes Microsoft has in store
for Windows Mail are a long way off.

I personally find it very disheartening because I have lived with Outlook
Express for so long that it seemed like an old friend. We all hoped that
WM was going to be a modernized OE, but so far it has not lived up to
its promise. Microsoft is not being forthcoming with respect to what its
future plans for WM are.

If neither WM or WLM receive significant attention from Microsoft
within the next few months, I will probably migrate to Outlook 2007,
since it is already on my computer.

While I find it obnoxious when someone says "I told you so",
I'm going to say it- I've been harping on this for a year... since
the beta days. That doesn't help, but Microsoft has been fully
aware of WM's sorry performance for a long time.

I posted here and sent feedback to Microsoft on numerous occasions.
Back then, I thought Microsoft would have to be real dumb to release
Windows Mail in such a sorry state in a brand new OS.
See, there were two things most folks use every single day, something
that is common between most users of Windows- Outlook Express
and Internet Explorer. Even those who use Outlook for email still used
OE for newsgroups. And, as you said Gary, it was like an old friend.
I knew that a program with such a wide user base would garner many
complaints if it wasn't fixed, and it wasn't. People who upgrade to Vista
are left wondering WTF, where's my dependable Outlook Express?
"I upgrade to the latest and greatest and this is what I get?" The sheer amount
of users that this affects is enormous. Which is why I couldn't believe Microsoft
would actually release Vista with WM in its bug ridden state. It and IE are
the first two programs users will encounter and want to use right away.
The perception WM will give a new user about Vista, will not be very flattering.
And I stated that exact thing several times before Vista's release.
Of course, I wasn't the only one telling it like that.

Now, we have this mess of WM and WLM. While WLM is better, it is still
terrible for handling newsgroups. The confusion that has been created
because of this would be funny if it wasn't so serious.

Gary, if you have Office 2007 already, use it. Once you get used to
Outlook, it is the best email client out there. Period.

Perhaps, one could sneak a conspiracy theory into this mess and say
that- it's really Microsoft's intention to push users toward buying Office
so that they will have an email client that functions well. Of course, that
doesn't do a thing for newsgroups... but Thunderbird sure does.


Take care,

Michael

 

[MICHAEL]

* Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM:

Yes, it's terrible. Windows Mail has enough features missing from Windows
Live Mail (the last time I used it) that I prefer WM to WLM. However, WM
also has bugs that have been fixed in WLM. It's the same programming team.
I can see why MS prefers to have you use WLM, but I don't like the adds and
I won't pay for Hotmail. I also think WLM is uglier than WM, which is
uglier than OE. The real improvement in both WM and WLM is that they got
rid of the awful DBX files and store each message as an individual EML file.
Unfortunately, I can't decipher the names to know which file is which
message without opening the files.

I am not happy about the whole mess.

Frank, WLM no longer has ads. And you can turn off the search bar with
its "relevant links". Also, you don't have to pay to access Hotmail through
WLM. I give Microsoft credit for doing those things, but WLM still falls
short for me, and they've created quite a bit of confusion. It should have
never come to this.

One other positive thing Microsoft has done, sometime soon they will be
releasing a new Outlook Connector that will allow Outlook users to access
their Hotmail for free.


-Michael

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

* Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM:

Frank, WLM no longer has ads. And you can turn off the search bar with
its "relevant links". Also, you don't have to pay to access Hotmail through
WLM. I give Microsoft credit for doing those things, but WLM still falls
short for me, and they've created quite a bit of confusion. It should have
never come to this.

One other positive thing Microsoft has done, sometime soon they will be
releasing a new Outlook Connector that will allow Outlook users to access
their Hotmail for free.


-Michael

Well, I can't afford a new MS Office. I have Office 2000 though. Word &
Excel are fine in that, but I know Outlook 2000 is rather insecure. Can
anyone comment on the thought of using it on Vista, as it is pretty good
as an IMAP client. Otherwise I'll setiously look at Thunberbird,
although there is the occasional issue with its address book which has
tended to keep me away from it until now. Appreciate any comments.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Well, I can't afford a new MS Office. I have Office 2000 though. Word & Excel are fine in that, but I know Outlook 2000 is
rather insecure. Can anyone comment on the thought of using it on Vista, as it is pretty good as an IMAP client. Otherwise I'll
setiously look at Thunberbird, although there is the occasional issue with its address book which has tended to keep me away
from it until now. Appreciate any comments.

Outlook 2000 has issues with Vista.
See: http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/vista.htm

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

Outlook 2000 has issues with Vista.
See: http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/vista.htm

Yeah, thanks Gary, good of you to give me the heads up about that. I've
made my decision and it's Thunderbird with the calendar extension. The
Vista calender is nothing more than the old MS Works calendar tarted up
slightly, and it has some significantly bad design points. TB is running
just fine, with none of the issues that seem to be plaguing Windows Mail
etc. Thanks for your help.

 

[antioch]

Hello Frank, Gary, Michael and Julian
Thanks for your brief observations re WinMail - my daughter insisted on
having Vista on a new computer in March(which was against my advice, having
kept an eye on the groups) and she has had nothing but problems each week.
I quickly made sure she had the relevant newsgroups to help her.
Over the last month the WinMail has almost completely gone - she can send
and receive but she can no longer delete from the default folders.
I told her to wait and see if there is anything in this months Black Tuesday
update - it appears that there will be nothing. I have told her to download
nothing from MS that might update her to WLM.
So I shall suggest she moves to TB and kills Win Mail.
Thanks again
Rgds
Antioch

 

[Richard]

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Hash: SHA1

Hello Frank, Gary, Michael and Julian
Thanks for your brief observations re WinMail - my daughter insisted on
having Vista on a new computer in March(which was against my advice, having
kept an eye on the groups) and she has had nothing but problems each week.
I quickly made sure she had the relevant newsgroups to help her.
Over the last month the WinMail has almost completely gone - she can send
and receive but she can no longer delete from the default folders.
I told her to wait and see if there is anything in this months Black Tuesday
update - it appears that there will be nothing. I have told her to download
nothing from MS that might update her to WLM.
So I shall suggest she moves to TB and kills Win Mail.
Thanks again
Rgds
Antioch

To be fair I didn't have a single problem with WM, I just needed email
signing & encryption facilities "on the fly" & the best free so;ution I
am aware of for this is TB / enigmail with GPG.

I am sure your daughter will enjoy using TB, I tend to install it now on
all systems I set up for people & I get no complaints & am aware of
no-one ditching it for WM or OE etc ;-)

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