Am I set in my ways?

Faustus · 7 Jul 2009 at 08:27

As the title states - am I to set in my ways? This rhetorical question applies to the move for more and more web based applications rather than having proprietary software installed on ones PC? In particular the programmes that are now missing from Windows 7 e.g. Windows Mail.

Now it's not the end of the world for me as I am an Outlook user but I know of a good many people that much prefer applications like Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Mail to be physically installed on the computers hard drive. I would include myself among these people. I can't put my finger on why but I'm not keen on web based email. My ISP is Sky which uses Google as it's customer web client and yet I don't use it opting instead for Outlook.

What do others think?

Faustus · 7 Jul 2009 at 20:18

Paul11 said:
windows live mail is on local pc ? isnt it

i use outlook myself

edit:
is live not available to download for win 7 ?

Windows Live Mail is a web based application just like Gmail.

I use Sky's email client which is Gmail but I use this via Outlook and set it up as iMap so I can get the same emails on all my computers - which all have MS Office installed. As for work, well again that is all MS Office applications so I love the familiarity. Another thing about work is that web based applications are barred so a web based email client isn't much use to me in any event.

Am I right in assuming that you don't have a PST file stored on your hard drive for web based email?

Faustus · 8 Jul 2009 at 08:15

Dano said:
No, it's not, it's a local application just like outlook express.

You are absolutely right, please accept my apologies. To my knowledge I have no recollection of having downloaded this programme and yet it is there in my start menu?

Faustus · 8 Jul 2009 at 08:27

xiphrex said:
Well, I too prefer to have an actual email client on my PC locally, but ever since microsoft completely screwed over outlook with outlook 2003 and then 2007 I much prefer using gmail web based email access.

Outlook 2007 is one huge resource hogger when running, downloading just 1mb of emails brings my pc to its knees even moving the mouse starts jerking out. Not to mention how slow it can all get due to the limitations of the way the emails are stored and compressed. There are numerous people with the same problems and microsoft even acknowledges them.

I used to use outlook express which was miles faster but it didnt have powerful enough features like outlook.

But then I see gmail online and its so fast and easy to use, I rarely load outlook now, and can access all my mail from anywhere in the world.

Windows Live mail actually gets some pretty positive reviews.

Windows Live Mail is actually an excellent email, contacts, and calendaring solution. You can use it to access multiple email accounts simultaneously (including multiple Hotmail accounts), and it works with all of the important email standards. In fact, one of the best things about this application is that you don't even have to use it with Microsoft's online services. You could use the Calendar mode locally, for example, and not in tandem with Windows Live Calendar if you wanted. Ditto for Contacts.

Windows Live Mail is very much a viable replacement for Windows Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. I just wish Microsoft would make that a bit more obvious.

Some of the issues regarding Outlook concern iMap which I use. Outlook stores your emails locally and if you are a heavy user it has to first sync your folders with the server which means a lot of downloading time. I sometimes experience sluggish performance lasting approx 15 seconds when opening Outlook, for me however the functionality makes it worth it. If I had to choose another programme though then Windows Live Mail would be an obvious choice.