I've used Outlook Express for years and years. So shock, horror,
when I upgraded to Window 7, I still am really pissed off that
MS has not included it, so it won't work with Windows 7.

So I dug out my old copy of Outlook 2000, but that won't work
either, only from Outlook 2003 onwards!

I simply liked the ease and layout of Outlook Express and it was
hugely popular, so I was not the only one.

What other email programmes are around that anyone knows of, that
are similar? I'm trying to avoid browser based emailers like
Gmail etc.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Hi Yabby.

Why don't you give Thunderbird a try from Mozilla, the makers of Firefox. Pretty similar to lookout exposed and much, much safer for all of us!

http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/

Yabby,outlook will work if you pay for the upgrades.Currently I'm using outlook with windows 7.The new computers are faster and cheaper but you have to pay for additional programs.That is the rub.Corportatocracy wins again.

They are trying to force you to use Windows Live, which normally requires an internet connection. GMail offers more features (like POP3 and IMAP), and works offline if you install Google Gears http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10152019-2.html and intergrates with most mobile phones. Integrating with mobile phones means you can synchronise your contacts in your mobile phone with GMail - effectively allowing an offline backup, of your phone contacts http://www.google.com/mobile/mail/

If you want a normal PC application, try thunderbird as mentioned above, or for something closer to Outlook:

http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution/

Both are free.

I would read Google's privacy policy before giving a huge corporation access to my private mail. It might not suite your personal privacy beliefs, whatever they may be.

Just a thought!

Gawd Arjay, I am glad I don't live in your head.

Mind you, I'd recon Microsoft is as paranoid as you. They never had the super computer market, and now they all run Linux. They've now comprehensively lost the embedded market to Linux. They are in the process or being wiped out of the mobile phone market. There are still some Windows CE smart phones out there, but they are being slaughtered by Android (Linux), Nokia (Symbian), iPhone (BSD), Meamo (Linux) and Blackberry.

You would think they could out manoeuvre Google in the internet because they controlled the predominant browser (Windows Internet Explorer). But no, Google now owns the major revenue stream from the internet - ads. And because Microsoft deliberately crippled Internet Explorer to prevent applications like GMail from migrating into the cloud, it is being replaced by likes of Firefox, Chrome and Opera.

So they fight back by reducing the price of Windows 7, and try to make up the revenue stream by replacing applications like MSN Messenger and Outlook Express with web equivalents that display ads. You can gauge how successful that will be from Yabby's reaction.

It will get worse. Google is now working on the Google Operating System. It isn't really an operating system. Its just a browser that can run on bare metal - without windows. Companies have already started using it as a BIOS, so you switch on the computer and can immediately browse the internet, read your email, access new feeds, write documents and spreadsheets. This is without needing a power hungry hard disk, and without buying a single Microsoft product.

And you know what Arjay - all this stuff is free. Free in a why you probably don't understand. They use what is called a copyleft license. Google it. There are copyleft replacements for Windows, Office, Outlook, Messenger, Paint, Photoshop - you name it, it is all available, free.

If you feel like you are being manipulated by a Corportatocracy, it is because you let yourself be. There are alternatives. There has been for a decade now.