All your emails belong to Microsoft

I run my own personal mail server, and I hear that the built-in Windows Mail and Calendar app is due to be retired in favour of "New Outlook". So I thought I'd try it out.

On adding my account details to New Outlook, I was greeted with a message telling me that all the emails on my IMAP server must be permanently synchronised with Microsoft's cloud servers. I can verify this, a Microsoft IP address is permanently logged in to my IMAP server.

So, how do people feel about Microsoft forcing people to proxy all their non-Microsoft mailboxes through Microsoft servers as a condition for using their new email application?

Just use thunderbird if you need IMAP. On Windows the legacy (paid) Outlook can do IMAP without the cloud, but the "new Outlook" is still a cloud centric app and still in development. My company has banned it as it doesn't work offline...

MS seemingly has given up the local Mail/Calendar apps, back to the days of win7 when there were no apps at all. They put them in in the Win8 days, and now they've wrecked them..

Edited by jchamier (Thu 14-Sep-23 15:56:28)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Just use thunderbird if you need IMAP. On Windows the legacy (paid) Outlook can do IMAP without the cloud

I'm moving away from Microsoft 365 so "Old" Outlook is not an option. When Mail and Calendar is withdrawn I'll have a look at solutions like Thunderbird or eM Client.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

MS seemingly has given up the local Mail/Calendar apps

Agreed. Windows Live Mail was the best free client they ever made, which was essentially the final version of Microsoft Internet Mail and News / Outlook Express. All they needed to do was keep it up to date with newer technologies like Oauth.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Microsoft Internet Mail and News / Outlook Express. All they needed to do was keep it up to date with newer technologies like Oauth.

The old MSIMN.EXE from Internet Explorer 3, that became Outlook Express was one of the easiest to use email program out there. Of course MS doesn’t care now as 90% of home users (apparently) use their phones, not laptops or desktops, or webmail.

Just keep your email on a separate host server. That will also give the advantage of a server side anti spam tool and that’s much more effective than trying to deal with spam client side.
P.S Still using Outlook

Edited by spile (Fri 15-Sep-23 07:32:09)

In reply to a post by spile:

Just keep your email on a separate host server.

I do.

In reply to a post by spile:

That will also give the advantage of a server side anti spam tool and that’s much more effective than trying to deal with spam client side.

I don't have problems dealing with spam.

In reply to a post by spile:

P.S Still using Outlook

The Old Outlook PC client does not require you to grant Microsoft cloud servers permanent access to all your IMAP accounts, the New Outlook PC client does. Over time I believe Microsoft intends to retire the Old Outlook PC client in favour of the New Outlook PC client.

Edited by Oliver341 (Fri 15-Sep-23 08:06:36)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Just use thunderbird if you need IMAP.

Just coming back to say I've tried Thunderbird for the first time in a few years and I'm really impressed by how much it's been improved. Last I heard Mozilla abandoned it, but it seems to be in full development again.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Just coming back to say I've tried Thunderbird for the first time in a few years and I'm really impressed by how much it's been improved. Last I heard Mozilla abandoned it, but it seems to be in full development again.

Complete new UI in the last release. Its no longer funded by the money part of Mozilla, I think the developers take sponsorship, but it is still a Mozilla foundation project.

Of course if that court case in the US where Google pay other browsers (e.g. Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox) to be the default search goes the wrong way, then Mozilla might disappear

Edited by jchamier (Sat 16-Sep-23 10:50:44)

Thunderbird raised $6.4 million in donations last year, very impressive: https://blog.thunderbird.net/2023/05/thunderbird-is-...

Plenty in the coffers to hire full-time developers. And according to the comments section, the largest donation was $3,000.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Thunderbird raised $6.4 million in donations last year, very impressive: https://blog.thunderbird.net/2023/05/thunderbird-is-...

Plenty in the coffers to hire full-time developers. And according to the comments section, the largest donation was $3,000.

Yes, its a successful project, just not funded by the old "commercial" Mozilla, as it used to be, and how Firefox is funded.

Maybe Firefox will go that way, as its usage shrinks and everyone uses a Chromium based browser, against Tim Berners-Lee's wishes.