Neowin.net - Neowin Takes A Look At Next Gen Hotmail

Neowin Takes A Look At Next Gen Hotmail

Posted by Tom Warren on 19 November 2003 - 22:01 · 71 comments & 6537 views

Neowin has taken an exclusive look at the new Hotmail which is due to launch within the month.

The interface is very similar to the existing Hotmail which most users use today. The major improvements from the beginning are spam reduction. The interface looks as close to Microsoft Outlook Web Access as you can get. Right clicking on folders doesn't produce the same result as Outlook Web Access but the general interface is identical. If you use Hotmail on the go and like to keep it synced up with your POP3 account with Contacts & Email then this new Hotmail is for you. You can import contacts from Outlook 2000/XP/2003 and Outlook Express 6 allowing users to swap Business contacts with Personal contacts.

Overall the new interface seems spam driven with the ability to keep messages in your Inbox down to contacts only etc. The interface when tested internally seems a lot faster than the current interface but this could be due to the servers it's currently on. We've taken a few basic screenshots to show you the new features of what to expect from the upgrade. The upgrade will also enable certain features that MSN Premium depends upon. MSN Premium is due to be released by Early 2004 combined with the Next Generation Hotmail which should go live to public servers within the month.

Screenshot: Hotmail Today

Screenshot: Hotmail Inbox

Screenshot: New Email Message

Screenshot: Read Email

News source: In-House

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Updates to this driver:
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Corrected the following issues from 52.16:
Clone mode may be set for the GeForce FX 5600 although only one display is connected.
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra: When 4x FSAA is enabled, half of the screen is black in Tiger Woods 2004 introductory video.
GeForce4 MX 440 and GeForce4 Ti 4400, Windows XP: Blue-screen crash during Battlefield 1942 Desert Combat.
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GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, Windows XP: “X2: The
Threat” benchmark is choppy or jerky in some places.
All GeForce FX: Intermittently, Warcraft III videos are not displayed properly on some systems.

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Full name: Tom Warren
Forum name: creamhackered
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#1 Posted by Panorama on 19 Nov 2003 - 22:11: Looks pretty clean! I like the new look!

(1 reply) #2 Posted by Phil Gates on 19 Nov 2003 - 22:12: any release date yet?

(1 reply) #3 Posted by Jasco on 19 Nov 2003 - 22:19: heh, pretty much the same

#4 Posted by altermind on 19 Nov 2003 - 22:23: can anyone say... use office2003 stuff

not that that's a bad thing

#5 Posted by bluebsh on 19 Nov 2003 - 22:37: Outlook 200 huh? *LOL*

(1 reply) #6 Posted by buzz99 on 19 Nov 2003 - 22:58: Nothing to cheer about so far. Nice look tho...

(3 replies) #7 Posted by NIMASoft on 19 Nov 2003 - 23:27: anyway, we can get to preview it as well? any links?

(1 reply) #8 Posted by [f] on 20 Nov 2003 - 00:02: I wouldn't say it's gone and impressed me.

#9 Posted by Quick Reply on 20 Nov 2003 - 00:05: I don't expect the new hotmail to look/behave the same in alternative browsers such as Firebird (not only l33t net surfers use them, but also Internet Kiosks and Internet Cafe's where people need to check their hotmail on their travels), but I sure hope that all the features are useable in it.

I don't know if this is possible creamhackered since you use IE, but would you be able to provide some screenshots in non-ie rendered browsers? It'll be interesting to see the difference

#10 Posted by Dark Vageta on 20 Nov 2003 - 00:31: looks just about the same !

#11 Posted by cesardrgn on 20 Nov 2003 - 00:37: just a few differences...

(1 reply) #12 Posted by Botz1213 on 20 Nov 2003 - 01:25: Looks Like Outlook Web Access for Exchange 2003. But i like it.

(1 reply) #13 Posted by phatass on 20 Nov 2003 - 01:33: its bullsh*t how often it uses javascript.
eg, to view a message, it links to: javascript:G('/cgi-bin/getmsg?msg=MSG1069288599')

this is gonna annoy me severely because i normally open several messages in new windows, so i can just close the windows and delete all messages in the inbox that are spam.

this spam filter better work! i see there's an option to delete junk mail immediately

the "contacts" section is good too [not that i think i'll be using it]. you can have "favorite" contacts, and import contacts, "build contacts", and "search directories"

#9, i dont think it will work anywhere near as good in non-IE browsers. i dont have any other browser installed, so i cant test it either.

(3 replies) #14 Posted by carlito on 20 Nov 2003 - 02:09: Links to use this?

#15 Posted by mipra on 20 Nov 2003 - 02:45: Wow...it looks a lot cleaner than the current one

#16 Posted by iampedro on 20 Nov 2003 - 02:48: I agree... It will be quite an improvement and nicer and cleaner looking..

(2 replies) #17 Posted by mipra on 20 Nov 2003 - 02:49: One thing I one to point out is that Hotmail has been doing a really great job in fighting SPAM. So, I hope they will improve that as well

(7 replies) #18 Posted by cannhawk on 20 Nov 2003 - 03:02: More M$ trash I'm getting sick of hotmail spam and M$ selling email address without the asking. I got one account that I just open and did not give it out to no one but went I checked it I had over 20 spam mail in it

(3 replies) #19 Posted by seebaran on 20 Nov 2003 - 05:18: Can't MSN subscribers get at least banner-free and ad-free outgoing e-mail for the Hotmail web version? I pay for this stuff afterall....goodness.

#20 Posted by Robz on 20 Nov 2003 - 08:55: Looks nice, lets just hope it performs as good as it looks...anyone expecting downtime when everyone rushes on after its released?

Reminds me of Office 2003

#21 Posted by BGuillaume on 20 Nov 2003 - 09:03: well at least we know the calendar is a subscription now. A lot of people are paying for Hotmail or at least thru MSN Software subscription...i agree there should not ba any ads

(1 reply) #22 Posted by BGuillaume on 20 Nov 2003 - 09:05: Can u actually use HTML composing....? does nt seem to be the case here....if the rich text editing is "on" there is no toolbar....

(2 replies) #23 Posted by altezza on 20 Nov 2003 - 12:04: Looks clean but still offering pathetic 2mb of storage.

#24 Posted by Rivers on 20 Nov 2003 - 16:13: It looks and does basically the same..

kinda like this news thread thats been the same but yet souped up in 3 different ways in the past month

(2 replies) #25 Posted by gflores on 20 Nov 2003 - 17:16: I like the new look, but I don't see any really exciting features. Yeah, the 2mb limit is a beotch considering lycos has 5mb and my school email has 10mb

(1 reply) #26 Posted by nathanintu on 21 Nov 2003 - 01:33: What's "Microsoft Outlook Web Access"?

#27 Posted by pylesj on 21 Nov 2003 - 03:32: Thats pretty cool. Looks kinda similar to microsoft's intranet. but definately not the header. Kinda looks like Office 2003 too...

#28 Posted by xpguy on 21 Nov 2003 - 09:36: i posted this on my site yesterday and came to post it here but saw a post saying it was posted ages ago so i never bothered , anyway i like the new look i cant wait to see the calendar

#29 Posted by gaviaal on 21 Nov 2003 - 15:48: The new look is ok, at least better than the old one.
I just moved to fastmail. 10 MB, IMAP, auto check on POP3 and even SSL. Why should anyone use Hotmail instead?

(1 reply) #30 Posted by Andreas012345 on 24 Nov 2003 - 15:22: Hi, guys, I found the secret construction page of microsoft (the one in screenshots) I can tell you where it is, in exchange of a link where I can download the new Windows XP SP2 BETA (betaplace.com)(cause I am not authorized)PLEASE!!

#31 Posted by sirshannon on 01 Dec 2003 - 21:36: The changes are there now for me, as of 4 pm today.

#32 Posted by cesardrgn on 01 Dec 2003 - 21:44: It looks nice...

#33 Posted by hardgiant on 01 Dec 2003 - 22:33: yawn

#34 Posted by Savagearth on 01 Dec 2003 - 22:39: I'm on it right now.......with the new looks.

#35 Posted by jhaygood86 on 01 Dec 2003 - 23:49: Looks great. Sorta reminds me of MSN 9, with the new MSN look and all. But, MSN 9 is still much more powerful.

#36 Posted by Trust on 02 Dec 2003 - 01:15: hmmm... so what? no pop3 no smtp, a lot of bandwidth (my bandwidth, that I every month with my money) to check mails??. No thanks

#37 Posted by helloalexb on 02 Dec 2003 - 01:54: ack nice and clean but so annoying i was so quick in checking mail in and out....gawg now its all more click and there is no delete button on the bottom of each e-mail like b4....ack.....w/e guess its nice for the n00bs....not very nice for the lazy...like moi....hehe

#38 Posted by antareus on 02 Dec 2003 - 03:37: That'll look nice with some ad-blocking.

#39 Posted by Jedimark on 02 Dec 2003 - 08:46: Hey it looks nice. Got ad blocking running and it looks very neat. Although it seems to take a long time to load the pages. But it couls just be my network being busy atm.

#40 Posted by redFX on 02 Dec 2003 - 13:46: The question is, will it be faster?!

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