If you’re on my MSN contact list you’ll recently have seen a request from me to add me to your list again. This has confused a few people, usually resulting in a dialogue like this:
What are you doing?
Why have you added yourself again?
The old MSN account was hdurdle@hotmail.com. Which I never - ever - use for email. But people insist on sending email to my MSN address because they assume that’s what I use for email.
Isn’t that a reasonable assumption?
Well, yeah, probably. Except most people who know me ought to remember by now that my email address has been howard@durdle.com for about 9 years now.
Right. In which case why didn’t you just sign up with that address for MSN in the first place?
Historical reasons.
Enlighten me.
Because back in the olden days, when ICQ ruled the world and MSN was just a shiny new toy, you had to have a hotmail address to try it out.
Really?
Probably. I honestly can’t remember, but that sounded plausible didn’t it?
I’ll give you that.
Thanks.
So hdurdle@hotmail.com is dead?
Yep. Well, I won’t be using it for anything, but will be keeping it active so no other bast takes it over!
Good plan. So what now?
That’s it I think. MSN email now matches regular email. All is right in the world.
Gee, thanks for explaining everything so well.
Pleasure.
Just to contradict most of the above…
As far as I was aware you always have been able to use a non-hotmail address for MSN - certainly I’ve never used a hotmail address for it - it’s just that since they were going for world domination with hotmail, they tended to imply that you couldn’t.
You are also able to change the e-mail address without generating a new passport too meaning that you don’t need to recreate yourself - managed to switch mine from the old calusari.demon.co.uk address to calusari.com without too many problems…
so glad this has been cleared up - :o)
It looks like if you signed up with a non-Hotmail address, changing to a different non-Hotmail address is trivial. If your passport is a Hotmail account though there is no option to change the address used as your primary mode of contact. It’s assumed that since you’re signed into Passport with it, you have access to it - so no need to change it. (Which, to be fair, makes sense.) This is despite the fact that like all Passport users (Hotmail or not) you’re actually referenced by a unique alphanumeric ID, rather than an email address.
The upshot is: you’re right… but not in my case.
Hmmmm, I do remember alot of ‘microsoft passport’ f’ing around when I signed up all those many years ago… and I too have a crappy old hotmail account i _never_ use.
my bet is that there was a big ‘make people use hotmail’ push back when we signed up