Windows 8 Mail Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
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Unlike its predecessors, Windows 8 comes with a pre-installed email client, but from recent reviews, Metro Mail looks more like only the bare necessities are in place. Hopefully Microsoft can pull a rabbit out of the hat before Windows 8 begins to ship.

Unfortunately, Windows 8 Mail just didn't improve much between February when the Consumer Preview came out and in late May when the more advanced Windows 8 Release Preview shipped.
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Ummm...is it better than Outlook Express?

I mean geez, it's included for free, wth do you want?
 
I just read the whole article, they also said Win 7 has no option for free email other than Live...which is wrong. MS includes Office Starter 2010 for free included on any new system.
 
I don't really understand who would use this? Almost everyone I know uses either Outlook or a web client.

Outlook Express was pre-installed in older versions of windows (and was garbage)
 
Is it just me or does Windows 8 Mail look like an interface copy of the GMail app from gapps on ICS?
 
Everyday there seems to be more and more negative news about Windows 8, what the hell are Microsoft thinking, this OS is going to go down in history as the worst OS ever made, i am really shocked that they would do this after the flop Vista was. i guess they will have to learn the hard way "again" :/
 
Skripka said:
Is it just me or does Windows 8 Mail look like an interface copy of the GMail app from gapps on ICS?
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It would not be surprising if it did. The Metro versions of apps are designed to be easily useable on the same type of hardware ICS is typically run on. That one app for email looks very much like another app for email is not really all that strange.
 
I tried Mail and it was considerable unintuitive. Unfortionantly there weren't any good websites up yet showing how to use it....or maybe it was just broke on my install.

There was no buttons to add a new account and it seemed like it only wanted to use email accounts that were linked to my Live account. I didn't want to do that. Plus it didn't offer me options like POP3 and IMAP, at least like I said, none that I could find.

It was actually one of the deciding factors in me unistalling Win 8 preview.
 
westrock2000 said:
I tried Mail and it was considerable unintuitive. Unfortionantly there weren't any good websites up yet showing how to use it....or maybe it was just broke on my install.

There was no buttons to add a new account and it seemed like it only wanted to use email accounts that were linked to my Live account. I didn't want to do that. Plus it didn't offer me options like POP3 and IMAP, at least like I said, none that I could find.

It was actually one of the deciding factors in me unistalling Win 8 preview.
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I couldn't get it to do anything but thankfully I use Gmail anyway.
 
BBA said:
I just read the whole article, they also said Win 7 has no option for free email other than Live...which is wrong. MS includes Office Starter 2010 for free included on any new system.
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Office starter doesn't exist post win8.
 
BBA said:
Whats your point? You pay for everything anyway.
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If something is "included for free" in something you're paying for, you bought it.

"This car is Red like I want, but it's only got a 200cc bike engine, oh well, the engine is included for free in this body I want".
 
Vicinity said:
If something is "included for free" in something you're paying for, you bought it.

"This car is Red like I want, but it's only got a 200cc bike engine, oh well, the engine is included for free in this body I want".
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Well if you're buying the car for the body and not the engine, that's a valid way of viewing the situation.

Likewise, I doubt people are going to buy W8 for the email client. If Microsoft completely removed it, I doubt many (especially here) would care.
 
westrock2000 said:
I tried Mail and it was considerable unintuitive. Unfortionantly there weren't any good websites up yet showing how to use it....or maybe it was just broke on my install.

There was no buttons to add a new account and it seemed like it only wanted to use email accounts that were linked to my Live account. I didn't want to do that. Plus it didn't offer me options like POP3 and IMAP, at least like I said, none that I could find.

It was actually one of the deciding factors in me unistalling Win 8 preview.
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No POP3 accounts. I think the Gmail accounts use IMAP. You do not have to tie it to a Live account.
 
BigJayDogg3 said:
Well if you're buying the car for the body and not the engine, that's a valid way of viewing the situation.

Likewise, I doubt people are going to buy W8 for the email client. If Microsoft completely removed it, I doubt many (especially here) would care.
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I know, I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing.
 
s0eViL said:
Everyday there seems to be more and more negative news about Windows 8, what the hell are Microsoft thinking, this OS is going to go down in history as the worst OS ever made, i am really shocked that they would do this after the flop Vista was. i guess they will have to learn the hard way "again" :/
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Lets not get carried away....there is still one OS by Microsoft that WILL ALWAYS remain the worse OS Microsoft always made.
 
Just have to leave it up to someone else to make a better email app for windows 8.
 
Exactly. If you want a real e-mail client then get one, the included one is meant to be basic and mostly geared towards touch since it's within Metro. I'm sure it'll be improved, but why put a ton of effort into that specific part when people already use Outlook or Live Mail, and they can still continue to do so.
 
*Microsoft includes competent or good email client*
"ANTITRU$T!"

*Microsoft includes basic/barebones email client*
"FAIL!"

*Microsoft doesn't include email client*
"WHY?"
 
achensherd said:
*Microsoft includes competent or good email client*
"ANTITRU$T!"

*Microsoft includes basic/barebones email client*
"FAIL!"

*Microsoft doesn't include email client*
"WHY?"
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This feels like what's really going on.

Other than that if I can just use Live Mail with Win8 I'd be fine.
 
You guys have to understand that the default metro applications are a showcase for the metro environment. Which means if the metro applications fails, it will give a bad reputation for the OS.
 
pelo said:
Office starter doesn't exist post win8.
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Ok, I agree, what is your point with that statement or did I say anything to the contrary or did you miss the point I actually made altogether?
 
IMAP support is coming in the future. POP3 will never come (why on earth would someone still be using POP3? And if you say Yahoo! email, you need to get with the times, every other service offers IMAP for FREEEE).

I am less concerned about the state of the included apps since they only have to be ready for GA in October in 3 months. The apps are included with the OS, but they are not part of the OS, and thus can be and already have been updated separately from it.

Power users will stick with Outlook, but the nice thing about the Metro app is you'll always get push notifications and an updated unread count every time you see the Start Screen.
 
I think it all makes sense: The minuscule Flag icon does not exist anymore because it was too small for Touch users, and the removal of the integrated Calendar and of the possibility to view new important emails or refer to existing ones while composing an email fits the mono-task mono-window ADD philosophy of Metro. What next? Users asking to see the clock when writing an email? Such distractions are what make the desktop environment so counter-productive. ^-^

Haha, but seriously, developers still building standalone apps in 2012 instead of web services? Especially for communication based tasks.
 
This post is a generic comment, taking no position.

It might be a sign of time, actually.

1. In the current environment, there are corporate-based alert system, instant communication, 24x7 group scheduling and tasking, instant verification of availability, there are also skype, MSN, twitter, facebook and misc up-to-the-seconds information bombardment. SmartPhone-based delivery mechanism results in info-load suffocation because it follows you everywhere. Probably some could list more

2. I understand the "common counter-argument approach" is to list some, for example,
2.1 "I personally XYZ...."
2.2 The scenario with above argument is, there is this concept of Statistics "Normal Distribution"
2.3 When you look at one or two samples, it might not be clear.
2.4 When you look at samples of millions, the Normal distribution suggests that eventually on a large scale sample populace, "most will fall into certain pattern", again, university course...

3. To clarify, it is not wrong to have zillion instant alert of everything, for some.
3.1 It is also not wrong to try a revised environment with different expectation. It might be a sensible rethink.

4 Maybe for some, it is a sensible step-back from overloaded electronic living.

Generic comment, not universal truth.

Cheers
 
No fuck that metro crap is SO fucking huge all over the UI there is no room for anything else.
 
I am just gonna go ahead and say it..

If this is all the functionality you need out of an email client. All you need is a decent webmail. Get off AOL and join a real email. If you need more than that, that is what outlook is for. Gmail has more functionality than this and requires less setup, why anyone would use this is beyond me.
 
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