[Feba]

Hotmail doesn't work with Firefox 2.0: Microsoft answers to GNU/Linux users "Switch to Outlook Express" | Free Software Magazine

To make this clear, it means that there is no reason why a non-windows OS can't display the page except that Microsoft doesn't want it to.

[Murphie]

I don't use Hotmail, but that is still ridiculous.

[Prons]

Question: If you're nerdy enough to use linux, why would you use hotmail?

[Feba]

Prons: First off, there's really nothing nerdy about using linux, there are plenty of people who know very little about computers that use linux, especially now with things like the linux computers Wal-Mart is selling, and things like the OLPC and EeePC and such.

Second of all, if you had bothered to read, you'd notice he said that he's been using hotmail since before MS bought them out. Last I checked, that was nearly a decade ago, which would mean that he probably cannot leave that email address because it's simply too widely used. The amount of effort involved to change to a new address would probably be incredible.
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Ok, over a decade. Hotmail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[DakAttack]

I would call this a trivial matter if they still supported Outlook Express and/or Outlook didn't completely suck ass. I switched out from Hotmail to Gmail rather easily, and most email addresses that would be difficult to change from would be school and business addresses.

[Feba]

Dak, there's a very real possibility that he gets work email on it, as well as billing, important contacts. For some people, email has very much replaced snail mail. And there aren't really change of address forms for this. There is no wonderful-post-office-fairy that will get the stuff from your old address to your new one.

[Murphie]

It's actually unlikely that he gets work email on this, as most employers have their own internal email addresses. That said, he probably does do a bulk of his personal emailing with this address, which does suck. He'll have to go through the lengthy process of switching everything over to a new address if he wants to take advantage of Outlook/Outlook Express. Not the end of the world, but still kind of stupid that he has to do it.

[Feba]

Murphie, I don't mean internal emails, just ones that are related to work and are important. And he's not trying to use outlook, he's trying to use the full hotmail client. Which he can do. Perfectly. It's just the Microsoft doesn't want him to, because he doesn't use Windows. Even though that has absolutely nothing to do with the Hotmail site.

[Murphie]

Well, we're just speculating, really. Maybe he uses it for work related email and maybe he doesn't.

The sad fact of things is that you have to use a "standard" client to use many programs or features of the internet without trouble. If he doesn't want to use Windows or IE, that's his perogative, but he has to understand that he might not be able to use everything he wants to with as much ease as he would have if he did.

[Feba]

The sad fact of things is that you have to use a "standard" client to use many programs or features of the internet without trouble.

Uhhuh. And this has absofuckinglutely nothing to do with that. Firefox is perfectly capable of displaying it, along with anything else on the internet worth caring about. There is nothing keeping it from doing it except the user agent string (as can be shown by manipulating it). This isn't because his programs can't do it. It is clearly and obviously because Microsoft is actively trying to make it so that users that are not on Windows cannot use it, even though the client is perfectly capable of working under other systems.

Standards are not a 'sad' thing, they are the reason the internet is able to exist. They aren't the problem either-- Firefox is actually more standards compliant than IE. Microsoft actively works to destroy standards so that it is easier for them to overtake the market.

This has absolutely nothing to do with his choices in software, and everything to do with Microsoft putting up artificial measures to make it more difficult for people to access their own email accounts. Imagine if Ford bought the subdivision/apartment complex/neighborhood you live in. They decide that they're only going to let in people riding in ford cars. There is no possible problem from you using your chevy, and you can even get around the check in by super-gluing a ford emblem over the chevrolet logo, but they deny it anyway because they don't like competition. Obviously you'd be pretty pissed, because you shouldn't have to screw with your car to get in when it's going to run on those roads just as fine, if not better than a ford. And it would also be a big PITA for you to sell your house and move. It would be nothing but ford being dicks.

[Murphie]

God, nevermind. This is so not worth continuing to talk about.

He should stop using Hotmail if he's unhappy with the way Microsoft is running it. End of story. Boo hoo that he has to do it, but it's hardly the end of the world.

[Feba]

He should stop using Hotmail if he's unhappy

And this might not be feasible, or even possible.

[Murphie]

No, it's totally feasible, and possible. Without more information we have no way of knowing how much he uses it. But as far we we know, nothing is keeping him from switching, except a lack of desire to switch.

[Feba]

Which is fairly unlikely, as there are many other better options out there for web mail. If this buffoonery doesn't make him want to switch, what are the chances that switching is an option?

[Murphie]

Never underestimate an individual's capacity for laziness.