For quite some time I’ve been pondering switching my system over to Linux. I’ve already switched to Firefox and Open Office (and am not looking back on either score) but the one thing that has been holding me back from a complete break has been the historical tie to a hotmail account for my e-mail, which most of the time (ie when not on holiday) I access via Outlook Express. However, this morning I received this from Microsoft:

“Dear Microsoft Outlook Express customer,

Thank you for using Microsoft® Outlook® Express. Our information indicates that you use Outlook Express to access a Windows Live™ Hotmail® e-mail account via a protocol called DAV (Distributed Authoring and Versioning protocol). DAV, like POP3 or IMAP, is the way that a mail client communicates with a web-based mail server.

As a valued customer, we want to provide advanced notice that as of June 30, 2008, Microsoft is disabling the DAV protocol and you will no longer be able to access your Hotmail Inbox via Outlook Express. As an alternative, we recommend that you download Windows Live Mail…..”

Trouble is, the last time I downloaded something from Microsoft it caused my computer to hang and it took me the best part of a morning to sort it all out. I think this is the trigger for making the final jump.

On top of which, the new version of Linux can be installed to run parallel to Windows for a while, which makes it easier to dip a toe in.

So – a deadline. Hopefully by July I will be Microsoft free!