Microsoft begins rolling out Hotmail redesign

by Brad Linder Sep 30th 2008

It's been a while since Microsoft's free Hotmail email service received a major overhaul. Last year, Microsoft increased users' email storage space from 2GB to 5GB. But now the company is also starting to roll out a new site design.

The update brings faster page load times for anyone using the "full version" of Hotmail, while "classic version" users now get access to drag & drop and other features that were previously only available to full users. Microsoft has also improved the contact list. You'll see profile pictures for email contacts if your contacts have uploaded pictures for their Windows Live Messenger profiles. You can also see recently sent messages from your contacts when viewing their profiles

The new Hotmail also has a new auto-complete feature for email addresses and a contact picker that helps detect misspelled addresses.

The new version of Hotmail is not yet available for all users. And some users who have received the updated are less than thrilled with it. It's not clear if the new version is actually more difficult to use, or if some of the people who now have access to it haven't yet figured out where all the buttons are.

Tags: email, hotmail, windows-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Maria said 3:14PM on 9-30-2008

September 30, 2008

Will I be effected with your new system?
What will I loose?
Please advice me more about How to download my hometown files?
I am almost eight years client of AOL!
Please reply!
Maria

Joe B said 5:19PM on 9-30-2008

Been a decades long Y! Mail user and I have to say that Live Mail (aka Hotmail) is making inroads to make me consider a change. Notably, the calendar function is almost at par (lacks scheduling with others) while offering an iCal bridge.

Don't even ask me why I don't use gMail. I've tried it several times and that dog just don't hunt of me. It may be great for you but you ain't me.

Samuel said 5:54PM on 9-30-2008

Oh do me a favour, who uses Hotmail anymore.

HA!

raw said 8:27PM on 9-30-2008

ur wife email me from her hotmail when ur not around...

Unknown said 5:18AM on 10-01-2008

hotmail is kinda gay they charge you for forwarding mail and pop3

Jash Sayani said 7:45AM on 10-01-2008

Wow! The new interface looks really better. When can users switch to it ?

Dutch said 8:26PM on 10-01-2008

Once upon a time, I lived on my hotmail account. And along came something much better.....Gmail.

I have never had a problem receiving my own mail or controlling my account with Gmail. This was never the case with Hotmail. I have gotten rid of Hotmail completely. I agree with some of the others that this is too little too late. I currently have over 7GB of storage with my FREE gmail account. Hotmail is just as dead as Live Search.

Long Live Google

Quikboy said 11:55PM on 10-01-2008

Funny how there's a lot of A-holes going about praising GMail, and shooting dumb remarks like Hotmail is "dead" even though millions of people use it.

Hotmail has changed a LOT since the old MSN days, and I never seem to have spam and junk piling my inbox. Maybe I'm that 'minority', but at the same time, I don't toss my address everywhere, FFW to dozens of more people with my address, and so on. If you happen to see Junk mail land in your inbox, press Mark as Junk, and I don't think Hotmail will allow it to get into your inbox anymore. Simple as that, but I never had a problem with that.

A lot of this ignorance is based more on typical M$ hate, never using Hotmail for a very long time, and so on. I'm NOT saying Hotmail is the best e-mail service, but it's not that cruddy the way you describe it.

Every service has their own awesome features, and not so awesome features. At the same time, this is a BETA. So instead of bashing it, why not trying it out to see if it's improved much?

Unknown said 12:18PM on 10-02-2008

so have you tried GMail before you call us ignorance A-holes?

Radical Dreamer said 11:50PM on 10-02-2008

Too little, too late.
And probably 0-Firefox support as usual.
Hotmail is dead.

dukeman said 11:50PM on 10-02-2008

Unless they improved the anti-spam system then it is full of fail.

kevjohn said 4:41PM on 9-30-2008

If you can't manage your spam filter that's your own fault. I haven't had a single piece land anywhere but my Junk folder all year long.

Josh said 8:51PM on 9-30-2008

I'd have to agree about the anti-spam. I used to use Gmail For Your Domain and it filtered 99.99% of the spam BEFORE hitting my account (not in the junk folder). As soon as I switched to Live for Domains I had spam hitting my inbox and junk folder.

dukemang said 5:36PM on 9-30-2008

I've had a hotmail account for years and gave up spam control when I realized I would have to keep up with every way to misspell "penis", and other words that signify spam. If you don't get spam, more power to you but I think you are in the minority.

Quikboy said 9:12PM on 10-01-2008

Like kevjohn, I don't ever seem to have spam landing in my inbox. Honestly, and I don't like Live Hotmail that much (it rarely gets updates!), but I never noticed spam piling my inbox.

At the same time, I don't toss out my e-mail address for people to find and take, fast-forward to a bazillion different people and pass more address on, and dumb stuff like that.

Maybe you're talking about the "old" Hotmail, a Hotmail even I wouldn't touch. It's funny how when someone leaves something for so long because of resentment, and have a hard time believing there's been improvement years later.

Ridgecity said 5:18PM on 10-15-2008

everyone uses hotmail because it's the default stuff for Windows users. Look at all the people that bought Napster music because it came with Windows Media Player or all the people that still use Internet Explorer.

They don't know any better.

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