When it comes to free, web-based email services, ever since Google introduced Gmail, Microsoft’s Hotmail has developed a reputation as Gmail’s ugly and less usable cousin. Recently, however, Microsoft has introduced some changes that might mean you should give Hotmail another try. In this morning’s edition of “Hack Your Inbox,” I’m going to see if Hotmail can provide the same filtering and sorting functions that I’ve previous demonstrated with Gmail and with Apple Mail. (Spoiler alert: the short answer is “kind of.”)
Now, I try not to be unreasonably loyal to any particular technology. Over the last 25 years, and for various reasons, I’ve gone back and forth from being a Mac user to being a PC user. Currently, I’m in year 7 of my current “Mac user” phase. My campus, however, embraces PCs and the Microsoft environment, meaning almost everything we use is produced by the company from Redmond: the default OS for classroom and library computers; the email system for faculty, a Microsoft Exchange Server; and the email/productivity system for students, a campus-branded version of Microsoft’s “Windows Live” (this academic version of Live is similar to the academic version of Google Apps many campuses are adopting).
As far as I can tell, students mostly use their campus Live account for email, which is too bad since it features many other useful functions. The “Windows Live” environment features several integrated services, including the following:
- Hotmail: Microsoft’s free, online email service that provides you with unlimited storage for you mail — at least, that appears to be the case according to their online documentation
- Windows Live Calendar: A scheduling application, integrated into Hotmail.
- Office Live: Sort of like GoogleDocs for Microsoft Office documents; up to 5 GB of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files for storage and collaboration.
- SkyDrive: 25 gigabytes of storage in the cloud, including a “Public” folder to allow you to share files with others.
Microsoft has produced a consumer-friendly video explaining the new Hotmail.
Overall impressions
Hotmail is much improved, and has many nice features, but it’s not quite as user friendly for setting up sorting and filtering many email addressess associated with students.
What about you?
Do you use (and like) Hotmail? Have you come up with a way to hack your inbox with Hotmail that works for you? Let us hear from you in the comments!
[Creative Commons licensed Flickr photo by AchimH]
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10 Responses to First Impressions: The New Hotmail
kaitlinwalsh - May 24, 2010 at 11:47 am
My old uni used to have trouble with Hotmail, Blackboard and the university’s email system. I can’t remember the combination – it was either that emails sent from Blackboard went to the Spam box in Hotmail, or emails sent from Hotmail went to the Spam box in the university email. (Probably both.) I’d be interested to see if it changes at all with this revamp.Just out of curiosity, what is the ratio of Mac to PC users on the ProfHacker team? Sometimes I feel like it leans more in the Mac direction.
jcmeloni - May 24, 2010 at 12:28 pm
@kaitlinwalsh mac to non-mac ratio is approx 11 to 4
drnels - May 24, 2010 at 12:47 pm
@kaitlinwalsh, I can tell you now that that same university has trouble with Gmail, AOL, and all other non-uni forms of email. Yet, the uni email system remains difficult to use. Most students in my classes have started switching to Gmail.
lauraatc - May 24, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Can’t stand Hotmail. Our University has migrated all email to Google Apps and I couldn’t be happier. The functionality of Gmail’s interface blows away Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.
crunchycon - May 24, 2010 at 3:44 pm
lauraatc – I agree with you about gmail. My uni is eliminating in-house email and migrating to gmail.
peril - May 24, 2010 at 3:54 pm
The new Hotmail UI is an improvement. My biggest gripe is that, of all the features you get with it (ie: Live Cal, Office Live, Live Living Lively in Life, etc) are all the supposedly integrated, but feel so completely disjointed.Google’s system (Gmail, Docs, Google Cal) are actually more disjointed (technically speaking) but feel like they are all at least being offered by the same company, whereas MS’s Live stuff is kind of all alien to each other. The sites are only loosely relative to each other it seems. It feels like using X different products with one account, instead of one account for a suit of products.That said, the new Live Mail spam filter is supposed to be a significant improvement (though, the recent “independent” study that’s made headlines is, as it turns out, sponsored by MS :S)At the end of the day, I don’t really care about how much Live has improved it’s UI, storage space, or filtering because they still block things like POP3 access and contact exporting to an open format unless you’re willing to ‘upgrade’. I absolutely refuse to pay to use what is basically the online version of yet another proprietary Microsoft service.Never mind that all the extra stuff that one can do with Google’s system far outweighs the benefits of switching even if Live were better. I love being able to use MacFuse to mount my Gmail space, use things like the previously mentioned gmail hacks, etc
jkarlin - May 24, 2010 at 3:56 pm
@lauraatc and crunchycon, while I agree with you about the functionality of the google suite (I use it for my personal email), I am worried that my uni might follow suit and get rid of in-house email. Some of our funding has citizenship and other requirements that would mean we can’t use gmail as the servers sit in a variety of countries…
crunchycon - May 24, 2010 at 4:26 pm
jkarlin — I can see how using gmail would create problems for your uni. I wasn’t thrilled when mine decided to go with gmail — our in-house email has been great and screens out junk mail MUCH better, is more responsive when there are “issues”, etc., but more and more unis are switching to gmail because of cost — gmail is a great deal cheaper.
mbelvadi - May 24, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Is Windows Live really comparable to Google Docs? I was under the impression that Windows Live was only useful as cloud storage and sharing (in an upload-download kind of workflow) of documents that still had to be edited using a locally-installed copy of the relevant Office program. Google Docs can be edited directly online, and in fact, can be jointly edited simultaneously by multiple people who can see in nearly real time the changes the other person is making. I used this recently with a colleague with whom I was preparing a scholarly presentation and it worked very well.I know that Microsoft has been announcing that this summer they’d be releasing something that allowed direct editing from their web site, but I didn’t think it was here yet. Maybe the univ-subscription version already has that ability?
mikerol - May 25, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I couldn’t be happier with gmail, and I still have not forgiven and never will forgive hotmail for the time it came with a cable service and when i left that cable service hotmail cut the storage and i lost no end of stuff. hotmail/ms is playing catch up, but i am long gone.