9 ms·

Microsoft ends support for custom domains in free email service

45 points by sgy 13y ago

funkyy 13y ago
Wow, this is unexpected. Microsoft is trying to redesign itself and now it is doing this? Google have much more public approval and trust than Microsoft. Why anyone would prefer to pay Microsoft to be its main email hosting rather than pay the same money for amazing Gmail features? I am using Live.com at the moment for my own domain, but the news will probably make me to move to Gmail. Live is really nice service but if priced the same as Google - Gmail is in the lead. To be honest I would prefer to see untargeted ad in main inbox field (thus no tracking) rather than pay... What happened to basic FREE features on the web? If free business email was possible in 2000s, why now in era of cheap hosting is becoming extinct?
- joshuacc 13y ago
  I don't know if you've tried using outlook.com lately, but it is refreshingly simple compared to how complicated the Gmail interface has become.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    Gmail has literally become everything I hate in webmail interface. Classic interface is mostly all I use anymore.
  - ChrisGaudreau 13y ago
    I just tried Outlook for the first time in a while, and I am pretty surprised. It's quite good.
tracker1 13y ago
This is relatively upsetting... I really liked the service, and had been planning on moving a couple domains of mine to them so I could shut down my mail server. Really not worth over $5/month per account to maintain a half dozen custom email addresses. And a few for friends/family. Also, not fond of running my own mail server any longer. Any suggestions for a hosting service that supports accounts with multiple domains that doesn't cost an arm and a leg... if I could get ~5 domains and ~15 email addresses in them for < $20/month I'd be up for it... similar features to outlook.com/ymail/gmail, spam filters etc would be top priority.
- danieldk 13y ago
  Really not worth over $5/month per account to maintain a half dozen custom email addresses. And a few for friends/family. Moreover, it misses a few features that outlook.com has, like subadressing. Better use Fastmail, which has a ton of features. Is actually fast (I tried Exchange Online, it was slow). And if you take a family account, you can make accounts for family relatively cheaply. Of course, if you use calendars and ActiveSync, Exchange is currently the better option.
cordite 13y ago
I currently use outlook's services on my own personal domain, a simple me@myname.com I have no business aspirations here with my one account. Google apps would have been my first choice, but now that it is not free and I'm a mere college student, I looked elsewhere. Does anybody have solutions for those like me that only desire 1 or two emails for an entire personal domain?
- chrismeller 13y ago
  I've looked at dumping Google apps in the past. It looks like you could get Yahoo! Mail at your domain relatively cheaply if you went with one of their small business hosting packages: https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting Of course then you have to use Yahoo! Mail... Edit: I forgot to mention that I've used Rackspace's Hosted Email in the past. $2/account/month, so that might fit your needs: http://www.rackspace.com/email-hosting/pricing/ http://www.rackspace.com/email-hosting/pricing/
  - coffeecheque 13y ago
    It's worth mentioning that the Rackspace product requires a minimum of 5 mailboxes, so the actual cost is $10 a month.
- funkyy 13y ago
  It seems that this is great opportunity for email hosting startup right here. A lot of people in your situation now.
  - rweir 13y ago
    Hm? How is free email hosting a great opportunity in 2014?
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
  - cordite 13y ago
jakebasile 13y ago
I don't mind paying for the service. I just hope they handle migration to Office 365 well. I currently sign in to my Windows Phone with an account made through this, and it automatically sets up contacts/calendar/email sync. What I don't want to happen when I move to Office 365 (which seems to use a different "Organizational" account system) is to have two email accounts for the same email address, when only the Office 365 (Exchange) one works. Edit: same goes for Windows 8(.1) as to automatic accounts. Deleting and recreating would be an option (I don't keep emails around for long), except this Microsoft account also has all my Xbox games and a few licenses of Windows attached to it.
wzy 13y ago
I just created 4 account on Tuesday and as i was creating them, i was thinking to myself "I bet MS will soon start charging for this..." How did i know...? Because their support system sucks, if you go on their support forum you will easily see 6 months old tickets without a single response. I still have one untouched for about 5 weeks. Now that you will have to pay, hopefully they will start giving a shti about support
kf5jak 13y ago
Glad I got in when I had the chance! I use to use googles service, but tend to like outlook just a bit more. Not that I favor microsoft, just like the interface and features more.
tn13 13y ago
I have been using Zoho.
ljoshua 13y ago
I'd love (and would pay for) a hosted email service that charged in some fashion other than per user or per domain. I've got various low volume addresses on various domains that I'd love to consolidate under one roof, and MS's custom domains was the closest thing to that. What keeps me from migrating to so many of these other services is the flat $x/address structure. That gets pricey fast if you have two or three per domain, and three, four, or more domains. Other tacts might be charging by space consumed, messages sent, or a flat fee for a bucket with resource limits. Anyone know any providers offering models like that?
- nmjenkins 13y ago
  You can host up to 50 domains (with up to 500 addresses) for $40/year with a FastMail Enhanced account (all delivered to the same mailbox).
  - kijin 13y ago
    +1 for FastMail. People should seriously realize that Google, Yahoo, and MS are not the only webmail services left in the world. There are lots of small to medium-sized, independent businesses that offer excellent email service with lots of cool features. The only reason they're not world-famous is because they don't hand out free accounts like candy, but that's also exactly why they can afford to treat you as a real customer (not a product).
- dudus 13y ago
  Google Apps charge you per user but you can still have as many aliases as you want, I redirect several aliases to my main mailbox and manage them with filters.
- balls187 13y ago
  Sign up for a dreamhost account. You can have unlimited domains, and have unlimited email accounts.
kijin 13y ago
The Outlook.com UI is great, but last time I checked, the signup and management interface for free custom domains was as clunky and unnavigable as it could possibly be. It was still on the old Live.com UI, with no links to/from any other part of Outlook.com. The features were poorly documented, it was too easy to mess up something and lose data, and worst of all, Microsoft refused to activate my domain unless its randomly generated MX record was added to the DNS with the lowest priority. That left no room for a period of testing and graceful migration from the previous email host. Moreover, it would deactivate the domain as soon as it detected another MX record with a lower priority, so it was impossible to gracefully migrate away from Microsoft, either. I hope the paid option (Office 365) has a better management interface.
- edandersen 13y ago
  For Office 365 you actually have to change your nameservers over to Microsoft and they handle your DNS. The plus side of this is that Exchange Autoconfigure works, but the downside is that you have to use their UI for custom DNS records.
  - thwarted 13y ago
    That's terrible. Email Service Provider and DNS Service Provider should remain separate, not be required to be the same entity in order for the services to work. They'll get a lot of small businesses and home users, I bet, but I bet it'll be an uphill battle to get larger businesses and enterprises on this, especially if the domain is used for something other than just email.
    - kijin 13y ago
      If you're a large business or "enterprise", Microsoft will be happy to let you customize the system to your heart's content.
  - tanzam75 13y ago
    > For Office 365 you actually have to change your nameservers over to Microsoft and they handle your DNS. No, you don't. That is just an option. The other option is to use a third-party nameserver. See: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office-365-domains.aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office-365-domain...
gggggggg 13y ago
From admin.live.com, here is the kicker: "We will continue to support the ability to log in to Outlook.com with your existing custom domain email address, but you will no longer be able to add or remove accounts in your domain." No changes at all. That is not fun.
ellysetaylor21 13y ago
I left Google apps when they started to charge and started the free custom live outlook , Now that Microsoft was unable to find a way to be innovative and different from Google, and find a way to profit off of their free email service, I will be going back to Google Apps and signing up for their paid product.
prattbhatt 13y ago
Turns out Yahoo offers a business mail plan to Indian users which provides 1000 email accounts (!) for ~ $5 / month Link: https://in.business.yahoo.com/business-email/features/ https://in.business.yahoo.com/business-email/features/

45 points by sgy 13y ago

Wow, this is unexpected. Microsoft is trying to redesign itself and now it is doing this? Google have much more public approval and trust than Microsoft. Why anyone would prefer to pay Microsoft to be its main email hosting rather than pay the same money for amazing Gmail features? I am using Live.com at the moment for my own domain, but the news will probably make me to move to Gmail. Live is really nice service but if priced the same as Google - Gmail is in the lead. To be honest I would prefer to see untargeted ad in main inbox field (thus no tracking) rather than pay... What happened to basic FREE features on the web? If free business email was possible in 2000s, why now in era of cheap hosting is becoming extinct?

joshuacc 13y ago
I don't know if you've tried using outlook.com lately, but it is refreshingly simple compared to how complicated the Gmail interface has become.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Gmail has literally become everything I hate in webmail interface. Classic interface is mostly all I use anymore.
- ChrisGaudreau 13y ago
  I just tried Outlook for the first time in a while, and I am pretty surprised. It's quite good.

tracker1 13y ago

This is relatively upsetting... I really liked the service, and had been planning on moving a couple domains of mine to them so I could shut down my mail server. Really not worth over $5/month per account to maintain a half dozen custom email addresses. And a few for friends/family. Also, not fond of running my own mail server any longer. Any suggestions for a hosting service that supports accounts with multiple domains that doesn't cost an arm and a leg... if I could get ~5 domains and ~15 email addresses in them for < $20/month I'd be up for it... similar features to outlook.com/ymail/gmail, spam filters etc would be top priority.

danieldk 13y ago
Really not worth over $5/month per account to maintain a half dozen custom email addresses. And a few for friends/family. Moreover, it misses a few features that outlook.com has, like subadressing. Better use Fastmail, which has a ton of features. Is actually fast (I tried Exchange Online, it was slow). And if you take a family account, you can make accounts for family relatively cheaply. Of course, if you use calendars and ActiveSync, Exchange is currently the better option.

cordite 13y ago

I currently use outlook's services on my own personal domain, a simple me@myname.com I have no business aspirations here with my one account. Google apps would have been my first choice, but now that it is not free and I'm a mere college student, I looked elsewhere. Does anybody have solutions for those like me that only desire 1 or two emails for an entire personal domain?

chrismeller 13y ago
I've looked at dumping Google apps in the past. It looks like you could get Yahoo! Mail at your domain relatively cheaply if you went with one of their small business hosting packages: https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting Of course then you have to use Yahoo! Mail... Edit: I forgot to mention that I've used Rackspace's Hosted Email in the past. $2/account/month, so that might fit your needs: http://www.rackspace.com/email-hosting/pricing/ http://www.rackspace.com/email-hosting/pricing/
- coffeecheque 13y ago
  It's worth mentioning that the Rackspace product requires a minimum of 5 mailboxes, so the actual cost is $10 a month.
funkyy 13y ago
It seems that this is great opportunity for email hosting startup right here. A lot of people in your situation now.
- rweir 13y ago
  Hm? How is free email hosting a great opportunity in 2014?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- cordite 13y ago

jakebasile 13y ago

I don't mind paying for the service. I just hope they handle migration to Office 365 well. I currently sign in to my Windows Phone with an account made through this, and it automatically sets up contacts/calendar/email sync. What I don't want to happen when I move to Office 365 (which seems to use a different "Organizational" account system) is to have two email accounts for the same email address, when only the Office 365 (Exchange) one works. Edit: same goes for Windows 8(.1) as to automatic accounts. Deleting and recreating would be an option (I don't keep emails around for long), except this Microsoft account also has all my Xbox games and a few licenses of Windows attached to it.

wzy 13y ago

I just created 4 account on Tuesday and as i was creating them, i was thinking to myself "I bet MS will soon start charging for this..." How did i know...? Because their support system sucks, if you go on their support forum you will easily see 6 months old tickets without a single response. I still have one untouched for about 5 weeks. Now that you will have to pay, hopefully they will start giving a shti about support

kf5jak 13y ago

Glad I got in when I had the chance! I use to use googles service, but tend to like outlook just a bit more. Not that I favor microsoft, just like the interface and features more.

tn13 13y ago

I have been using Zoho.

ljoshua 13y ago

I'd love (and would pay for) a hosted email service that charged in some fashion other than per user or per domain. I've got various low volume addresses on various domains that I'd love to consolidate under one roof, and MS's custom domains was the closest thing to that. What keeps me from migrating to so many of these other services is the flat $x/address structure. That gets pricey fast if you have two or three per domain, and three, four, or more domains. Other tacts might be charging by space consumed, messages sent, or a flat fee for a bucket with resource limits. Anyone know any providers offering models like that?

nmjenkins 13y ago
You can host up to 50 domains (with up to 500 addresses) for $40/year with a FastMail Enhanced account (all delivered to the same mailbox).
- kijin 13y ago
  +1 for FastMail. People should seriously realize that Google, Yahoo, and MS are not the only webmail services left in the world. There are lots of small to medium-sized, independent businesses that offer excellent email service with lots of cool features. The only reason they're not world-famous is because they don't hand out free accounts like candy, but that's also exactly why they can afford to treat you as a real customer (not a product).
dudus 13y ago
Google Apps charge you per user but you can still have as many aliases as you want, I redirect several aliases to my main mailbox and manage them with filters.
balls187 13y ago
Sign up for a dreamhost account. You can have unlimited domains, and have unlimited email accounts.

kijin 13y ago

The Outlook.com UI is great, but last time I checked, the signup and management interface for free custom domains was as clunky and unnavigable as it could possibly be. It was still on the old Live.com UI, with no links to/from any other part of Outlook.com. The features were poorly documented, it was too easy to mess up something and lose data, and worst of all, Microsoft refused to activate my domain unless its randomly generated MX record was added to the DNS with the lowest priority. That left no room for a period of testing and graceful migration from the previous email host. Moreover, it would deactivate the domain as soon as it detected another MX record with a lower priority, so it was impossible to gracefully migrate away from Microsoft, either. I hope the paid option (Office 365) has a better management interface.

edandersen 13y ago
For Office 365 you actually have to change your nameservers over to Microsoft and they handle your DNS. The plus side of this is that Exchange Autoconfigure works, but the downside is that you have to use their UI for custom DNS records.
- thwarted 13y ago
  That's terrible. Email Service Provider and DNS Service Provider should remain separate, not be required to be the same entity in order for the services to work. They'll get a lot of small businesses and home users, I bet, but I bet it'll be an uphill battle to get larger businesses and enterprises on this, especially if the domain is used for something other than just email.
  - kijin 13y ago
    If you're a large business or "enterprise", Microsoft will be happy to let you customize the system to your heart's content.
- tanzam75 13y ago
  > For Office 365 you actually have to change your nameservers over to Microsoft and they handle your DNS. No, you don't. That is just an option. The other option is to use a third-party nameserver. See: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office-365-domains.aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office-365-domain...

gggggggg 13y ago

From admin.live.com, here is the kicker: "We will continue to support the ability to log in to Outlook.com with your existing custom domain email address, but you will no longer be able to add or remove accounts in your domain." No changes at all. That is not fun.

ellysetaylor21 13y ago

I left Google apps when they started to charge and started the free custom live outlook , Now that Microsoft was unable to find a way to be innovative and different from Google, and find a way to profit off of their free email service, I will be going back to Google Apps and signing up for their paid product.

prattbhatt 13y ago

Turns out Yahoo offers a business mail plan to Indian users which provides 1000 email accounts (!) for ~ $5 / month Link: https://in.business.yahoo.com/business-email/features/ https://in.business.yahoo.com/business-email/features/