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Kinda disappointed hotmail isn't one of the mail options...

bobbba said:
Blame Microsoft/Hotmail, they don't support the open protocols (that gmail, yahoo et al all do) that OS X Mail needs instead it uses a proprietary protocol that has not been licensed to 3rd parties.

iOS does work becuase it uses Microsoft's Exchange Activesync protocol which has been licensed for mobile use by Apple and others inc google.
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I'm not sure ActiveSync is the issue with hotmail, but OS X does seem to have support for it. I set up Mail on my MBP to point to the same Outlook 2010 server at work as we use for iPhone, and it works. That means Mail on OS X can do something Outlook on my work Windows laptop can't - access the corporate Outlook server over the Internet without connecting to the VPN. Odd that Apple use Microsoft's protocols better than Microsoft, but I'm not complaining.
 
bobbba said:
Arguable but:

"ComScore’s latest numbers from May 2012 have Hotmail at No. 1 with 325 million unique visitors, Yahoo at No. 2 with 298 million users, and Gmail at No. 3 with 289 million users."

Source
Click to expand...

I know this is slightly OT, but have you ever noticed that there's often a fragmentation between what internet geeks & younger internet users do, and what the majority of users overall do? And that we don't seem to notice? Seems like Gmail is one of those things.

Another: someone said to me the other day, with a straight face, that the majority of users were going to abandon Apple en masse, en masse, because of the introduction of Gatekeeper.
 
steve-p said:
I'm not sure ActiveSync is the issue with hotmail, but OS X does seem to have support for it. I set up Mail on my MBP to point to the same Outlook 2010 server at work as we use for iPhone, and it works. That means Mail on OS X can do something Outlook on my work Windows laptop can't - access the corporate Outlook server over the Internet without connecting to the VPN. Odd that Apple use Microsoft's protocols better than Microsoft, but I'm not complaining.
Click to expand...

Well, bobbba was correct, but just didn't word it entirely clearly:

iOS and OS X both support Microsoft Activesync. OS X even supports Active Directory. And they do license these technologies from Microsoft (and are happy to do it, and brag about it constantly in the enterprise; I know this because I used to give 'Mac in the Enterprise' presentations to local businesses on their behalf).

Thus, if you were to use an email service which supports Exchange Activesync, it would play perfectly well in iOS and in OS X. Case in point: my old university email, which they still provide to me for free (presumably in order to hit me up for donations/sell my address for spam), uses it. It syncs perfectly between its servers, its webmail, my Mac, my iPad, iPhone, and my Windows 7 and 8 VMs.

The issue isn't Exchange and Apple. It's Exchange and Hotmail, oddly enough. Perhaps originally to appease Blackberry users, and now partly to push the usefulness of WP7, Microsoft allows mobile users to interact with the Exchange servers for Hotmail. It does not, however, allow desktop clients access to those same protocols; instead, they create a special access channel for Outlook to incentivize using Outlook or webmail.

Anyway, in summary: this really, really isn't Apple's fault. It isn't Mountain Lion's fault, or Lion's fault, or any of that. It isn't that they're not compatible with the right protocols; it isn't that they haven't joined the right clubs, or done the right secret handshake. It's Microsoft deliberately making Hotmail worse for non-MS desktop users on purpose. And hey, it's a free email service; they can do what they like.

P.S. I'm not sure what the detection method is for blocking desktops from using the mobile Exchange servers, but it seems to work pretty freaking well; I've as yet been unable to find any way to circumvent it. Same goes for Gmail, which also uses Exchange for mobile-only (since they have easy syncing with Windows, OS X and Linux through other, open methods).
 
Big Stevie said:
When I ditch my pc and get my first macbook later this month, I also want to ditch my hotmail account that ive been using for the last 10 yrs.

What email options will I be presented with when using my mac? I cant use my internet providers email service (BT) as my wife already uses that. I want one that will work nicely with my mac.
Click to expand...

If you want to go with iCloud DON'T Use Mail to set it up. Just have Mail quitted and go to System preferences->iCloud and setup a free email account and sync all the settings you want. THEN go to System Preferences->Mail, Contacts & Calendars pane and setup the iCloud stuff in there also.

Lastly open Mail and start using the free iCloud email servers.
 
it works if you hook it up as a pop email. I have mine hooked up in mail, I just use it for fourms though, No real need to have fourms clocging up my other inboxes
 
I have to say: Hotmail is terrible. I switched to a service that provides imap support years ago. Only use the old Hotmail for junk.
 
Meyvn said:
that the majority of users were going to abandon Apple en masse, en masse, because of the introduction of Gatekeeper.
Click to expand...

Gatekeeper....God, I have so many apps it freaked out at my first boot. I had to turn that mess off to get my stuff to run,



hotmail is only good for people who can not figure out how to make a gmail acount
 
Meyvn said:
Well, bobbba was correct, but just didn't word it entirely clearly:

iOS and OS X both support Microsoft Activesync. OS X even supports Active Directory. And they do license these technologies from Microsoft (and are happy to do it, and brag about it constantly in the enterprise; I know this because I used to give 'Mac in the Enterprise' presentations to local businesses on their behalf).

Thus, if you were to use an email service which supports Exchange Activesync, it would play perfectly well in iOS and in OS X. Case in point: my old university email, which they still provide to me for free (presumably in order to hit me up for donations/sell my address for spam), uses it. It syncs perfectly between its servers, its webmail, my Mac, my iPad, iPhone, and my Windows 7 and 8 VMs.

The issue isn't Exchange and Apple. It's Exchange and Hotmail, oddly enough. Perhaps originally to appease Blackberry users, and now partly to push the usefulness of WP7, Microsoft allows mobile users to interact with the Exchange servers for Hotmail. It does not, however, allow desktop clients access to those same protocols; instead, they create a special access channel for Outlook to incentivize using Outlook or webmail.

Anyway, in summary: this really, really isn't Apple's fault. It isn't Mountain Lion's fault, or Lion's fault, or any of that. It isn't that they're not compatible with the right protocols; it isn't that they haven't joined the right clubs, or done the right secret handshake. It's Microsoft deliberately making Hotmail worse for non-MS desktop users on purpose. And hey, it's a free email service; they can do what they like.

P.S. I'm not sure what the detection method is for blocking desktops from using the mobile Exchange servers, but it seems to work pretty freaking well; I've as yet been unable to find any way to circumvent it. Same goes for Gmail, which also uses Exchange for mobile-only (since they have easy syncing with Windows, OS X and Linux through other, open methods).
Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks for the explanation.
 
Meyvn said:
Well, bobbba was correct, but just didn't word it entirely clearly:

iOS and OS X both support Microsoft Activesync. OS X even supports Active Directory. And they do license these technologies from Microsoft
Click to expand...

I'm not sure your description helps.

OS X does not support "Exhange Activesync" at all as it's a mobile only protocol. I know you are trying to explain by referring to using both iOS and OS X together in a corporate Exchange setup to deliver a fully synchronised service but the fact remains that OS X itself does not support Activesync in any way shape or form.

Unlike Exchange Activesync the regular PC Exchange protocol has not been used by any of the big email providers and it's been left as a corporate email protocol.

Microsoft does offer the Outlook hotmail connector but that's windows only and that uses Microsoft's Deltasync protocol which has not been licensed by Apple or anyone. All the others happily stick to the adequate IMAP protocol which MS hotmail won't support.

This leaves OS X hotmail/live mail users with either the woeful pop3 or 3rd party setups like mbox mail and izymail.
 
danb77 said:
Gmail's interface is more modern, adverts are less intrusive and integration with Android and iOS is better.
Click to expand...

Gmail's weird and proprietary IMAP implementation integrates poorly with iOS and Mail.app. I've had a gmail account since the early 2004 betas. Used to use tons of labels, filters, and a bunch of bloated "power" features and was never really satisfied with managing the loads of email I was receiving.

Recently read up on "Inbox Zero", switched to iCloud and implemented that more effecient way of handling email and couldn't be happier.
 
Eh, I don't really understand this whole email elitism thing. If hotmail isn't the best client then fine, it's not like you're a "noob" for using it. I made one a long time ago for MSN and just kinda stuck with it. It's just as functional as any other email I've used and works fine on both OS X and iOS Mail apps for me. I suppose I may switch sometime but I've never really had the incentive to and at this point it's attached to most of my web accounts anyway.
 
infectedfall said:
I was really disappointed there was no @AOL support.
C'mon buddy, get with the program, hotmail is the email you had when you were a kid, time to get gmail/@me.
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True that! A couple of years ago, when I was 6 years old, I got my first email account. Sure enough, it was a Hotmail account.

Oh, and ssssh! Microsoft doesn't need to know I signed up for email when I was 6! :p ;)
 
Wirelessly posted

If I'm not mistaken, Homail has more users than any other email service.

I stopped using it years ago though because their interface is amateurish and tacky looking.
 
Gmail is definitely better than hotmail,

but msn messenger or windows live messenger is way better than gchat or gtalk. Internationally, msn messenger is very popular and gchat is popular in America but not very popular abroad.
 
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