Thank you for your input, however:
I am unfamiliar with: Microsoft Exchange Server email systems. I don't know
anything about this exhange server. So, any info on this would be
appreciated.
Microsoft Exchange Server is a comprehensive electronic messaging system,
which includes an email server:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Exchange_Server
When you say: "All other email systems/protocols are secondary to this
purpose and Hotmail falls into this category." I take this to mean that
Outlook 2007 was primarily designed to work with the Microsoft Exchange
Server. So, I guess the next question to ask is: How do I get my email to
work with the Microsoft Exchange Server?
You don't. Microsoft Exchange Server is a product, and is generally used in
an enterprise environment (i.e., a business). It costs money to obtain, and
requires a level of expertise beyond that which most end users have. And is
probably overkill for a single user, anyway.
Since Hotmail falls in email systems/protocols that are secondary to the
Microsoft Exchange Server, I can conclude that no matter what I do with my
hotmail account that it will not work properly with Outlook 07. That is: it
will not be able to access the full 100% functionality of the Outlook 07
program. For example, this may explain why I don't see the [Flags] and
[Category] options on my hotmail emails. I believe this is correct. Please
respond?
From other posts you have made, your Hotmail account is part of a package
with an "ISP+MSN" service (in your case, Verizon MSN). That is a little
different from the Windows Live (formerly MSN) Hotmail service. And only
those with an ISP+MSN service (Qwest is the only other major ISP I know of
with an MSN partnership) would know how to make things work.
Forgive me for taking your sentences apart, but you say: "As to the best
secondary service, I prefer IMAP to POP and I find Outlook 2007 to be quite
adequate for this purpose."
Many email services are third party services (AOL Mail, Fastmail, Gmail,
GMX, MyRealBox, and Yahoo! are examples), and others are provided directly
by ISPs. Most offer POP3 email service, such as AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox,
Embarq, and Road Runner. Some, such as AOL Mail, Fastmail and Gmail offer
IMAP service.
After what you said in your first paragraph: "All versions of Outlook were
designed to be the primary email client for Microsoft > Exchange Server email
systems. "--why would you want to use a secondary service?
More email service providers use Unix based mail servers than use Microsoft
Exchange. It isn't about "secondary" service, but which service use what
mail servers. Few providers, outside of a business environment, run
Microsoft Exchange Server.
Okay, I don't know how you'll answer that but, since you prefer IMAP to POP,
I must ask: What makes these two protocols so much different then one
another? What important factors are you considering in your choice?
POP3 service defaults to downloading email from the server to the client.
And, once downloaded from the server, the email is deleted from the server
(unless the client is configured to leave it on the server; and even then,
the server can ignore a client request to not delete downloaded email).
IMAP service holds the email on the server, and downloads copies to the
client. The process is called, "synchronization", and basically copies the
contents of the server to the client. If email is deleted from the client,
it will be deleted from the server.
IMAP is preferably for people who want to access email from multiple
locations, using multiple server. I have an AOL Mail account, in the
'netscape.net' domain. I can set up a client on any computer, anywhere I go,
to access this account. Whatever email is on the server, I will be able to
read it from such clients.
POP3 is useful for people who want to store email locally, on their
computers, and don't need to access their accounts from any other computer
in any other location in the world.
You say: "It does not have quite the IMAP feature set that, say, Windows
Live Mail or Thunderbird has, but then, Outlook is primarily an Exchange
Server client; it is in this arena that Outlook's true power comes out."
What does "It" refer to in this sentence? Are you talking about Outlook 2007?
Depends upon which sentence. In the first case, "it" is Microsoft Outlook
2007. In the second case, "it" refers to the components of Outlook available
in an Exchange environment.
Is Windows Live Mail a Microsoft Exchange Server email system?
Not that I know of.
Who offers the Thunderbird email system?
AFAIK, Thunderbird is not an "email system", but an email client developed
by the Mozilla Foundation:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
And does Thunderbird operate on the Microsoft Exchange Server system?
To the extent that a Microsoft Exchange Server implements IMAP and SMTP
services, Thunderbird will work with an Exchange system. But only MS Oulook
will take full advantage of the available Exchange services.
Or is this another secondary email service which uses the full 100%
functionality of Outlook 2007?
To use MS Outlook 2007 to the fullest would require an email service which
uses the Microsoft Exchange Server. Not all email service providers use MS
Exchange; and I'd guess that most use a Unix based server instead of MS
Exchange.
Any email client used with an MS Exchange Server would need to be aware of
the extra components provide by the Exchange Server; most clients not made
by Microsoft (and some made by Microsoft) can not use an Exchange server to
the fullest capacity.
