Thanks for comments, people. I do actually run Firefox, so I’m good there. And yes, I still get a little thrill of defiance when I start it up. Both Geee-off and VDub suggest Thunderbird and although I’m not dating or married to either of them anymore, they’re still two of the smartest people I know. But can I really live without Outlook?? It seems such a basic part of existence, taken for granted.

On the other hand, it’s such a “have-to” and there are few things I rebel against more than “have-to.” So the wild child in me is inclined to do the Thunderbird thing. I think I will.

So there, Mr. Gates.

Loathe their clingy, grabby nature that doesn’t allow you to do anything they think you “shouldn’t” be able to do. Such as move your domain name to (gasp) another host. Because if you decide that’s your best move, so that you can have, say, actual CONTROL over the html without their limiting templates….well, they’re just going to wipe out any file associated with it, including all of your email with that account. Plus you’re going to have to obtain a special key from them to even unlock your domain (which YOU purchased! And own!). The price for that key is them wiping out all of your files.

I hate them. I hate Outlook, I hate IE, I hate Office Live particularly. When I was dating Greg, given the nature of his occupation (working for the Dark Lord himself), I tried to like MS. Really tried. And yet, I always had deep seated misgivings about the proprietary formats. And today, MVKatherineJane.com does not exist, until I can wrest control away from them and set it up with a new host. And my email is hosed as well.

I’m apoplectic. And slightly incoherent. Because I’m disconnected now in ways that I shouldn’t be. All because of some trusting decisions I made two years ago about platforms.

I’m tempted to go throw the laptop in the lake.