Using Windows Mail in Windows 7
June 18, 2009 by Milo Riano
Filed under Computers
Microsoft Windows Vista is using Windows Mail which is baked into the operating system. The Windows Mail is the newer technology used for email and as such I assume that users are utilizing Windows Mail over the old Microsoft Outlook Express?
Windows 7 on the other hand doesn’t have Windows Mail and Microsoft is pushing Windows Live Mail over Outlook Express and Windows Mail. In case you don’t have any plans of changing email applications and prefer to stick with Windows Mail, you can migrate your data to Windows 7 using the following steps:
1. Click on “System Drive”
2. Choose “Windows Mail”
3. Copy everything (files and folders) in Windows Mail Folder
4. Copy and overwrite everything on the same path as that of Windows Vista Mail Folder to Windows 7.
Please try the steps at your own discretion as I have yet to try the steps above.
Image from Microsoft product logo.
Windows Mail. Do I understand from the post June 18, 2009 by Milo Riano that contrary to other information Windows Mail will now work under Windows 7. After trying Windows Mail Live I decided its layout and sets of folders for each email address make it unsuitable for my needs.
Isn’t it true that Windows Mail Live is really web based? And even though it’s installed on your desktop, you would still have to log on each time you looked at your mail? And it would have to be a hotmail or live account?
I would think that alone would be a major drawback. For me it’s a deciding factor. I would never use that kind of email account for a home computer. As far as checking email from anywhere, I can already do that with AOL and with Comcast.
Also, a few years ago they added ads to the Windows Live page. Would those ads appear on the latest versions of Windows Live Mail? I’m very surprised MS would do this. Since there are better desktop email apps than Windows Live Mail, and MS must realize that, it’s almost as if they’re encouraging you to use a non-MS email client.
So, you upgrade to Windows 7, and either downgrade your email client or use a non-MS email client. Very strange.
Windows Live Mail is cloud-based. It does synchronize folders and messages from “the cloud” to your hard drive. You passwords, account data, server data, and messages are store in the cloud and on your hard drive.
Microsoft isn’t doing this for the convenience of their users, they’re doing it to monetize – make money from – your email. Currently they are only placing advertisements – unseen by the sender – at the bottom of messages sent with Windows Live Mail. However the technology exists to place advertisements at the bottom of every email you send using Windows Live Mail regardless of the account you use. For instance, if you are a RoadRunner user and you have an rr.com email account and you set up that account in Windows Live Mail, there’s more than a good chance that MS will start inserting advertisements in your personal email.
There are several reasons why Microsoft is doing this:
1. The advertising revenue that billions of emails will generate
2. To prevent business users from using it, since it wouldn’t be very professional to have a “Get 10,000 free smileys for your email” advertisement inserted into business correspondence
3. To get users to buy MS OFFICE (with Outlook) or to buy MS Outlook by itself – around $100.00
All those reasons can be attributed to Microsoft’s greed. They are bound and determined to nick you for every penny they can get from you – even from your personal email.
Windows Live Mail is designed to look and work (sort of) like Outlook Express or Windows Mail In essence it’s nothing but a desktop interface for Hotmail – that gives you the added “feature” of including your other emails accounts too.
Microsoft touts Windows Live Mail by saying you can access your email from anywhere – all your accounts, not just your Hotmail account. Gmail has offered this for quite awhile and have done it more legitimately than Microsoft. Gmail doesn’t trick anyone into thinking it is anything but what it is. Microsoft just wants to force users into a cloud-based email program that looks and feels a lot like Outlook Express, but in reality is just another Microsoft money machine.
Microsoft isn’t so sure consumers are going to buy into this scheme though so they’ve hedged their bets and included Windows Mail on all versions of Windows 7. It would take only a simple “update” from Microsoft to activate Windows Mail in Windows 7.
As usual with Microsoft, the customer comes second. It would not surprise me that within 15 years we’ll see Microsoft going the way of GM – another company that put profits before people. It works for awhile, but what goes around, comes around, every single time.
@Clark – Windows Live Mail is not cloud based anymore than Windows Mail or Outlook Express 6 was. It’s an installed email client and all your mail is located locally on your computer just like it always has been. And there are no ads in the program. It’s just a plain old email client with a few new features.
Uh yes it is cloud based and that’s the point. Microsoft feels this is better solution for the user in that any problems, upgrades, etc. would be taken care of instantly.