But from her experience with Hotmail users, as well as correspondence with other Web hosts, GaltGroup's Brownlee disagrees.

"Hotmail dumps the mail with no notification, and Hotmail Support reply emails give great indication that they don't even read the complaint emails that get sent to them," she said.

To sidestep issues with e-mail delivery, E-consultancy's Friedlein said that service providers have been known to throttle send speeds for different Web mail clients. Other methods may also include using multiple IP addresses from which e-mail is sent, so that if one address gets blocked, the service provider can simply switch to another address.

"Essentially, all of us legitimate e-mailers are having to copy what the spammers do," he said.

Brownlee outlined other methods mentioned in Hotmail help documents that involve either using a paid, third-party service that Hotmail uses to access a white-list, or installing proprietary Sender-ID software from Microsoft. Even with those methods in place, Hotmail makes no guarantees for the deliverability of e-mails.

Noting that GaltGroup currently is not listed on any online black-lists, Brownlee said the company would not pay for third-party services that make no guarantees for the service being employed.

Citing an opposition to closed software and enforced proprietary standards, she said GaltGroup would not submit to Microsoft's proprietary Sender-ID software.

"The already-established open standards should be sufficient to at least get us into the 'Junk' folder," she said. "I'm not willing to jeopardize our ability to transmit to email addresses outside of Hotmail or risk the security of our servers by using proprietary closed software."

"My only course of action is to stop using Microsoft products, and wherever possible refuse to lend support to those who jump on the Microsoft boat for the fringe benefits," she said.