Finally, after one and a half years of open development, Windows Live Hotmail looks close to release. Chris from LiveSide has posted his views about the current situation of the huge mail program. He also quotes an email sent to testers a few weeks ago, hinting at a time of release:


However I can't help but wonder what is the difference? Using my Hotmail account now I find it a vast mix between MSN Hotmail and Windows Live services. Windows Live has made it extermely confusing for me. A lot of people use and love Hotmail, it's a huge service, and a wide range of people with variable computer skills use it.

Some things are also frustrating in places. The pages are scattered with ad's, the images look odd, and people who don't use Internet Explorer seem to be punished for it. Using Live Mail is still difficult to get to grips of for me, and despite Hotmail being around for years now, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail are clearly adding to their game. More storage, advanced features and the fact they are so much easier to use means they get gold stars in my books.

New features have been added, but it has made the program even more complicated, it needs a total re-design, breaking away from the clutter. Other Windows Live pages are so much cleaner, the mail page should look like them.

That being said it is an improvement. In fact it's a major improvement, and changing too much would make it harder for current users to get used to. Let's hope the release goes smooth for current Hotmail fans. Windows Live Hotmail will change online mail, all we can hope is, it goes down well for everyone.

LiveSide: Where is Windows Live Hotmail going?