On Tue, 01 Jan 2002 02:07:30 -0500 Lanman disseminated the following:
Joe; Welcome back. According to new information, you were supposed to get an email from Microsoft or Bell-Sympatico, telling you to re-register with Passport so that Sympatico or Microsoft could verify that your email address was legit - ie; you weren't using some old email address from Sympatico which you may/may not have been using in the past via Hotmail or MSN.
...I read the article, but what I'm not clear on yet is: I do not use Passport,
Hotmail, or any other MS 'service', so I'm assuming this does not apply to me,
no?
Read the article for yourself and let me know if it makes any sense;
http://service.sympatico.ca/index.cfm?method=content.view&category_id=60&content_id=2109
In addition to this confusing piece of tripe, new users of Sympatico are required to change their Sympatico email password AT Microsoft's Passport site (not at Sympatico's site), so that they can activate their Sympatico email account! Those new customers will also have to get a M$ Passport if they don't already have one, including Hotmail and MSN, since you can't get a Passport without getting a Hotmail account.
...but again, I do not use Hotmail or .Not or MSN or any of their garbage. This is why I'm doubtful I'll really see any changes (from the link you provided):
"Please be advised that your @Sympatico.ca e-mail address and Sympatico Internet service will not be affected by any of these changes."
Anyway, it's all moot since I'm not going to continue to pay Sympatico when even one dime of that is going to the Borg.
Joe; Since you're changing ISP, you're right, it won't matter. But if anyone is staying with Sympatico, they'll be getting moved to the new system. As part of that move, users must apply for a Passport, which automatically set's them up for Hotmail, and subsequently MSN Messenger.
But the defacto policy from Microsoft (a.k.a. The Borg), is that users must check in to Hotmail at least once a month or their Hotmail accounts (and thereby your Passport AND POSSIBLY your Passport and Sympatico accounts), will be suspended or shutdown completely.
This looks like another attempt by Microsoft to grab a big chunk of new Hotmail users before any of the other webmail providers get their hands on them! I suspect that once M$ finds a way to dominate the global webmail market, they'll also find a way to start charging fees for it.
Lanman
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