Well, except that you can access Hotmail with Outlook Express but you can not access Yahoo mail.
Um, can’t you set up your hotmail account so that you only get mail from pre-approved addresses?
Guin, you can set Hotmail to receive e-mails from only those persons in your address book. Unfortunately, this doesn’t give you much latitude to give out this address occasionally, for instance someone you meet online (you would have to go into Hotmail and add that person to your address book).
Bob
Hey!
Hold on here!
What did the Borg ever do to you? (Other than assimilate Hotmail)
And Vulcans don’t have spam.
Spam spam spam spam
Oooh… you just wait til I post a link to this over on an Enterprise thread and all the Trek Dopers get ahold of you!
Then what will you do?
Yeah, that’s right! Cower! Cower in fear!
I am your God!
BOW DOWN TO THE COW GOD!
WHAT?!?!
Oh, my meds… thanks! 
If it’s true that MS actually loses money on Hotmail every year, figuring that they’re making it up on being able to put ads on it for themselves, and improve their image and “mindspace” in your head, it’s really hard to complain that they’re not doing enough.
Mind you, I’m no big MS fan. For instance I detest IE6. I have no idea why people use it, when it doesn’t have tabbed browsing or mouse gestures. Netscape 7, people!!! (Except that it doesn’t recover the last pages after it crashes or you close it, like Opera does. Give me either wheel-click in Opera, or page recover in Netscape, and I’ll have the perfect browser.)
It’s (1) a free internet service (2) from Microsoft.
Frankly, complaining about crappy service is like whining that you stuck a fork into the electrical outlet and got electrocuted. Well, duh.
I stopped using Hotmail ages ago. Now reading this, I can see that I’m not missing much.
I also second the suggestion of Yahoo mail. However, I don’t know if they give 6 MB to new users anymore. I get 6 MB because I’ve been with them for several years (I think it’s 5 years). They are pretty good, though, for online mail.
I use the email account I have with my ISP. It works very well for me. I still get a lot of spam, but the spam filter on my POP email program (OS X’s Mail) gets most of it out for me. I know there are spam filters on the Windows side, I’ve just been too lazy to look them up. (Mail has everything all built-in and ready to go, so I’m spoiled.)
I can see why tabbed browsing is useful, but I have no idea what you mean by “mouse gestures”.
However, Netscape is incredibly slow and a huge system resource hog on my machine. I load up IE within a second or two of me clicking the quicklaunch button, Netscape takes almost a full minute to load! I also can’t use 3d studio max and Winamp at the same time as having netscape open, whereas I can have a dozen IE windows open at the same time as Max and winamp.
So there you have it, now you know why at least one person uses IE 6. 
I still use the Hotmail account that I’ve had for about 4 years now, but these days it’s mostly used as a SPAM attractor. I give this address to all the services that are mostly likely to receive spam (Amazon, eBay, Yahoo groups, etc), and my other paid accounts are for serious business or friends. The Hotmail account gets all or most of the spam, and the other accounts are mostly spam-free.
Works just fine.
Wait, you see that as an advantage? 
I’m sitting here scratching my head, wondering how a company that gives you a free service can possibly qualify as “greedy.”
The real reason I am posting, though, is to point out that my header currently says, “Straight Dope Message Board - Damn you Microsoft for what you have done to Hotmail! Damn you to - Microsoft Internet Explorer” I’m glad that my computer thinks IE = hell.
Giving 5 Mb of storage to customers is actualy easy as hell. I, Gozu, can give 2.1 Million customers 2 Mb of storage each. Yeah, you read it right, 2 millions. So don’t give me shit about M$ “struggling” with storage problems, that’s total and utter bullshit. You have no idea how cheap storage actually is.
That was a moronic comment. As has been pointed out by other people in this thread, yahoo mail’s filters which do not use telepathy are capable of effective filtering.
Sigh. This one was a cheap shot, you KNOW that there are always some legit emails caught by the filter.
Another cheap shot. Nothing in my comments suggested that microsoft is conspiring against me. I said they are raping ALL of their users alike.
My rant is idiotic eh? well, if you say so, then it must be true.
If it’s so easy, why are you even using hotmail? You could make your own webmail and give yourself a gazillion Mb, spam-free.
It would be rape if we were forced at gunpoint to use their FREE service. So since we aren’t, I guess we are raping ourselves.
I don’t feel like I’m being raped, and I’ve been using hotmail for almost five years. So speak for yourself.
That is a legitimate question and I have the power to dispel your doubts and enlighten you. Sit down and learn from the master.
I walk by the street. A crack dealer gives me free crack. I smoke it. I like it. i crave it. I need more. Crack dealers tells me it’s 50 bucks a gram. See? crack dealer is greedy even though he gives free stuff. But this is a bad example. Disregard it.
I am 25 years old, just married, moved to a new town with my wife, got a job, got a house and I need a landphone. Bellsouth is offering a very nice plan that’ll cost me 30 bucks and this plan allows me unlimited calls to 5 numbers I choose throughout continental u.s, automatic addition to a do no call list to remain telemarketer free, decent service and line quality.
I am very happy, for the next 7 years, I give my phone number to several hundred people : Friends, family, companies (bank, insurance, job, etc,etc…). Then, I’m 32 and one morning I wake up and discover that i have been removed from the do not call list and I’m getting 50 calls a day from telemarketers, that my answering machine can only hold 2 calls, that I can no longer call my 5 chosen numbers and that there is lots of static in the line. I call bellsouth and they tell me that If I want my old perks back, I have to pay $80 instead of $30. I have 3 choices:
1- I keep paying $30 and try to get used to all the inconveniences i have to deal with
2- I bite the bullet and pay them $80 a month
3- I say fuck them and switch providers. In the process, I have to tell a hundred people that I have a new phone and I know that there is another hundred whom i don’t remember that will still have my old phone number and will no longer be able to reach me.
Sucks doesn’t it? But hey, I signed a contract where it said the phone company guys had a right to rape me if they ever felt like it among other things so I can’t complain. It’s all legal, legitimate and it’s their right.
ya know what? This is a bad example too.
But I’ve spent time typing it and I don’t have the heart to simply delete it 
PS: please don’t use my examples to argue with me, I already said they were bad. Get over it. truth is, the webmail industry is something unique and you really can’t compare it to anything accurately…
I KNEW you were going to say something like that. What would satisfy you eh? a 2,000 pages estimate of how much it would cost to set up a webmail service similar to microsoft and how much it would cost to maintain it? How about another 10,000 pages dedicated to the advantages of integrating the webmail option with the MSN portal/ISP, of using the number of subscribers to launch an instant messenger, promote a microsoft email reader program only available on a microsoft O.S. What are you? Nuts? The Stupidest thing about your comment is the fact that you sneakily IMPLY i said it was easy, when in fact, I only pointed out that storage was extremely cheap. Look, if you want to contest what I actually SAID about whether adding the necessary storage to give ALL hotmail users 5Mb of space in their inbox would significantly increase Microsoft’s expenses, then bring it on. Otherwise, shut up.
You were also saying something about me using the word rape improperly. Sure I did. It adds effect to my comments and I feel better when I use the words “fuck” “rape” “motherfuckers” and others in my rants. It doesn’t really mean there is any sexual activity going on ya know? I don’t really think the big cahunas at microsoft have intercourse with their mothers. I swear.
Correction: I did use the word “easy” and wrongly accused you of implying blah blah blah. Mea Culpa. I apologize. But i believe you are not stupid and that you deliberately chose to nitpick on my usage of words when you actually know that my point was that it would be easy for hotmail to give more storage to it’s members.
Ok, let’s straighten this out:
If microsoft decided to, they could significantly increase their members’ storage. This would have an proportionally negligible increase in their expenses. I can go into this in greater detail should anyone challenge this assertion. I am absolutely certain that they have forsaken the traditional 5Mb not for cost reasons, but to pressure users to switch to their premium services.
I also strongly suspect Microsoft of deliberately keeping their filters crappy. Why? Because the more spam gets through, the more you feel that your inbox space is not sufficient and the more reason you have to upgrade to their paying service. (It wouldn’t surprise me if premium users enjoyed a much better spam filter than normal users).
And if you think I’m being paranoid and don’t believe me, PLEASE explain to me why they deactivate your account after 15 days of inactivity on your part and won’t let you reactivate it without signing up for their premium services.
I mean, come on. I know a lot of you like to play devil’s advocate (hell, I do it all the time, if only for the sake of forcing my opponent to be coherent in his arguments) but do you really think this is all coincidence?
I have a hotmail account. I’ve had it for probably about two years or so and the only spam I get is the spam I sign up for (newslettes and such). Perhaps my account is just a freak of nature and I’ve just jinxed it by bragging?
I know. You keep saying that, but poor me–I don’t understand it! I don’t understand why it would be easier for Microsoft to give us more memory. ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY AREN’T GETTING ANYTHING IN RETURN. But I admit, I know absolutely nothing about computers, ISPs, or mass communication.
All I know is that the word “rape” is kinda harsh for something that is being given to you, at your freeloading request. I mean, the only reason why you’re complaining is because you remember the “good times” when there was tons of memory and spam was something you ate, not deleted. For the millions of people who joined hotmail after you did, they are grateful for the service. Why? Because they have no sense of entitlement. That’s the way it should be.
I’m not going to kiss MSN’s ass, but hotmail has helped me out considerably through the years. I still have emails from friends in my folders that go back to when I first started using the service. I look at them when I’m feeling nostalgic.
While my “real” email goes out of service on a regular basis and is inconvenient to check sometimes, hotmail stays constant and true. Sure, once I logged on and discovered all of my old messages gone. But then again, IT’S FREE. I simply can’t complain. Nor can I empathize with those who do.
Theres no limit to the amount of hotmail addresses you want, why not simply separate the groups of people your recieving ‘proper’ E-mails from into a seperate address? That would help your MB problems.
Regards the Spam problem, well Ive been using Hotmail for about 4 years now, and I dont have much of a spam problem. I get maybe one or two a day, they go straight into the Junk Mail folder anyway so its not a problem.
When I started to use hotmail first I used a different address to the one I use there now, and I didnt care who had it, I would put it on any website on any page. Whoever wanted it could have had it! And obviously I got about 40 spam emails a day as a result.
So while Hotmail certainly does have its problems, its really not there fault if you, or any other user, puts his or hers adress into random web pages.
Hahahahahahahaha. You really cracked me up there. I swear to god, I really laughed. This makes for a GREAT sig.
But, just to be clear, I’m not laughing at your misfortune. The exact same thing happened to me (ain’t hotmail great?) and I lost the only copies I had of messages going back to 1994. The difference between you and me is that I was MAD as hell with hotmail. I’m not even sure they didn’t do this on purpose to reduce the size of full “inboxes” to make way for their new and improved 2Mb. Unless lightening strikes their racks, I don’t see how a redundant raid could possibly have enough hard drives fail at once to allow such a thing to happen. Then again, I’m not sure you’re familiar with RAID and Hot Swapping. Maybe I’m getting too technical.