Hotmail fees for Outlook access

[Apoptosis]

Does this impact any of you guys?

Millions of Hotmail users face having to pay to access their messages using the Outlook e-mail program. Microsoft says it decided to start charging for the service as it was being abused by senders of spam.
In the past, people could download e-mail from Hotmail into Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express for free. But now only people who had paid an annual subscription fee will be able to access their messages without opening a browser window.

Source: BBC News

[eric m.]

so stupid. people who send spam are just going to pay the fee and keep spamming. or they will use credit card fraud to pay the fee. i think there are better ways of combatting spammers, like requiring you to give you social secutiry card or drivers license number or something. sometimes i don't understand the way microsoft works. typical big corporation logic.

anyway, i stopped using pop3 for email a while back. gmail works so well for me and i can access it anywhere. i only use outlook at work.

[Flux]

I use web-based email so I don't get viruses. I use hotmail but I've never used outlook to get it.

Microsoft just wants more money, spam is an excuse...

[Amy]

I use hotmail in outlook...I just get my daily garfield comic there anymore, though

[Illuminati]

I used hotmail in outlook also,.. but I've been looking for an excuse to quit using that account. it was great back in 8th grade when I first started using email though! ... now the simpler GMail is my preference also.

[infinitevalence]

im not going to miss the fature at all. Gmail and thunderbird!

[alister]

I use Outlook to access my Hotmail. This is just another reason for me to switch to gmail.

Alister