The change in infrastructure that Microsoft has dedicated to its mail service has been mammoth, so much so that the distribution in the world has been rather troubled - only in recent times have we been able, even here in the city, to get our hands on the new Outlook. com despite having already been announced last February.
Change of infrastructure in this case also means change of protocols in the name of more security and stability, and from here comes today's news: a starting next July 1st 2016 Microsoft's old mail client, such Windows Live Mail 2012 will lose support for Outlook.com accounts and as a result will no longer be able to send or receive mail messages for these accounts.
In other words, basing Outlook accounts on Office365 prevents them from being managed by the old Microsoft client; at the moment a sort of compatibility level is active, but those who still use Windows Live Mail 2012 - which we remind you to be part of the Windows Live Essentials suite - will have to decide on an alternative client no later than 30 June 2016.
For our part we can tell you that alternative clients (for example Thunderbird) are not lacking, but Microsoft has to suggest (no, what a surprise! We weren't expecting it ?!) some very specific tips: it will be possible read mail from the Outlook.com webapp, subscribe to 365 Office Staff (the first year is free) and use the Outlook 2016 client, or even more use the Mail app di Windows 8.1/Windows 10, reiterating that those who have Windows 7, which is not compatible with the Mail app, will always be able to take advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10 until July 29th.
Lineare, no?
