Ron Schenone

Microsoft Upgrades Hotmail

Posted by on Nov 9, 2008 | 14 Comments

Microsoft will be introducing a new Hotmail service which the software giant states will be better than before. Microsoft states they have been working hard on making the new mail service the best ever. The company also states that they have been listening to users and is taking the comments they have received thus far seriously in their quest for a new system.

On their Windows Live site they also state that:

Q: Why did you change? I liked the old version the way it was.

When we asked our users how we could make Hotmail better, the majority of people said they wanted the experience to be cleaner and faster. The new experience was designed with this in mind.

Now, we understand that everyone has different tastes and computer configurations. Although the majority of people in our tests preferred the new look and themes, some people didn’t.  So, while most of you have seen Hotmail improve, some of you have not, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Q: I find this hard to use. Was this tested with real users?

Yes, it was. We tested with several thousand people around the world and used their feedback to improve the design prior to releasing to all users. We interviewed hundreds of them to hear their opinions, measured their success rate accomplishing common tasks, and surveyed them  to see how much they liked the new service compared to the old one. The data from our tests showed that most users found the new Hotmail to be faster, more reliable, and more usable.

Q: Can I opt out? Can I get the old version back?

A: We can’t provide two fast, secure, reliable experiences, so we have decided to just keep the new version. However, we will continue to improve the new version, based on many of your comments here, to make it work better for you.

So it appears that the old Hotmail will no longer be available and that all users must use the new system. Some comments on the site reflect the opinion that some folks are already have issues. Hopefully these problems will disappear as the system becomes available.

What do you think? If you are a Hotmail users let us know how the new system is working for you.

Comments welcome.

Source.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/forsythe/ forsythe

    Ron,

    I am among those who have found that the new Hotmail has problems with the older versions of Opera. It just does not work. It is necessary to download the new version of Opera, install, clear the cache and all that. Needless to say that there is praying and muttering involved.

    Catherine

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Catherine,
    Thanks for the info.

  • http://www.remote-scan.com Mark Ereira

    lay out could be better, for example in options I had a choice of where to read my mail, on the bottom or the right,and which I chose,but the two left hand side boxes are to wide, and I need to use the mouse each time to expand the reading area, the inbox and message received colums could be narrower to allow the ease of use in reading mail, a more comprehensive option choices would be good, colours stationary, a signature that allows for a download of photo.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Mark,
    Thanks for the info.

  • BG Stine

    This new version is terrible. I’ve sent numerous emails to Hotmail without response.

    It is hard to use. The font is too thin for my eyes. To me it looks extremely amateurish.

    I was one of the orginal HoTMaiLers. Joined the first week.

    I asked Microsoft this question without – a surprise – response:

    If you think all this tinkering you do
    with Hotmail is helping how come
    Outlook hasn’t changed in years?

    I wish Microsoft would just leave it alone. Go fix Vista or something else. Stop screwing with Hotmail. You are driving people to Gmail.

  • GRPeng

    The “new” Hotmail is a huge ball of suck. FAIL! on it being an upgrade. I got my first Hotmail account 2 years before Microsoft bought them. This is a partial list of the problems I have seen in the last two weeks:

    There is no option to send plain text.

    You can not edit a TO: address once you hit enter. If you make a typo, you have to delete it and type it all over.

    There is no logic to how addresses show up in the Contact List. I have edited entries twice now to get them to show up in order but they still do not show up in the expected place.

    The default Inbox layout is to show 25 lines, but the window size is only large enough to display 22 lines at full height on my 1440×900. This means you *MUST* scroll down to see all the messages no matter what.

    You can not login directly to Hotmail on a secure connection any more. You *MUST* go to login.live.com and then navigate to Hotmail.

    The only positive things I have to say is that I am getting less spam, and that finally includes the junkmail from MIcrosoft.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks for the comments and for sharing your experiences with us.

  • GRPeng

    Sorry, I spoke too quickly. There is an option to edit as plain text. It was just put in a different place. I wish there was an option to make it the default.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi GRPeng,
    Thanks for letting us know.
    regards, Ron

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/theoracle/ the oracle

    I’ll have to check this, as I use my hotmail accounts within Live Mail using the Outlook Connector (actually, I don’t think it is necessary to use the Connector anymore, but I have it in place)

    I have noticed something, that, must have been in Live Mail all along, and like me, most people don’t try to use the feature and therefore is hasn’t been squashed – I cannot print a message from Live Mail, so lately, when I have had to do it a few times, I forward to a Gmail account, and print from there.

  • elisabeth

    it is 10:54 pm november 23, 2008. i cannot log into any of my hotmail accounts. i click on the hotmail link under my favorites and a blank screen comes up with a yellow triangle on the bottom left corner with a black exclamation mark inside it. error on page. i’ve also tried googling hotmail and entering the site via this route.

    still nothing.

    so, what’s going on? is hotmail down? are they doing a maintenance check? why don’t they ever give us advance notice if they’re going to work on the system? everywhere else seems to give you the heads up if they’re going to be “down” for some reason or another.

    i’m very miffed. i need to send a very important message. i shudder when i think about the tons of emails stored in my hotmail account… my gmail account is looking better and better all the time.

    this is not the first time i’ve complained about hotmail either.

    *fume*

  • elisabeth

    sorry. i spoke too quickly. i actually accessed it on our other computer. looks like this one needs to be restarted. *blush*

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Elisabeth,
    Thanks for sharing this with us. :-)
    Ron

  • http://old-versions.org/ manoj

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    http://old-versions.org/