9 ms·
Outlook.com now has IMAP
- sitharus 13y agoThe Microsoft services are becoming a very tempting alternative to Google Apps. Mostly I'm getting sick of Google randomly dropping services I use and re-designing every 3 months. I was looking at fastmail.fm for my mail hosting, but now I'll have to check out outlook.com as well.
- larrik 13y agoWhenever I think Microsoft's online offerings look good, I remember this article: http://wmpoweruser.com/watch-what-you-store-on-skydriveyou-may-lose-your-microsoft-life/ http://wmpoweruser.com/watch-what-you-store-on-skydriveyou-m... Of course, the NSA revelations make it hardly matter anyway.
- devx 13y agoYou don't need to go that far back in time: Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal; The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail; http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-c...
- harrytuttle 13y agoDiddums. Most of it goes over SMTP in plain text anyway. If you want secure communications, you don't use email or you use something you control.
- toyg 13y agoThere has long been an expectation of formalized privacy in emails, which was asserted in numerous laws -- basically extending the concept of regular mail to the electronic counterpart. It's like saying "most regular envelopes go through the Post Office using plain vans, if you want secure communication you send it in an armoured van staffed by personally-vetted Congolese mercenaries". Nobody touches Post Office vans not because they're hard to assault (they're not), but because they're shielded with thick walls of law. I know that smtp is more like sending postcards and yadda yadda yadda, but that's not what most legal systems have assumed for 20 years, nor what the public at large expects.
- harrytuttle 13y agoI agree with you but the expectation always needs to match reality. Many civilization had fallen to this sort of ignorance.
- Dylan16807 13y agoThe expectation and reality should both be "they can view the mail at certain stages but if they get caught they're getting the book thrown at them, and the incentives are aligned that breaches will be reported".
- larrik 13y agoTrue, but the NSA snooping is different than Microsoft employees looking at your pictures to make sure they are "family friendly." I hope.
- unicornporn 13y agoBut but but... They saaaay they will be nice. https://pay.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1m926j/we_are_the_outlookcom_team_ask_us_anything/cc6yjrt https://pay.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1m926j/we_are_the_out...
- Pxtl 13y ago... thanks for the heads up. I was actually starting to like SkyDrive after I got a free winphone and started using the MS ecosystem. Now, knowing that MS is prone to shutting down the whole account for perceived infractions? I have family photos that aren't backed up anywhere else there. That's not cool. Honestly, even if this policy was reserved for kiddy-porn and crack-dealers, the "boom your stuff is gone no review no discussion" approach to it means the possibility of a false-positive is scary.
- cbhl 13y ago> Now, knowing that MS is prone to shutting down the whole account for perceived infractions? IIRC, Google is just as prone to doing this too.
- harrytuttle 13y agoErr if you put all your eggs in one basket then you're just being an idiot. Get a domain, forward it to service X and Y, back it up regularly, sorted. This applies to ALL services be they free or paid. Saying that I've had the same hotmail/msn/live/outlook account since 1997 without a problem.
- hanley 13y ago> I have family photos that aren't backed up anywhere else there. Obviously those need to be backed up. Problem solved.
- sitharus 13y agoAt least that reduces my options back to one again! I hadn't seen that before, thanks.
- napoleond 13y agoUse PGP. With your existing email address, and without the fuss: https://parley.co https://parley.co (I'm one of the people building it, and now that outlook.com supports IMAP, we support outlook.com ;)
- obituary_latte 13y agoI haven't used Google Apps beyond a little testing, but our small shop did move to outlook.com (office365) about a year ago. Main selling points were archiving/litigation hold, included licenses for Office, and the familiarity of clients with the Microsoft name. The experience has been as I expected it would be: quite painful. We have not gone an entire month without service disruption. There have been problems with the service getting blacklisted. Support is, well, Microsoft support -- untimely, disconnected, uncaring, and when phones are involved very difficult to understand. Anecdotal, sure, but according to the various forum/community postings I've come across trying to resolve various issues, not uncommon. Caveat emptor. edit: turns out what I was talking about (office365) and what the OP is talking about (outlook.com) aren't the same thing. Apologies.
- sitharus 13y agoMy work also uses office365, but I don't recall too many problems with it. There were some migration troubles, but not as bad as our previous setup. However, we do have 500+ employees and are a large business for the country we're located in, so probably have a bit of weight when it comes to getting support.
- harrytuttle 13y agoOffice 365 support has been ok to us so far (unlike partner support which is shit). Had a couple of hours here and there down but compared to the cost of self-hosting exchange, it's pretty damn good.
- obituary_latte 13y agoI'd imagine so... It would take 3, maybe 4 times my current pay before I even though about attempting to self-host exchange. Nice to hear you've had good experience. Perhaps I just got unlucky and my experience isn't indicative of the overall performance of the service (and maybe it'll go better for me next time).
- footpath 13y agoI thought that the mail hosting package that comes with Office 365 is called Exchange Online? It uses Outlook Web App for webmail access and is a totally different thing from the free Outlook.com.
- djim 13y agoThese IMAP integrations, like TripIt & Slice, have been a part of Gmail for a long time now (since Gmail has supported IMAP for years). This is Microsoft playing catch-up. But yea, I hear you..
- cheez 13y agofastmail is great. Their UI is so easy to use when you need to use it (I use IMAP).
- busterc 13y agoLearn how to setup Outlook.com for custom domain free email hosting http://www.blogsynthesis.com/setup-microsoft-outlook-custom-domain/ http://www.blogsynthesis.com/setup-microsoft-outlook-custom-... as posted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6375844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6375844
- rschmitty 13y agoDoes anyone know if this would allow you to use outlook.com with Outlook (on the desktop) and send mail from your domain without the "on behalf of" message? Previously if you used outlook.com with Outlook for desktop you had to use the Hotmail connector. Sending emails to others they would see from you@outlook.com on behalf of you@yourdomain.com
- flog 13y agoYeah, I'm using my person domain with Outlook.com since Google started charging for Apps. It's working quite well, good enough for a single user at least... My only hang up had been lack of imap, but now we're all good!
- harrytuttle 13y agoActually on behalf of is correct. If you know about DKIM and SPF then you'll work out what an arse pain all this is.
- fekberg 13y agoYes, you can do that. If you login to your outlook.com account, go into settings then "Your email accounts". Here you can add send only accounts with custom SMTP just as with gmail this removes on behalf of. I've setup my desktop outlook client to use my Outlook.com address but when the message is sent by Outlook.com it uses my own domain and no "On Behalf Of". Hope that helps..
- rschmitty 13y agoThanks! completely forgot that was my problem with the old Hotmail connector, you couldnt set a specific SMTP Derp :)
- Pxtl 13y agoI can't keep track of all the MS rebranding - is Outlook.com the same as Mail.Live.com, which used to be Hotmail.com? (random aside about Microsoft's rebranding - if you want to get to the photo gallery associated with your Live.com account, you have to go to SkyDrive, because if you search for Live Photo you get the Windows 7/8 desktop application)
- cbhl 13y agoYes.
- pathikrit 13y agoI opened my pathikritbhowmick@msn.com email address in 1997. They then rebranded it to hotmail.com, then to live.com, then to windowslive.com, then back to live.com and then to outlook.com. I still sign-on to my email using my @msn.com...
- Pxtl 13y agoWhoever succeeds Ballmer is going to have to take a long hard look at their strategic marketing team. Seriously, MS has ADD or something.
- jaredmcateer 13y agoI suspect it's not ADD, it's reactionary decisions made from lack of or improperly interpreted data.
- panacea 13y ago@mac.com @me.com @icloud.com
- da_n 13y ago-- Sent from my MacBook Pro
- ejdyksen 13y agoInterestingly, it looks like they used their AMA on Reddit specifically to announce this [1]. Kind of a neat idea. 1) Implement a long-requested feature. 2) Do AMA on Reddit and wait for inevitable "when are we getting {feature}?" 3) Answer with "right now!" [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1m926j/we_are_the_outlookcom_team_ask_us_anything/cc6xk7e http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1m926j/we_are_the_outl...
- coob 13y agoAll of their service partners (unroll.me/context.io etc) replying with comments announcing their new support for Outlook looks like quite the bit of pre-planned marketing work.
- vowelless 13y agoAs others on that page have noted, it is a little suspicious that /u/falconer didn't post anything for 2 years before posting the question about IMAP. Does indeed look at like a marketing ploy. Nothing wrong with that.
- rcb 13y agoNearly a year ago I posted a positive comment on HN about Windows 8, and was then accused (by TWO individuals) of astroturfing. The anti-M$ hate & paranoia that HN seems to have inherited from /. seems so beyond antiquated in this day and age. On topic: This is great news. Congratulations to MS.
- criley2 13y agoI get the same thing from geeks on Reddit regarding Windows 8. Usually a fair bit of nasty language clears up any /r/HailCorporate connotations. It's so sad to see people who, on one hand will wax poetic on the subject of rationality and open mindedness,will turn around and join a tech bandwagon with no real reason and certainly no real knowledge. Win8 is better than 7, even if you hate Metro. Objectively, statistically, the OS is more performant than 7. Of course, openminded geeks never let data and stats get in the way of the anti-ms bandwagon. I'm sure they'll come around for the next windows, "because Windows is good every other release, donchaknow"!
- Aldo_MX 13y agoMicrosoft criticizes how Google scans your mail to provide you with targeted ads, yet they are promoting the following service which is arguably similar: > Sift makes it easier than ever to find the products you're already interested in. It uses existing shopping content in your Outlook.com account to discover your favorite stores and products, then creates a personalized shopping experience.
- isaacb 13y agoThe only difference is that they brand it as a feature rather than something you have to put up with in exchange for a free service.
- HelloMcFly 13y agoI feel there is a very important difference between Google automatically scanning all of my emails, and Microsoft pointing out that a third-party service allows you to choose to have your inbox scanned now functions with Outlook.com.
- mc32 13y agoIIRC, MS scan "to:" "from:" and "subject:" but not "content" whereas Google, they claim, does scan content.
- yakk0 13y agoI believe that MS scans for malware, but Google also scans to provide context based advertising.
- 3rd3 13y agoThey both provide access for the NSA anyway, don't they?
- mc32 13y agoThat's a different issue. This is about how they commercialize (monetize) their offerings, not about who grants what data to _Govs_. One issue is companies have more say with regard to how they monetize your data, the other is about how they are compelled, by law, to hand over your data to govts.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- samspenc 13y ago"With today's announcement, we now have a richer email experience across devices and apps, including those not using EAS, such as Mac Mail and Thunderbird on a Mac." LOL, they made sure to avoid mentioning Mail on Android...
- drivebyacct2 13y agoBecause I can already sync EAS mail on my Android device?
- adrianlmm 13y agoFreaking awesome, thank you MS.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- yakk0 13y agoit just worked for me. I sent an e-mail from my gmail address via outlook.com to a separate address and it came through almost instantly. Have you checked your settings? They made the switch a while back to using Gmail's SMTP servers for those accounts.
- zokier 13y agoWait, one of the biggest mail providers (that did a relaunch not so long time ago) did not have IMAP until now?!
- jessaustin 13y agoThey're on the bleeding edge now!
- broodbucket 13y agoThe technology just wasn't there yet.
- pjc50 13y agoNot having IMAP was presumably part of a lockin strategy. I think they may now have realised that it's possible to lock yourself on the wrong side of a door.
- rheide 13y agoSo far Microsoft is doing everything right with Outlook. If I didn't already have a gmail address I would easily prefer Outlook over gmail.
- outside1234 13y agoyou can redirect it to Outlook. :)
- randomhunt 13y agoSorry for butting in but I've recently done this, the new Gmail compose "experience" was the final straw. I'm happy - the only thing that is a bit weird is I'll sometimes get spam mails duplicated arriving at my outlook.com address. Never with "normal" mails only the obvious spam. Does anyone know of an easy way to extract all my mails from Gmail? I'd like to dump them in the filesystem and then kill my Google account.
- zheng 13y agoI've used gmvault[1] before, and it works pretty well at preserving labels and playing nice with Gmail's specific idioms not common among other IMAP providers. [1] - http://gmvault.org/ http://gmvault.org/
- anonymfus 13y agoStill "password can't be longer than 16 characters".
- mvip 13y agoYay! We have now finally been able to add support for Hotmail in YippieMove[1]. It has been one of the most popular feature requests since we launched back in '08. [1] http://www.yippiemove.com http://www.yippiemove.com
- talles 13y agoFinally.
- footpath 13y agoLooks like it's still not possible to send from alias addresses with the provided SMTP server. Outlook.com allows users to have up to 10 different alias email addresses, and the users can send emails using any of those alias addresses provided that they are sending from the desktop website of Outlook.com or the Windows 8 Mail app. However, users can only send from one of their alias addresses if users set up their Outlook.com account on any other mail client, whether using POP, IMAP, or EAS. That includes the official Outlook.com app for Android[1] and the desktop Outlook 2013 client[2], plus Thunderbird and other desktop mail clients[3]. I do hope that this issue gets addressed in the near future. [1] http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/mail-sync/how-do-i-send-an-email-from-my-alias-using-the/b233d566-4567-4054-8fba-2b6e34258745 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/mail-sy... [2] http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-outlook/how-to-send-emails-from-outlookcom-alias-in/91fe4b8a-4d67-4873-ba5d-db0fc5058a30 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_... [3] http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/mail-email/how-to-sync-outlookcoms-alias-to-thunderbird-or/3cba0cdf-7fab-4b68-b2ce-8b6d815ad3ea?msgId=966f5f0e-3e14-42ea-9fa2-853e8714fe32 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/mail-em...
- philfreo 13y agoIt didn't before? Well in that case I can report that Close.io <http://close.io/> http://close.io/> now supports full 2 way email integration with Outlook.com.
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- sergiosgc 13y agoAmazing how they paint EAS as a better protocol than the "older" IMAP. EAS is a beast of a protocol. Just go to the protocol page at Microsoft[1] to get scared. The list of sub protocols and data formats is terrifying! This, compared to a protocol for which the basic session can be taught in five minutes tells a lot about the quality of both protocols. Simplicity follows good engineering. EAS is way more complex than necessary. [1] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc425499%28v=EXCHG.%2080%29.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc425499%28v=EXCHG.%...
- guardian5x 13y agoOf course its more complex. EAS includes a lot more than the IMAP protocol, e.g. Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Documents support.
- sergiosgc 13y agoCan you point me to an online sample session, equivalent to this: http://coewww.rutgers.edu/www1/linuxclass2010/lessons/Email/sec_7.php http://coewww.rutgers.edu/www1/linuxclass2010/lessons/Email/... My point stands. EAS is not just extensive it is needlessly complex.
- mattmanser 13y agoI've actually used IMAP. It's horrible for many, many reasons. It is really quite an insane protocol. Mainly because it was ambiguous about so many key commands, what order they should be run in, the side effects, etc.. I picked up an app someone had written which originally only unsupported Outlook 2003(?), Outlook 2007 behaved differently to that, which behaved differently to Thunderbird, which behaved differently to Lotus Notes. Outlook 2007 even was even using a short to store ID, which I believe wasn't a unique ID and could change between sessions, so you had to search again for the message if you'd been disconnected. All because the protocol was just 'yeah, do something like this'. There's a reason why IMAP was so ropey in many mail clients. I have no idea about EAS, but let's not pretend IMAP is good.
- skeoh 13y agoReposting the configuration settings: Incoming IMAP Server: imap-mail.outlook.com Server port: 993 Encryption: SSL Outgoing SMTP Server: smtp-mail.outlook.com Server port: 587 Encryption: TLS For anyone on Android having trouble setting up the outgoing SMTP settings on their mail account like I was: set the security type to STARTTLS instead of SSL/TLS.
- robmueller 13y agoI really wish companies would get SSL vs TLS vs STARTTLS right. I wrote about this on our blog a while back and ended up turning it into a help page because people still seem to get confused. https://www.fastmail.fm/help/technology_ssl_vs_tls_starttls.html https://www.fastmail.fm/help/technology_ssl_vs_tls_starttls....
- corford 13y agoWould be nice if they could spread some of this new found IMAP love to Outlook proper. Last time I checked, support for it is still fairly half hearted :(
- a__remie 13y agofinally, welcome in the 21st century.
- blahbl4hblah 13y agoNsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa Nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa nsa
- josteink 13y agoYou could certainly say that was about time. On the flip side, I always thought they held back on IMAP-support for political reasons. If whatever political momentum which stalled this obviously missing feature is gone from Microsoft, that's probably a good thing which may have more positive effects down the road.
- johnchristopher 13y agoFunny how rebranding goes. When I use Apple Mail auto-detect (on snow leopard) account function it gives me some live.com IMAP parameters.
- izietto 13y agoThe news is it didn't have it before :P
- Sami_Lehtinen 13y agoI wish they would also have starttls support. I also don't wan't smtp or imap support at all. I want only smtps and imaps support. By not supporting insecure protocols at all, you can avoid huge possibility of insecure misconfiguration.