The new version of Hotmail will challenge Gmail

Posted by gizzmo on 19 July 2010 Leave a comment (2) Go to comments

Windows Live Hotmail,

the webmail service of Microsoft is working on a project for already some time. They are planning to improve their user experience big time! With over 300+ million users, Microsoft is one of the largest (free) email providers. After Office 2010 and Windows 7, their Windows Live experience is going to get a big step forward! Windows Live Essentials (Wave 4) is currently in public beta, with several new updates for programs like Messenger and Live Mail. For Hotmail this means more new features, GUI-tweaks and a more efficient and crap-free inbox which will be safer and faster. Also the access to your inbox will be more faster and more secure on any browser from a PC or any mobile phone.

Microsoft’s New hotmail upgrade

Microsoft’s Announcement

Microsoft has announcement that

the new Hotmail will have the focus on an improved user experience. The way people “do email' has changed a lot and continues to evolve,
the Windows Live Hotmail group program manager Dick Craddock wrote in the Microsoft team blog. He states that the design will be easy enough to “get the clutter out of your inbox, save time by getting through email, and view&edit photos and Office documents in the browser.”

Overview of the upgrade

The upgrade Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4 will include the following enhancements:

Conversation view (sort of like Gmail)
Sweep feature
Better "gray mail" filtering
Better mobile experience, including Push
Integrated Office Web Apps
Send files via SkyDrive (new 10 GB attachment limit)
Active Views
Security improvements

Integration of different services

Another nice feature of this new Hotmail upgrade is the ‘cloud-based’ document collaboration tool. When you receive an (Office) document as an attachment, it will be possible to open and view the attachment directly in the browser. This means you don’t need to have Word, Excel or PowerPoint installed, you can view it directly. I think it’s pretty nice to see this integration of Hotmail, Office Web Apps and the free cloud storage Skydrive.

More security

Found at the Windows Team Blog.

Like Microsoft noted in their announcement, security is concern number one of every user. This also means the development team of Microsoft’s products and services like Hotmail will have security as top priority.

These are a few security enhancements which will be available after the new upgrade:

Account recovery

The new security platform elements that built up around Hotmail will now enable you to use any mobile phone or other devices as proof of account ownership. For example, if you forget or lose your password, or even worse, if your account gets compromised, the system can now automatically send you an account recapture code via SMS to regain the access to your own account.

Single-use codes

This new security feature is designed to further protect your sign in process on for example a public computer, like the ones in internet cafés, libraries, or airports. You login to your account with this code and when you log out, this password will be permanently deleted.

Full-session SSL

In addition to providing the secure encryption of SSL at the login process, the upgrade of Hotmail will support a really secure tunnel between a user and Microsoft’s servers during the entire Hotmail session.

Trusted Senders

Hotmail will help to visually identify trusted senders in the inbox, for example banks and other institutions which are commonly used for phishing scams. Microsoft will use safety logos next to only those senders that are recognized as legitimate so that the user can more easily spot any malicious imitators.

If you want to have more information about the upcoming Hotmail security updates, search at the source post on the Windows Team Blog.

Comparison to Gmail

There are several features in the upgrade of Hotmail which were already available in Gmail. For example: conversation view, inline YouTube videos and full session SSL encryption. So this upgrade will be very welcome, but Microsoft is taking it even further with the integration of social media. Sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook can be connected to get messages in Hotmail and contacts to add in the Windows Live Contacts. Another new feature which is going further than Gmail is the feature of single-use passwords. Google will now have to catch up several things, but that’s ok. Good competition means more innovation!

Summary

When you look at the new additions to Windows Live Hotmail, you will see that they already did a nice job. They already announced that the upgrade of everyone’s accounts is in process, so be patient to get the upgrade of your own account. I personally would like to see the integration of different Windows Live Services, but also the single-use codes will be very welcome!

Wait and see. For now, check out their preview site for more information.

Dada <(^_^)>

Sources:
Windows Live Preview
Windows steam blog post and another post.