Microsoft Upgrades Windows Live Mail

By the Betanews Staff | Published January 24, 2007, 11:13 AM

Although it has still yet to replace the aging Hotmail system, Microsoft's new, AJAX-enabled Windows Live Mail service received a minor upgrade yesterday, reaching Milestone 9. The M9 version of Live Mail brings a number of new features, including full compatibility with Firefox 2.0.

Unlike previous builds, as of M9 Microsoft is leaving the "Classic" interface for users migrating from Hotmail. The company doesn't want to scare users away with fancy new features, although such a decision could mean the far majority never see the AJAX interface. Other changes include a new Today page that mirrors the one in Windows Live Messenger, new icons, improved right-click menus and an updated search bar.

Comments

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I signed up the immediately when I heard about it. Tested. Hate it. Went back to hotmail. Remember, Gmail is still the best.

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So..how is it better than GMail in your opinion (those who hold this view)?

Cuz GMail..well..kinda rocks.

Can you get IMAP access (not possible for GM)? What about POP?

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Maybe I'm blind, but I don't see anyone saying it's better than Gmail. I checked twice. Still no dice.

Totally agreed about Gmail though.

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My question is are we EVER going to be able to try the f'in thing??

I've been signing up for the beta for well over a year. I've been beta testing Microsoft apps for years, and I am a member of several betaplace programs (I think it's now "Microsoft Connect"), but this is crazy. If they won't let us use it, stop spamming my hotmail account with invitations!

-1 for Livemail. Vaporware until I actually SEE it.

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I think you are going to the wrong page to sign up. Everyone I told about Live Mail (and many had never heard of it) signed up immediately after I told them. I myself have been using it for about 8 months and love it.

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OK, I stand corrected. I've signed up on ideas.live.com severasl times, and been invited via direct mails to my hotmail account, which I've clicked on.

Regardless, I finally got it to work. Cool.

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I dont know. I really dont like it. it takes forever to load most of the time.

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I hope they speed it up on Vista/IE7. It works ok on XP and in Firefox, but on Vista it's slow as crap. I've tested on 6 different (2 physical, 4 virtual) Vista clients. Same experience on all of them.

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Still can't resize the folder/message list column divider in Firefox but that's not a huge issue.

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