Web Developers

A Look Back At Hotmail

Posted by on Jan 11, 2010 | 4 Comments

There should be an image here!I remember when I first used Hotmail for my own email, back in the 90′s. It was during the same period I was using Tripod and Angelfire for web hosting. Yes, the good old day when everything on the Web was free and competition was scarce.
Today, Hotmail is a Microsoft product, not nearly as cool in the mainstream as it once was with Yahoo and Gmail nipping away at their userbase. Plus there is the fact that the email service has had its share of outages over the recent years.

I think the big question is what Hotmail is offering these days that other web based services are not? Really has me stumped as Yahoo and Gmail both provided a more compelling option these days. Still, for those old legacy users…it’s better than nothing.

  • hearsetrax

    MULE MUFFINS !!!!

    I’ve still have and use daily my original hotmail account I started over 12 years ago with nary a glitch outside the normal growing pains and occasional pasword reset

    as for google and yahoo crap on both of them

    I tried to open a google account once back when it was in and out of beta stages and couldn’t get it to work and as for yahoo don’t get me started on thar crappy services .and the troubles I’ve had

    heck …even when google had thar mail server glitches and outages my hotmail account/s were still chuggin along

  • JonathanPDX

    I had Hotmail once. Then they started that garbage where you couldn’t download to POP3 or some such nonsense. I dumped them and haven’t looked back. Besides, “Hotmail”? Sounds like a porn spammer.

  • Glenn

    I still use my Hotmail account as my primary on-line email (and spam catcher) account and have had no problems with it.

    I even use Linux (ostensibly incompatible with Hotmail since it fell under the auspices of Microsoft) and have had no problem using it or opening new accounts, as had been reported.

    I don’t know what the big thing about Hotmail is. Maybe you can’t POP it, but that’s what I have my email account with my ISP for.

  • Kristopher

    Hotmail has become a lot better since then. I have been using Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail for a good decade, and would have to defend hotmail by saying it has come a long way. It has definitely surpassed Yahoo! Mail in functionality, options and integration. It’s not quite up to par with Gmail, but its a good email service compared to most. Yahoo! has been frustrating because in order to get basic things like mail forwarding and filters, you have to buy their premium package. Gmail and Hotmail offer these for free.