Comments

1. newscientist2000

   
   Posted on: May 07, 2007 at 1:55PM  

   Nice, all very interesting.

   Looks more like Outlook, I like it!  Great improvement, Yahoo Mail didnt need that much of an improvement but hotmail was long overdue.  It looks real nice right now though.  Good work :-)
2. paulfp

   
   Posted on: May 07, 2007 at 1:58PM  

   Great - what's that got to do with Windows Vista though? ;)
3. Nick White

   
   Posted on: May 07, 2007 at 3:12PM  

   Hey paulfp:  actually, quite a bit!  You'll note that the release of Windows Live Mail serves as a Web-based alternative to Windows Mail, which is included in Windows Vista by default; this gives users more choices of email clients than before.  Plus, Windows Live Mail now can synchronize Windows Mail, Windows Calendar and Windows Contacts (all part of the Windows Vista OS) on the computer and Web.  This is an example of the fact that, going forward, Windows Live and Windows Vista are going to work more closely together than ever before -- so this "sets the table," so to speak.  But more on that later ...
4. newscientist2000

   
   Posted on: May 07, 2007 at 7:59PM  

   Darn it, I just read the Hotmail Teams Blog and they state

   "Those with Microsoft Outlook 2003 (or later) will have free access to their Windows Live Hotmail account via Outlook."

   I can't wait for the Outlook Connector to be released, it sounds as though that will really add value to Office Outlook 2003 and 2007.

   It also reassures me a little, as I was thinking that Microsoft wanted to buy up Yahoo, and charge us all lots of money for email service, this makes me think you guys are looking more towards an advert-driven model, I like advert-driven models because they are a win win for everyone.

   Infact one of the main reasons for me to use a yahoo.co.uk account for my email is that it has free POP3 forwarding, the trade off is its free if you sign up to some yahoo.co.uk spam, all in all a fair trade off.  With a yahoo.com account you have to pay to forward your email, which is to bad for my wife!

   These changes to hotmail will be a welcome change, forwarding to Outlook in the age where people have multiple accounts (yahoo, gmail, hotmail, aol etc..) is a must have feature, and I am really excited about the Outlook Connector.
5. newscientist2000

   
   Posted on: May 07, 2007 at 8:06PM  

   Oooohhh I want a myname@live.com address.

   Great stuff.
6. Brandon LeBlanc

   

   
   Posted on: May 07, 2007 at 11:06PM  

   I wanted to add to what Nick said above. Windows Live is actually quite important to Windows Vista as Windows Live is being designed and positioned to compliment and add even more sweetness to your current experience in Windows Vista. Windows Vista and Windows Live will work hand in hand. You're going to *want* Windows Vista for the full Windows Live experience. We'll be talking more about that here a bit more in the future on exactly how this will be.

   Also: Nick mentions being able to sync Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, and Windows Contacts in Windows Vista to Windows Live. To clarify - the new free email client Windows Live Mail coming for Windows Vista will be the successor to Windows Mail enabling full sync up of your email and contacts. Being able to sync your Calendar is coming later on.

   And newscientist2000, @live.com email addresses are indeed on the way! I am excited to get one myself ;-)
7. Brick

   
   Posted on: May 08, 2007 at 7:57AM  

   Aaargghh!!!  I read that about the Microsoft Outlook Connector and thought "Wow!  That's just what I need!" so in a fit of activity I installed it and and ended up (errornously) signing up for MSN Hotmail Plus.

   So I went to customer services chat to switch to a Microsoft Office Outlook Live Essentials account and they told me "I would like to inform you that Microsoft Outlook live is not available for new customers. It is being decommissioned now."

   So now that I've read the blog comments since, will I be able to use Microsoft Office 2007 in Vista to synchronise email, calender, contacts etc with live.com as well as the new Windows Live Mail client?

   And is that synchronisation service free?

   (I really don't want to resort to remote calendars / google calendar)
8. Brandon LeBlanc

   

   
   Posted on: May 08, 2007 at 2:53PM  

   Brick,

   Let me clarify a few things for you.

   A BRAND NEW Outlook Connector for Windows Live Hotmail (beta) will be released in the coming weeks. This will SYNC your email and contacts up with Hotmail.

   Also coming is a brand new free email client called Windows Live Mail which will also allow you to SYNC your email and contacts with Windows Live Hotmail.

   The choice whether you want to use the Outlook Connector or Windows Live Mail client is yours. Both will give you the experience you want. So if you prefer to use Outlook, the Outlook Connector is just for you.

   And yes. This will all be free.

   Sorry you signed up for Hotmail plus. However on the positive side to that - ads in Hotmail and on Spaces will be gone ;-)
9. someone

   
   Posted on: May 08, 2007 at 3:39PM  

   Some of the issues regarding Microsoft's online/offline email - collaboration related tools are:

   1. For 1024 x 768 and lower resolutions which are still common today, you need simply cannot view the full email without requiring to scroll when the "Message pane" is enabled in Windows Live Hotmail. You're forced to use Classic mode if you want to view the full message without scrolling both horizontally and vertically. The 'message pane' cannot be reduced beyond a certain size. Classic view effectively lets go much of the functionality of Live Hotmail. And the height of the entire email area is too short, so vertical scrolling is also unnecessarily required.

   2. Windows Mail/Live Mail (formerly WLMd) and Windows Calendar have a decent list of features. However, Windows Contacts is way too basic, whereas Outlook is an overkill for home users. And these three are not integrated. Probably, with "Live Mail (Desktop)", Microsoft can later add a desktop contact manager which is more full featured than Windows Contacts or the current address book/contact manager in WLMd. And increase the integration between the products.
10. Glenn2007

    
    Posted on: May 09, 2007 at 8:34AM  

    Brandon,

    Does that mean that by installing the outlook connector I don't have to use Hotmail Plus to import my Hotmail email into Outlook 2007?