Microsoft has destroyed the operating system market, the Internet browser market, and now they want to get rid of all those pesky third-party mail clients.

This email was quietly sent to all MSN subscribers a couple of weeks ago. I have not seen this reported anywhere in the popular media.

Dear MSN Internet Access Subscriber,

In our continuing effort to further secure and improve the MSN Internet Access e-mail service, we are initiating a series of e-mail enhancements to help you protect your MSN account from unsolicited commercial e-mail, often referred to as “spam”. In order to implement these enhancements, it will be necessary for you to modify your e-mail settings by July 16, 2001. If you do not make this change, as we roll-out our new system, you will lose the ability to send e-mail.