How can I access my hotmail through an email client once DAV is phased out?

As anyone who has a hotmail account probably knows by now, Miscrosoft is phasing out the WebDAV protocol (the http method by which Outlook Express and the Thunderbird Webmail plugin access hotmail). They suggest you download their new Live Mail client. Yeah right! No way in hell I'm downloading some useless MS program that if probably loaded with spyware just to read my hotmail. Surely there is another way. I could forward my hotmail to Gmail (who provide both POP3 and IMAP support - *hint**hint* microsoft), but then M$ would delete my hotmail account after 120 days because I never log in anymore (thankfully, the thunderbird plugin pings counted as logins so I never have to use their horrible WebUI).

All in all, very frustrating.

I'm open to suggestions. Bonus points for a solution that doesn't require me to be running Windows.