So I guess one can't win, can one?

Depends on how you define "win". I define it as "Pine". Using that since since ~1991 for the "real" (versus "work") me and it hasn't lost a message. Not sexy, some shortcomings, but it spins like a top.

FWIW, a cohort of mine experienced the non-fixable corrupt PST. Me, I just get corrupt OLK and have to re-synch. Gad I wish my employer had just let us stay POP clients. Exchange server outages were somehow less annoying then!

I have been an Exchange client for my last 3 employments and am depressingly amazed at the amount of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance that the Exchange servers seem to require. In fairness, it is an area that is a complete black box to me and it is conceivable that if the quality of systems admininstration was at the level that CruzThs enjoys at MSFT, then perhaps things would be hunky-dory. As a practical fact, though, it seems like I can't manage to get hooked up with an Exchange server with respectable uptime. My latest Exchange headaches are intermittent "invalid credential" issues that seem to result from NT/2000 domain authentication problems...but I can't be certain.

Anyhow, give me Pine, brother, give me Pine.