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Microsoft have announced that they will be retiring their popular email client, Windows Live Mail 2012, later this year for connections to Outlook email accounts.
This is likely to infuriate customers as over the years it has proven itself to be a very popular free alternative to Microsoft Outlook.
The official release from Microsoft states:
Dear User,
Earlier this year we introduced a new Outlook.com that will help you collaborate with others, focus on what matters, and get more done. The new Outlook.com delivers an exciting set of new experiences across web, phone, and desktop, and we’re eager for you to start using it.
It appears that you are currently using Windows Live Mail 2012 to connect to your Outlook.com account. Windows Live Mail 2012 does not support the synchronization technologies used by the new Outlook.com. When account upgrades begin at the end of June, you will no longer be able to receive email sent to your Outlook.com account in Windows Live Mail 2012. Rest assured, you can always access your email by logging into Outlook.com from any web browser, and you will continue to have access to all your data that is currently in Windows Live Mail 2012.
If you currently use Windows Live Mail 2012, we recommend that you switch to the Mail app in Windows today. The Mail app is built in to Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10, and has a more modern design. To begin using it, simply launch the app and add your Outlook.com account.
If you are using Windows 7, you can upgrade to a newer version of Windows to enjoy the Mail app and the other benefits. If you do not wish to upgrade, you can access your account via a web browser, or, you can take advantage of a free one-year subscription of Office 365 Personal, and use Outlook 2016 to connect to your account.* This Office 365 subscription also includes other productivity applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel. It works on Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10.
Please take action before June 30th, 2016, which is when we’ll begin upgrading accounts that currently use Windows Live Mail 2012. If you have more questions, please find answers to common FAQs in this help article, or you can contact Microsoft support.
We recognize that changes like this can be difficult, and apologize for any inconvenience this causes you. We hope that you’ll enjoy the benefits of moving to the new Outlook.com.
It does now look like Microsoft are taking the hard line on getting users over to Office 365 or Windows 10. Personally, we hate the Windows 10 email app so we will be moving over to Outlook.
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