Entered CNET Catalog: 10/07/2005
SKU: CNETMSNKAHUNA
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Product summary
The good: Windows Live Hotmail offers both a new interface and a Classic view; inline dictionary and thesaurus; built-in audio player; basic image editing; automatic link and image blocking; integrates with desktop Windows Live Mail and Outlook.
The bad: Hotmail includes ads in the interface and your e-mail messages; no RSS newsreader; storage is smaller than that of competitors; lacks built-in chatting as well as integration with mapping and blogging; some features only work in Internet Explorer.
The bottom line: Drag-and-drop message organization and a built-in MP3 player are among the notable new features to this radical overhaul of Hotmail.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 07/18/2007
Photo gallery:
Windows Live Hotmail
Much like the ongoing renovation of Yahoo Mail beta, the MSN Hotmail service has undergone a face-lift that makes it resemble a desktop e-mail client. Like Yahoo, the new Windows Live Hotmail uses a blend of dynamic HTML and JavaScript--dubbed AJAX--to preload messages so that you don't have to wait long for content to appear. Other convenient tweaks include the capability to drag and drop messages into folders. Unlike Yahoo and Gmail, Microsoft's popular e-mail service has emerged from beta testing as a final product for all users to try--although more features are likely to trickle in soon.
Microsoft also is building bridges between desktop and Web-based e-mail with both the Outlook Connector beta synchronizer and the Windows Live Mail beta download.
Setup and interface
Signing up for Windows Live Hotmail takes several minutes. You'll need to pick a Windows Live ID, which you can use to access other Windows Live services including Windows Live Messenger. You may also be able to use an old Microsoft Passport ID, should you have set one up years ago. We didn't even have to step through any questionnaire minefields asking if we wanted to sign up for newsletters. Microsoft also estimates the strength of your password and won't let you use your name for that purpose. Thankfully, we didn't encounter setup or sign-in snags as we did with AOL Mail.
The interface of Windows Live Hotmail resembles that of Microsoft Outlook, with messages organized into panes. You can highlight multiple messages at a time using the SHIFT and CTRL keys, and drag messages into various folders. There are several other keyboard shortcuts, such as the up and down arrow keys to move among Inbox messages. And clicking the right mouse key on a message brings up options for replying to an e-mail, among other choices. The interface also offers the choice of nine color themes. Clicking the logo in the upper-left corner of the screen pulls down a list of options.
Windows Live Hotmail features an animated banner ad atop the page. This ad may target you according to details you entered when signing up, such as your city and gender. Unlike Gmail, however, Windows Live Hotmail does not sift through the text of your messages to serve up personalized advertising.
The Classic view, which you can revert to at any time, better resembles the old layout of Hotmail. Whether you choose the Classic or new look, Windows Live Mail offers 2GB of free storage and up to 4GB for $19.99 per year. And instead of shutting down your account after a month of inactivity, Microsoft lets you ignore your e-mail for 120 days. Still, after having lost several years' worth of messages by ignoring an old account in the past, we'd prefer a service without a cutoff date. Gmail's nine months of inactivity is the most generous of the major e-mail services.
Features
Among the features that you can't find elsewhere at this point, Windows Live Hotmail includes a built-in audio player. When you open a message with a music file attached to it, Hotmail prompts you to save or open the file in Windows Media Player. Click Cancel to play the song in your Inbox instead. Once you click another message, however, the song stops. A cool photo-uploading feature previews what's on your hard drive and allows you to rename and rotate pictures before attaching them to an e-mail message (This and the inline audio player work only in Internet Explorer.) We're curious to see how Microsoft might integrate a video player at a later date.
Also, a built-in spelling checker underlines suspect words with a red squiggly line, reminiscent of Microsoft Word. In addition to sorting messages by sender, subject, date, and size, you can show only messages with a particular subject or sender, or those containing attachments.
Windows Live Hotmail automatically blocks images and Web links unless you authorize them. A yellow or red security bar appears atop any message flagged as a security threat, such as a phishing e-mail. We like this easy-to-follow approach. However, while the security bar blocked some spam content, it did not appear in potentially suspicious messages sent to us by contacts we had already labeled as trusted senders.
Unfortunately, an RSS reader, built-in previews of Microsoft Office documents, and calendar integration are all lacking, although Microsoft says that it will continue to update Windows Live Hotmail with new features in the coming months and beyond. Other features offered currently by competitors such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail beta include built-in chatting. However, Windows Live Hotmail can detect the presence of fellow Windows Live users and then bring up a Windows Live Messenger window if you want to chat. Unfortunately, we couldn't get this feature to work the first day of the Windows Live Hotmail launch.
Overall, we've found Windows Live Hotmail faster and sleeker than its predecessor. However, users who are accustomed to the old-style Hotmail may prefer to use the Classic view. The features of popular, Web-based e-mail services from Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are so similar that we don't see an overwhelming reason for anyone to switch brands aside from personal preference for a specific feature set. That said, Hotmail is an obvious choice if you like to use Microsoft's many other Windows Live products within Internet Explorer.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35out of 35 user reviews
The Advantage of intergration
Pros: Works well with Windows
Cons: Other browser compatibility
out of 35 user reviews
Lack of support for Firefox - Use Gmail instead
Pros: Looks pretty
Cons: Lack of support for Firefox
Way to go! I recommend using Gmail instead.
out of 35 user reviews
Great for day to day normal user
Pros: better 90% people(e-mail, calender)
Cons: does not satisfy 10% special need people RSS feed etc
out of 35 user reviews
Decent, if somewhat ho-hum experience
Pros: Spiffier than the old Hotmail interface. Doesn't hiccup as much as AOL's and Yahoo!'s similar services do.
Cons: Works only in part with non-IE browsers. Still can't get it to push to my BlackBerry.
One thing I've noted with FF is that I don't get any of the advertising when reading emails as noted in the review. It may be do to any number of add-on extensions I use in FF 2.x, but whatever it is I at least don't have any of that particular nonsense that IE users will be forced to put up with.
Unlike Yahoo! Beta email, Live Hotmail recognizes when pages (like your inbox) should be refreshed, which is a good thing when trying to shuffle through all of one's emails. Both Yahoo! and Live Hotmail have interfaces that make Gmail positively Neanderthal in comparison, and all three don't crash FF like AOL webmail does.
For me, Live Hotmail works pretty much as the old Hotmail system did (though it does play more nicely with FF than before), so in that sense I'm not seeing what the fuss is all about. I still use the free AOL webmail more than all the rest (mostly because of my time with them as a paying customer back in the dial-up days), but I'm finding that nowadays I use Yahoo! mail and Gmail almost as much. Even though I've had my Hotmail account for years, because of the severe problems that service had with FF in the past I more or less stopped considering my Hotmail account as a viable service (which had only been used for receiving various newsletters, anyways...like Anchordesk...). But it seems at least MSFT is making more than a token effort to bring back some of the usability of their Hotmail service with alternative browsers.
As far as I'm concerned, as long as MSFT keeps that up I'll give them the benefit of the doubt...at least for now. However, it WOULD be nicer if they'd make it EASIER to push Hotmail emails to a BlackBerry, something that I've yet been able to do even though it's supposed to be possible without having to pay for the priveledge.
out of 35 user reviews
No Cut & Paste?
Pros: Familiar Interface in Classic Mode
Cons: No Cut & Paste Feature
out of 35 user reviews
Maybe it's because it's in Beta Test, but there are a lot things missing.
Pros: MUCH faster than the Hotmail Classic!
Cons: Lots of Bugs. A lot of nice basic features from Hotmail Classic are missing.
All in all, if they get all the bugs out, it should be great due to the much higher speeds, even with only dial up.
out of 35 user reviews
not ready for pime time
Pros: great web based mail to route your spam to
Cons: cramped ui, huge banner animated banner ad
out of 35 user reviews
only IE is really well supported
Pros: good storage
Cons: needs IE,too much spam,limited outside of the US
out of 35 user reviews
Simple, fast and sexy
Pros: Simple, fast and sexy
Cons: calender integration
out of 35 user reviews
Needs to support POP3 for free
Pros: It has never disappointed me in the spam section
Cons: I like gmail's tab feature better than folders
The spam control on hotmail is one of the best (once I get all my mail that isn't spam unspamed only once) find out I've seen so far.
But other than that really I am a fan of gmail and its option to have POP3.
out of 35 user reviews
Live Hotmail Rules the Roost
Pros: Drag-and-drop interface, AJAX, 2GB storage, phishing filter, spam blocker, great looks
Cons: Nothing at all
Entirely recommended and it's completely free.
out of 35 user reviews
Much better than other options
Pros: Web 2.0 integration and user expirence
Cons: No live maps or Outlook integration...yet
out of 35 user reviews
the Microsoft way to promote Internet Explorer
Pros: Superb SPAM filter, lot of space.
Cons: No support for Full Live Experience on Opera
If you check your mail on Opera Browser, you have to use the classic version because Microsoft don't support Opera and don't want you and me to use Opera. buaa.
out of 35 user reviews
Way better that both gmail and yahoo and works fine on all browsers
Pros: Amazing interface and ease of use, well linked with other live services, powerful
Cons: occasionaly goes horribly slow and takes ages to load mail
out of 35 user reviews
Seems ok so far
Pros: FAST, offers a preview plane, aesthetically pleasing (looks better than Gmail), junk filtering
Cons: none for me
out of 35 user reviews
Much better thab Outlook or other e-mail options I hae seen.
Pros: Preview pane, MP3 player built in and lots of options to customize.
Cons: Junk filter could be better.
There are a few things I don't care for like the Junk filter not filtering junk mail as well as it should and some of the security built in to the new Hotmail seems like overkill to me (like saying Show Content and then needing to mark as safe - shouldn't these be one and the same?)
I recommend Hotmail to anyone who wants an easy to use and feature rich e-mail account that they don't have to pay for. Hotmail is like Windows Vista - some will hate it just because it is from Mircosoft and never see it any other way - others will try it out and see why MS and Hotmail have been so popular for all these years.
out of 35 user reviews
SOOO much better than the old hotmail
Pros: SO much faster!!!!
Cons: nothing really except for thos adds -.- you guys get enought money for selling us $500 os's
out of 35 user reviews
An Improvement over the previous version of Hotmail.
Pros: More user-friendly interface. Larger storage capacity, Easier to organize incoming email messages into folders.
Cons: Can be slow to access even with a high speed connection. More advertisements than previous version. Sometimes unable to access certain messages...provides a run time error from the hotmail server.
One major problem I have encountered though is that sometimes Live Hotmail sends me error messages stating that the server is unable to access certain messages; primarily automated ones.
Another problem is linking this to 2003 Outlook, for some reason the server provides other error messages; even though my regular hotmail accounts work fine.
Overall, I still prefer using Live Hotmail over any other free email client.
out of 35 user reviews
Not ready for prime time
Pros: Faster, looks better
Cons: Site is down 80% of the time
out of 35 user reviews
Really fast email
Pros: It works with the firefox rc1
Cons: Can't resize
out of 35 user reviews
Needs to be stanards compliant
Pros: Early Beta so hard to tell
Cons: IE and IE only. Lock in isn't a good idea on the Web
All that said, yes, it's a good idea to mimic a desktop based email app and yes there seem to be a few other good ideas here.
To complain about ads seems redundant as Hotmail is so chock full of ads it's sometimes hard to read your mail.
On the down side is Microsoft's continued illuison that the entire user base on the planet is Windows based, it isn't, or has access to IE, it doesn't. While lock in may be good for the corporate ego it doesn't do much for users of Firefox or Safari or Opera or others who may just abandon Hotmail to soemthing that does work. Say Google or Yahoo.
M$ needs to remember that it's playing on a much larger scale here than just the desktop and that there are other players out there. Cutting them off isn't good marketing.
out of 35 user reviews
Improved Interface, Looks Better than Ever & Firefox Compatible!
Pros: Improved Interface over the classic Hotmail view, Works seamlessly with the Windows Live family
Cons: A little sluggish (loading times), but that can be improved over time
Now, time has passed. Over the years, hotmail email storage space has expanded several gigabytes for free during the whole email space wars (Gmail by Google among the competitors). And if anyone has a hotmail account, you will know that you can download MSN Messenger which is now Windows Live Messenger and keep in touch with other users with the same address only. However, I see that that has also changed since Yahoo! contacts can now be added and sent instant messages.
Overall, I see a stable future for Windows Live Mail and I also like the fact that you can switch to the 'Classic Hotmail View' for those who are uneasy about treading over new waters. But, I think everyone will welcome the new interface eventually as have I. For those who have used hotmail for a long time, I think we can just sit back and enjoy the update. And for those who are deciding whether to sign up or not, they'll be treated to a plethora of other services that tie in together. Think of Xbox Live and Windows Live Messenger compatibility as an example. Connecting to get information and sending out play invites. In the future, I see more ways inwhich Windows Live Mail will be used.. but for now, it works great at what it does best: Mail.
out of 35 user reviews
no firefox, no go for me
Pros: nice look, lots of space with no fee
Cons: no firefox support
out of 35 user reviews
Works with Firefox
Pros: Works with Firefox
Cons: Beta glitches left & right
Frankly, I don't see anything to write home about, except it does work with Firefox. And it's a beta, so they do attend to user input. Well....
Recently some of my mail was going out without my content, just MSN's live advertisement. I called it spam, they called it a glitch. I had two different respnses to my complaint (hey, I got responses!) but the left hand clearly didn't know what the right hand was doing. Like I said, I've had my hotmail account forever.... Sigh.
out of 35 user reviews
A complete disaster
Pros: Can't think of any
Cons: Unusable from login to logout
Can't open an email, can't open a link within, can't update contacts, can't delete an email, and Microsoft even threatens us ambigiously when we try to opt out of beta?!
I've anyway switched to other email products. I used hotmail for 12 years and it became bad to worse to now unusable. Hotmail was already a usability disaster right from login to logout, and so is 'Live Mail' now.
Can MS get anything right?
out of 35 user reviews
Not good at all, period.
Pros: 2GB storage space, fast,
Cons: Unreliable, ugly, hard to understand, cant use other browsers
The only good thing is that u get a competitive 2GB of space and its quite fast when it works.
The interface is cluttered and is very ugly and is very hard to understand but i guess it will take some time to get use to. The service is very unreliable; 7 out of 10 times it failed to load up. So if u have to write an important mail immd. do not even try to load Live Mail.
And when will Hotmail support other browsers? Neither FireFox or Opera works. Enough is enough. And its very stupid to push away the competition like this.
All in all, Live Mail is very disappointing.
out of 35 user reviews
Advert Hungry!
Pros: Clean new design, with neat outlook-ish features
Cons: VERY ADVERTISEMENT HUNGRY interface!
To start with, the interface is full of 'fixed' frames: 1 left frame for the buttons, top frame for adverts, right frame for adverts and centre for the index of mails recived. Since these frames are of a fixed nature(they ddont scroll), it leaves very little space for viewing / writing mails. Even the top banner stays put when u scroll down to read your mail. In the earlier hotmail, the top banner used to scroll with the page.
out of 35 user reviews
I think It Works Great!!!! ;)
Pros: Now able to work in Firefox, as well as IE
Cons: Does still have a few glitches left
out of 35 user reviews
Let's loss the ads
Pros: looks real pretty
Cons: not orginal
. Now, Microsoft I do have to say if your going to go all new and next gen, leave the all of the ad's at home, ok? out of 35 user reviews
nice keyboard navigation, too slow
Pros: keyboard navigation is nice
Cons: too slow and message panes get out of sync
out of 35 user reviews
MSN Live Mail (beta)
Pros: Looks good and there are some nice features
Cons: Pop3 accounts
out of 35 user reviews
There is the catch...
Pros: Looks decent
Cons: IE! Who wants to use IE?
Go with GMail. Everyone has invites to give away.
out of 35 user reviews
Requires IE and IE Only? No way in hell.
Pros: Great looking, apparently a great feel, lots of space, generally looking great.
Cons: IE only? Biggest con yet.
If they intend to do this, then I guess my forgotten Yahoo mail will become my main email.
out of 35 user reviews
Awesome! Looks a lot better!
Pros: Clean interface, drag and drop, very nice use of Ajax.
Cons: Still got a while to go, including support of other browsers
out of 35 user reviews
Requires IE? I'll pass.
Pros: Innovative idea....or at least it used to be.
Cons: Too bad Yahoo already thought of it. Requires IE.
