Unfortunately it didn't last, not that I wasn't extremely hopeful, but the work around to get the system to do exactly what I wanted ended up doing only most of what I wanted. Close but no cigar. In the end I have taken up a hosted exchange option which has turned out to be surprisingly cost effective. And so I once again find myself saying hello to a paid service and leave a free one which is something I am doing more and more often of late. Some of the very best products on the net cost a fraction of what you might think and truly deliver the old "bang for buck". Hosted exchange is a simple one; no ads, no marketing bs and a control panel to boot. Not bad.
Realistically though paid for service is something I wish more businesses considered as an option. I for one am more than happy to spend money on worthwhile online services (and honestly we're often talking $5/month here) and many of the lower tier options are free to start with. Great products like Evernote, Crashplan and even Office 365 cost very little and deliver lots. It's a testament to the "entrepreneurial spirit" that these start-ups (and bigger players) have created a market for themselves and created such great products that I can't live without!
I'll be writing more on some of the products but the ones I've mentioned you can find below:
UPDATE
Turns out this was an appropriately timed post!
Microsoft ends support for custom domains in free email service
