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Microsoft to Test New Hotmail Interface

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

October 10, 2005, 10:28 AM

Microsoft is preparing to publicly test its new front end Hotmail, code-named "Kahuna" and simply branded: Mail Beta. The upgrade will support an AJAX-based interface that has been rewritten from the ground up using Microsoft's Atlas framework and a new architecture known as FireAnt.

Explaining the new Mail Beta, program manager Imran Qureshi said, "Some would call it a blank slate I guess. When we asked customers what they wanted the main theme was clear: Make it faster, make it simpler and make it safer. It couldn't have been clearer." Interested Hotmail users can now sign up for the Mail Beta test.

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By DONNA07

edited Jan 19, 2007 - 5:13 PM

I've look at your comment board, it all turns out as good news, but this website is still not telling me how to move an account into another account without the old email address name? (example; hotmail email mail switched into yahoo account and closing down the other old account) I need a reliable guide to do so. Having two email accounts is too inconvinent of my time. Thank you

deejay

Score: 0

By msahni

edited Nov 6, 2005 - 12:17 AM

Its good news for microsft loyalists and u bet i m one.Luking forward to sign up for this.Please make it simpler and in a way that it can be personalized.Personalized email is something where google has made a foray but i guess microsofts attempt would be great.

All da bst Mr. Gates.

Score: 0

By im_baal

posted Nov 2, 2005 - 11:47 AM

Ummm, Gmail is cool...

Score: 0

By renatocrenps

edited Oct 20, 2005 - 10:20 PM

gostaria de fazer parte deste novo projeto...

Score: 0

By sunny_imt

edited Oct 17, 2005 - 1:35 AM

Ahaa its really nice to see, the Next Big Thing in the world of Email, hmm as far as the interface is concern i just want to suggest hotmail administration to design it in a way that it can be useful for the General User, who dont knew about the IT much. so make it as generic as u can and not Stylish but Difficult to understand.

Score: 0

By ignacio_gavrieluk

edited Oct 11, 2005 - 11:18 AM

Hello, i'm from argentina. The Hotmail accounts in south america have 2MB of space, yes, only 2MB. If you want more, you have to pay and Microsoft gives you 250 MB, yes, just 250 MB. What can i say, i don't care if they give me a better look... money for more space? Oh, i have my hotmail account since 1997, i use it just for old friends, but i really hate the service. Sorry for my poor english

Score: 0

By SamiChang

edited Oct 11, 2005 - 1:37 PM

well I had a hotmail account for about 1 year already and they have upgrade it after the first week to 250MB for some reasons I don't know and it was free but anyway give Gmail a try buddy :) there is over 2GB stroage!

Score: 0

By ignacio_gavrieluk

posted Oct 11, 2005 - 1:56 PM

i have a gmail account too, the service is amazing... i just want that you know what's going on here in the south... thank's

Score: 0

By sophist_dreams

edited Oct 11, 2005 - 11:43 AM

I use Hotmail as my primary because, being in the military for years, it was easier than notifying my contacts that my e-mail address had changed every time I moved and changed ISPs. However, since I started using T-Bird with the "web mail" extension and can pull all my e-mail into T-Bird I very seldom visit the Hotmail site any more except to add new addresses to my "safe list". I don't think all these cosmetic changes are going to affect me much.

Score: 0

By tmaioli

posted Oct 11, 2005 - 6:47 AM

I've used Hotmail from the beginning, I was going to start to move over to gmail, now I won't have to. Microsoft be a leader ok, why do you have to be motivated by fear of competition? Do a refresh often in little steps rather than play catch up.

Score: 0

By iamthirteen

edited Oct 11, 2005 - 3:06 AM

The only time I use Hotmail is for posting comments like this, where an Email address is required. Everyone I know uses Hotmail as a spam-catcher. It keeps it out of my regular Email.

Score: 0

By heat_fan1

edited Oct 11, 2005 - 12:58 AM

Well, even now, it's quite evident that this "phase 2 of 3" Kahuna blows away GMail. Now, I use Gmail in addition to Hotmail (I've been a Hotmail user since it went public in 1997) and Gmail blows away Hotmail. But what could be better than a Hotmail version of Outlook Web Access? This offers drag-drop, right-clicking, you name it! The only thing that's different (and whether it's better or not is up for debate) is the "converstations" feature. I think it's nice and I'm sure most others do as well.

Gmail has a long way to go before it can catch Kahuna though. And apparently Yahoo is doing something very similar to Kahuna. I'd say that even AIM/AOL Webmail is close to and even better than Gmail in some respects. That leaves Gmail in last place of the big-four webmail clients. (Wow, it's really funny saying that Google's email is in the top webmail clients after being public for all of, what, 3 months now...or less?) But Google has a few months to improve Gmail before Kahuna goes public, so we'll see what it looks like early next year when Kahuna does. Hopefully some similar features, and a nice pretty UI would be nice too.

I look forward to a good ol' fashion CNet or Paul Thurrott's WinSuperSite comparison of the four (or some combination of them).

Score: 0

By lylesback2

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 11:39 PM

ya.. your only like.. 4 months too late.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 11, 2005 - 12:12 AM

lol. Some people would argue that they're 3 years too late. ...maybe more.

Score: 0

By Scipio

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 11:38 PM

I pick up my Hotmail as IMAP using Outlook Express, because I like to sweep all my mail accounts in one pass. I hope that option won't disappear.

Score: 0

By microFawad

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 9:02 PM

Wow man thats cool.

Score: 0

By GeorgeSantayana

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 8:33 PM

I can't wait for this AJAX fad to pass. It's just so goofy to use a P4 to parse Javascript.

Score: 0

By gpgo

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 6:47 PM

Hi, my name is George, I hope it is easy for people with disabilities, readable, fun to use, helps you keep organized, helps you get rid of spam or strange mail, helps you get rid of foreign mail,...easy to use with my other microsoft programs and my instant messenger, I am truly excited about this new program, long over due, also when is Internet Explore 7 coming...this will all bring into focus a better way for us to communicate to each other...I am ery thankful MSN for all they can do for me...

Score: 0

By Tappa

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 4:41 PM

Wow this is great!!! Now we have something to apply patches and upgrades to!! Months of security leaks too!! I can’t wait (That Was a joke for all you hyper sensitive MS worshipers). Actually yes I can.. Web based email is only so good no matter whose you use! But hey you know.... whatever floats your boat!

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 6:49 PM

lol. Patches for a website.... mhmm...

Score: 0

By ServerMechanic

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 3:59 PM

I also wonder why it points to a subdomain of ignia.com?

Why is the sign up not going to a MS domain?

Seems a bit shady.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 6:47 PM

No clue. Northwest Nexus Inc. (whoever they are) owns it, but at least they're running Windows servers lol:

http://toolbar.netcraft....rt?url=http://ignia.com

Score: 0

By crashoverride

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 3:15 PM

Is it just me or does the layout resemble MS Outlook.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 3:29 PM

That would make sense.

According to GoodThings2Life, "it appears to be a direct modification to Outlook Web Access 2003." (posted below)

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 3:08 PM

Before you guys judge it too much based on these screenshots, take a look at the actual Microsoft video from Channel9:

http://channel9.msdn.com...post.aspx?postid=118322

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Oct 10, 2005 - 3:32 PM

oooooh drag and drop!

Me like.

That is my one and only complaint about Gmail. I hate the drop-down action menu.

Score: 0

By fewt

edited Oct 10, 2005 - 4:48 PM

I have a complaint about the gmail interface. I wanted to delete all 3K messages in my gmail inbox the other day and I couldn't except 20 something at a time.

A little annoying, I decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Yahoo I believe suffers from the same interface problem. Why can't I view them 200 at a time?

grumble

Score: 0

By Secret Agent Man

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 5:30 PM

Use FireFox's Anti-Pagination extention.

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 5:38 PM

hmm, I'll check that out. Thanks!

Score: 0

By zridling

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 2:06 PM

I like!

Score: 0

By tijgetje

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 12:33 PM

Why is this pointing to an non MS domain??
ignia.com

Is this actually just another hoax??

Score: 0

By SamiChang

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 12:04 PM

omfg! it's hotmail... who the f**k needs hotmail when there is Gmail? Hotmail is just as crappy as it is!!

Score: 0

By xoineg

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:13 PM

I agree with you hotmail sucks!!!!!! Everytime i use it. it is slow and sometimes my pc freezes (try many computers and get the same problems unless i use firefox...) On the other hand i love gmail. it is fast and reliable and the best part is that the ads are not like hotmail (everywhere) I understand that you there are some weirdos who don't like gmail that's ok. It's a free country (unless we get another republican in 3 years)

Score: 0

By debonair

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 12:08 PM

gmail is crappy too.. but why bother posting if that's all you got?

Score: 0

By SamiChang

edited Oct 10, 2005 - 12:25 PM

wtf? you probably use Yahoo then?

Score: 0

By Pdj79

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 8:30 PM

Sorry, but I have to agree. Its my opinion, of course, but my ISP-issued email address is better for what I need. I don't need 2GB of storage space for emails that automatically download to my computer anyway. Sure, its nice to have an online retention of emails I might accidentally delete, but I use Outlook 2003, so if I delete it accidentally, its still on my PC. Sorry, I am just not on the web mail bandwagon...I use it for signing up for online contests and the sort...like I want their mail in my Outlook inbox.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 11:17 AM

Those screenshots look pretty sweet. I like how clean the layout is - no clutter.

Did anyone notice a slight resemblance to Yahoo's new webmail interface?

Score: 0

By GoodThings2Life

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:15 PM

Actually, it appears to be a direct modification to Outlook Web Access 2003.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 3:27 PM

ah. That would make more sense =p

Score: 0

By crnanavati

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 11:16 AM

have enrolled for testin ... lets c wht happs .. i have my fingers crossed ... dnt use hotmail much now a days anyways ... gmail rocks !!

Score: 0

By eunichman

posted Oct 11, 2005 - 2:20 AM

I enrolled as well. I seldom use hotmail except as my address to sign up to websites :) this way I can have my gmail account uncirculated on mailing lists that I have to spend hours a day unsubscribing to :)

Score: 0

By jab1981

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 11:04 AM

I'm currently on the beta test for "Kahuna" or Mail and I can promise you it is not "messed up" in anyway. Even in the beta stage this has been nothing but a joy to use. It's simple and easy. I'd say they've definately taken a page or two from Google's GMail in the design, but then they've taken it just a step farther.

As the screen shots show, the website interface itself is very similar to OE. It let's you use the right mouse button to interact with it, for example you can right click a message and select delete. You can drag and drop messages. And maybe this will change after the Beta, but at present there are no ads and the list no ads as being one of the features to Mail.

If you're already set to dislike this new version, prepare to be disappointed. It's great.

Score: 0

By gawd21

edited Oct 10, 2005 - 11:18 AM

As long as I can still use OE to view my email, I don't really care. As for not getting messed up, how can you say that it won't be? I mean the record stands to differ. Maybe they will not cause the service to be out for days on end like they usually do, maybe they won't block OE while they update over the several weeks that it takes to them to get everything updated. Maybe.

EDIT: However it does look nice.

Score: 0

By debonair

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 12:10 PM

yeah, I love being able to use OE to check my hotmail. it's the only reason I've kept it. Sorry, but the web interfaces have a ways to go (well, yahoo's new one is there, but it's not live yet)

Score: 0

By gawd21

edited Oct 10, 2005 - 1:58 PM

Ok so Hotmail will be messed up for months again. Everytime they do anything to Hotmail they mess it up for months. As long as I can still use OE to view it. I bet this is just a way to make the ads stick and harder to be blocked.

EDIT: The more I look at it the more I like it. I think this will help everyone that uses it. Even the beginners will find this easy to use and will most likely keep using it. I don't use the website for checking my hotmail, however, I am sure a lot of people do and unless you pay for your new accounts you can't use OE to check new accounts.

Score: 0

By brinkeguthrie

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:10 PM

PS, a bit off-topic, but what IS this junky purple box on the top of my MY YAHOO page???

Score: 0

By gawd21

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:59 PM

I don't see one on mine. I have no idea. Maybe you should get a screen shot of it and see if you can send that in to Yahoo.

Score: 0

By brinkeguthrie

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:09 PM

clue in the clueless. what is OE? And I have TWO gripes about Yahoo Mail.

*PhotoMail still doesn't work. I am a SBC Yahoo Super-DSL subscriber, too.

*Yahoo has a new mail interface? How can I see or use it?

Score: 0

By gawd21

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 2:02 PM

I like the old Yahoo interface myself the *"javaless" one. :-) lol If you have a problem with the service that a company is giving you, you should call them and see if they would be able to fix it. Just my thoughts.

*Made up word.

Score: 0

By beta_animal

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 11:05 AM

"I bet this is just a way to make the ads stick and harder to be blocked."

I hadn't thought about that... but surely ANYTHING would be an improvement on the current Hotmail interface. It's not clear when you've got new emails and the spam reporting / deleting system is really bad. Hotmail could learn a lot from Yahoo

Score: 0

By zee7

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:24 PM

Brink, OE stands for Outlook Express.

Hotmail is my least favorite email client. I've had a couple of accounts since the mid 90s, but rarely use them because the interface is so clunky and aannoying. I especially hate the fixed font size they force you to use. If they don't fix that, it'll still be third rate.

Score: 0

By LiLWiP

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:14 PM

This is my current G-Mail Sig...

If you are receiving this at your Hotmail account, please keep in mind that you might not be able to receive it after November, when Microsoft implements YABIS (Yet Another Broken Incompatable Standard).

You may want to switch to a GMail Account or a Yahoo Account if you want to continue receiving emails from non-Microsoft accounts.

Hotmail cannot top G-mail... This is a weak attempt by microsoft to compete in a realm they have been beaten down in.

Score: 0

By brinkeguthrie

posted Oct 10, 2005 - 1:30 PM

I wish GMail would free-up deleted IDs. There is one I want back, and no luck.

Score: 0

By schizoid007

edited Oct 11, 2005 - 7:44 AM

I've been beta testing the new mail beta for around 3 months now and have found and reported a few problems which have been sorted, I like the new interface and the drag and drop function is a god send, one of the problems is that it didn't interact with the MSN messenger 7.5 beta I was invloved in.

But all in all, I nice intuative update to the boring old hotmail system

Score: 0

By atEileen

edited Oct 19, 2005 - 11:01 PM

I have tried several email sites, but the best overall one Is Gmail So Far, Looking to test out a new one soon! its storage space and photo sending is impressive by far. And quite user friendly, and getting an invite to gmail wasn't hard, just by going to a forum, I got an invite and now I have 100 gmail invites to send. Eileen-Wisconsin

Score: 0

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