I'm with GizmoFreak. It's not like you can just stop using the account. I've had mine for almost seven years. It was originally my junk mail, but when Telocity pulled the plug on my email address when I moved a few years back, I had to use something b/c I was in the middle of a job search. Now I can't afford not to have it. I hate using browser-based mail, so hotmail was perfect because I could use Outlook and OE to access it. POP mail is blocked at work, so this is the only solution for me. Now they've blocked access to hotmail with Outlook/OE unless you upgrade. I don't mind them offering the extra features, etc, but this carrot trick is bullshit. All my historical messages are stored in a .pst file and they get there via Outlook. I have no choice but to pony up the $20 or come up with a new solution. Unfortunately, I already find Hotmail extremely slow. I can't imagine it being slower. What to do?
/edit: sorry. Didn't notice this thread was old. Just found it in a search. They just started enforcing the Outlook/OE access, so I assumed Hotmail Plus was a new feature. Has anyone seen better performance in the last two months?