Microsoft launches Windows Live Hotmail
By Ruben Francia
Microsoft announced that the company will roll out its new Windows Live Hotmail, which is available worldwide in 36 different languages. The new release was built to be a vast improvement over the previous Hotmail offering, having incorporated input from more than 20 million beta testers.
The new service offers several enhancements over the current user interface and is built upon Microsoft’s AJAX platform.
“We’re thrilled to deliver Windows Live Hotmail to the more than 280 million active MSN Hotmail accounts around the world,” said Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of the Online Services Group at Microsoft.
“Windows Live Hotmail represents an extremely compelling end-to-end email experience that makes it easy for customers to get best-of-breed email access across PCs, mobile devices and the Web. Windows Live Hotmail is a cornerstone online service for Microsoft and a critical part of our online advertising business because email is a key point of influence for consumer purchases. We’re pleased to announce the launch of the service to advertisers in addition to consumers on the eve of the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit.”
Windows Live Hotmail offers users 2GB of mail storage and also allows them to import contacts from and also export them to other Web-based e-mail services, such as Google’s Gmail and Yahoo’s Yahoo Mail. There also is a premium Windows Live Hotmail Plus Service for $19.99 a year that will offer 4GB of inbox storage and other expanded options.
New customers will be able to visit http://www.hotmail.com to sign up for a new Windows Live Hotmail account.
Even as it makes the shift to Windows Live Hotmail, Microsoft will offer the option of sticking with the traditional Hotmail interface. People also will be able to keep their existing addresses.
Microsoft added that later this month Windows Live Hotmail customers will be able to access their Windows Live Hotmail email and contacts for free using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Office Outlook 2007 via the new Microsoft Office Outlook Connector beta.
More information about Windows Live Hotmail can be found on the Windows Live services homepage.
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Stumble It!
May 7th, 2007
Must be quite difficult to get people to switch from another service. How do you create new/kill functionality to a service as mature as email? Klas from MyWebDesktop.net
September 30th, 2009
I have been searching for a way to kill the advertising window in hotmail or I guess now it is windows live messenger?? This reminds me of JUNO what a pain(#&$*$ We have been Microsoft’s beta testers from the conception of Microsoft, it has not stopped and it never will. The computing arena is an ever growing, ever exponentiating beta arena.
We have all made microsoft what it is, the least they could do is not irritate us, or come up with old idea’s for squeezing blood from a turnip. In short they can give up something for a change and if your a hard liner, Microsoft should be paying us for using their stuff. I have been on board now for over 35 years and they still don’t have it right.