No Email Program in Windows 7???????

This has got to be a joke (albeit a very bad one). Or an oversight. A mistake, maybe? Is there really NO EMAIL PROGRAM IN WINDOWS 7????? Not even Microsoft is that stupid, are they? Really?

If this is true, then I would guess it is a cheap trick from Microsoft to try to force their users to switch to Windows Live Mail or whatever. I certainly wouldn't put that past them - but still, it seems like an extraordinarily blunt instrument, even for them.

All of the dedicated (blind) Microsoft loyalists out there who have been going on and on and on and on about how wonderful Windows 7 is, and how easy the upgrade from Vista is (what about Windows Mail users), and how easy the migration from XP is (what about Outlook Express users)... I'm waiting to hear the rationalization behind this one.

Here's a new slogan for Windows 7:

Migrating is easy when you throw away an application

Here's one last thought. Assuming some Microsoft customers choose to go ahead and switch to Windows Live Mail (essentially at gunpoint, but we can be charitable and say "choose"...). Do the wonderful, excellent, beautiful Microsft Windows 7 Upgrade/Migration tools make it easy for them to transfer their existing data - mail folders (all of them, intact), addresses and such?

jw 25/10/2009