This is a head-up to users of Hotmail accounts. You may know that Hotmail accounts have been aliased to outlook.com accounts for some time. I have just learned that Microsoft will, over the current quarter, change the mail server setup to use Outlook365 at the back-end.
I suspect those using local mail clients like Outlook 2013 and EAS mode will be fine with their Hotmail accounts.
However, if, like me, you have a "backup" PC using the older Outlook 2007 with the Outlook Connector, then it will stop working once MS move to Outlook365 servers. Here is a quote from Microsoft Answers:
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There is a new change that is occurring. All accounts are being moved to Office 365 servers.
Users who access their accounts using a browser will be automatically switch to the correct url.
Users who use email programs to access their email will have to make changes if they were not using pop3 or IMAP protocol.
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QUESTION:
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I use EAS mode under Outlook2013 for my Hotmail account, and a "backup" setup on a desktop using Outlook 2007, but that one uses the Outlook Hotmail Connector.
Does this mean that I have to change anything when the move to Office365 occurs?
Also, will any/all affected users get notifications and emails in a timely manner so that they can plan for the change, and will the instructions be obvious for busy and non-technical users?"
ANSWER:
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Some have received a warning message, but many have not, as far as I know, but then, people often don't post that type of information.
The time frame is over the course of this calendar quarter, from what I've heard, but it's anyone's guess how long it will take.
I have no idea what Microsoft's server strategy is.
Outlook 2007 doesn't have the ability to support EAS. It is POP3, IMAP4, and Exchange only, with the dying DeltaSync protocol being added via the Outlook Connector. The new servers don't support DeltaSync, so that's why, when your account gets moved, the Connector will stop working.
On Outlook 2007 only, uninstall the Connector, since it won't work anymore, and re-add the account using Outlook 2007's automatic account configuration. This will connect using full Exchange.
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Wouldn't really be a problem as there are certain standards for compatibility. The original Hotmail ran on FreeBSD before Microsoft bought it and then FreeBSD was still doing the front end and later backend before it went Windows Server.
Hi Almighty1, thanks for the input. As you say, with standards, many will be OK, as with POP3, IMAP4 and EAS. However, as I posted what I found out yesterday, users with Outlook 2007 email client, and the Outlook Hotmail Connector for reading Hotmail emails, there WILL be an issue once MS switches to Office365based email servers, unless users know what do do. As the MVP on the other forum seemed to indicated, it is quite possible that many users of Outlook 2007 with the OHC will be unaware of this issue (and many might not even be notified), so I thought it best to post it somewhere else as well.
Good point, what I meant was atleast this time it is Microsoft's own products throughout it, there may be patches available that Microsoft can release for this purpose and I may be in a worse case as I have Outlook 2003 installed even though I never use Outlook.
I see this often when dealing with clients where they are on older versions of office and outlook and they battle compatibility in the present. A fix for these people that I set them up on is Thunderbird with the ExQuilla and Lighting addons as I know both of those work with Office 365 Exchange to provide email and calendar.
