I've only had a vista machine since Nov 2007. It irritated me at first when I found out I could not set up WM to retrieve my msn.com mail. "Why would Microsoft make a client that can read seemingly any mail except that from a Microsoft server?" We'll never know. Since this is my secondary email account anyway, I got a good mail-forwarding freeware application that delivers my msn.com address to my primary address(couldn't do it straight from msn/hotmail/windowslive), which in turn is retrieved by WM. This works for me.

Other than that, I actually have come to like WM better than OE. Is there any other good reason why I should switch to Windows Live Mail? Will WM continue to be supported and remain in future OS versions? I've always preferred a desktop client over a web-based client, & WLM seems like it will just integrate with the web side of things too much for my taste.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Windows live has many more advantages. The messenger itself is easier on the eyes. But to be more serious, it alerts you on every little change with your email account. Plus, you are capable of contacting people in more ways than the program that comes with the computer. You will find that you are incapable of doing certain capabilities on WM because most people have Windows live messenger now.

Messenger is another feature that I hear a lot about, but that I don't need. I'm not in to all of the interactive stuff. That's why I'm kind of wondering if the big push to WLM is because Microsoft plans to do away with WM. Since I just want an email application, I'd rather stay with WM. I'm only looking into the WLM option because I get the feeling I may be forced there anyway in the long run. Can anyone give me any insight on that?

Sorry... thanks for your response. I think the best way to restate my original question would be, "if a good email client is all I want, is it safe to stay with WM in the long run?"