I got a new laptop a few months ago. Soon afterwards, I bought Microsoft Outlook 2007 as I wanted something a little more sophisticated than Microsoft Mail, the new version of Outlook Express.

Everything worked fine, until last week. Then I found my emails took longer to send and receive. Then they dried up completely.

I googled ’email problems Outlook 2007′ – and was alarmed to find a vast number of results.

I’m still no nearer finding a solution, despite running Outlook on a new computer with Vista. Yet Microsoft Mail continues to send and receive, so there’s no problem with my email account.

Why do IT companies continue to churn out products that aren’t stable? It reminds me of the spat between the IT and car industries 10 years ago. The IT people mocked the lack of real innovation in modern cars. The car people retorted that if cars were as unreliable as modern software you’d have to reinstall your car engine after putting a new music tape in the stereo.