Why Microsoft 365 Is Better Than Legacy Email
In this article we'll explain how email has evolved over time and why a service such as Microsoft 365 is useful for all businesses, and maybe even home users.
Three and a half decades ago, the third version of Post Office Protocol (POP3) was born. It became the de facto standard for fetching email from a mail server down to a remote PC. Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) was not far behind, allowing for remote/online access to a mailbox. Typically, POP3 and IMAP were provided as free perks included with web site hosting accounts, providing email to everyone.
Over the last twenty years it's become common for people to check their email from multiple devices. POP3 has limited ability for this, mainly, to set the devices to leave email messages on the server for a time so the other devices can also download the messages. IMAP is better, in that both devices look at the mail server. Therefore, once a message is deleted it is deleted off the mail server, and sent and deleted messages can stay on the mail server, depending on the configuration of the email client software. However, that raises other issues, mainly, that IMAP was designed decades ago so was not designed to provide high capacity mail storage, and storing all your old email online can fill up one's (free) mailbox quota rather quickly.
Instead, businesses generally gravitate towards paid email solutions such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, while home users found free, ad-driven accounts from Microsoft, Google, and AOL/Yahoo!. On these types of paid accounts, space is rarely an issue, and if it is, additional capacity is easily purchased. Third-party services can back up entire mailboxes as well as other content such as files in OneDrive or Teams data. Messages can be read, deleted, or replied to from any device, like with IMAP. Newer technologies such as Modern Authentication and multi-factor authentication make logging in far more secure.
Hosted solutions like Microsoft 365 also typically include features like contacts, calendar, tasks, etc. that are shared across devices. They can also be shared with others in the company. Microsoft also provides Shared Mailboxes which multiple people can access and are free to use.
Overall, we recommend all businesses use a hosted email solution like Microsoft 365. Especially so compared to free email solutions, since a custom domain appears much more professional than a free email account. Home users may also consider paid email with a custom domain name, given the relatively low cost, as well as the easier porting to a new email system compared to changing email accounts from one free domain (@outlook.com) to another (@gmail.com).
January 2025
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