Good morning Carlo,
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. Unfortunately, your email address did not come though in your last message, however, that might be a mute point since you are also looking at an alternate email ,etc. platform.
Diane mentioned eM Client. I've checked it out and it actually looks very interesting. One can connect via Exchange, which would then provide email, calendar, contacts and task list. I chatted with the tech folks at Staples and Memory Express in Calgary and they were both very positive about it. In fact the tech at Staples said they install it frequently for their customers who do not want to use Outlook. I did download the free 30 day subscription and was able to connect using IMAP, however, I'm having an issue trying to connect using Exchange.
If you decide to try it out and are able to connect using exchange can you please let me know how you make out. You'll recall, I also use SHAW (now Rogers) as my email provider.
Hope you have a good weekend.
Best Regards
Barry