Microsoft Mail Beta
Posted by Neowin Staff on 21 July 2005 - 07:25 · 41 comments & 16634 views
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Forum name: News Staff
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
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#1 Posted by beanwaur on 21 Jul 2005 - 07:30
- this looks interesting but unless they can introduce some amazing new feature gmail is enough for me
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(4 replies)
#2 Posted by LanMan874 on 21 Jul 2005 - 07:38
- Looks like Microsoft trying to compete with Gmail. Tbh, i wont be using this unless they offer POP3 or IMAP ability WITHOUT cost. That's the main reason for me not using Hotmail now. I used to use Pop3 but when they changed it i couldnt anymore. I originally thought that all people who were using POP3 prior to it becoming a premium feature would still be able to use it.
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#2.1 Posted by eAi on 21 Jul 2005 - 09:09
- Well, obviously you are - you're giving them money... As a consumer it is within him right to demand whatever he wants from a company. Its up to the company to decide if his demands apply to enough users to make them practical or not.
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#2.2 Posted by nathanintu on 21 Jul 2005 - 09:50
- WTF? the company does what THEY bloody want.
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#2.3 Posted by SquareSoft0 on 21 Jul 2005 - 09:55
- Both sides are right, that's how capitalism works. The company does whatever it wants, but if it doesn't do what the majority of their target audience wants, it will flop.
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#2.4 Posted by rseiler on 21 Jul 2005 - 14:35
- FYI that wasn't POP3, it was WebDAV, which was basically a method of accessing your Hotmail account via HTTP using Outlook or OE. It wasn't nearly as convenient as POP3, and note that those who were using it before a certain date were "grandfathered" in and so still have access via that method.
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#3 Posted by hotdog963al on 21 Jul 2005 - 07:42
- Can't beat Gmail??
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#4 Posted by TrekXP on 21 Jul 2005 - 07:49
- and when out of beta, will it be free...?
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#5 Posted by asellus on 21 Jul 2005 - 07:58
- Info Barback seems to be a good feature. A fake bounced e-mail hehehe.
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(6 replies)
#6 Posted by dave164 on 21 Jul 2005 - 08:06
- Hummmm do all testers get invited to this or just a select few
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#6.1 Posted by LanMan874 on 21 Jul 2005 - 08:11
- I would like to know as well as i'm a Messenger 7.5 tester
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#6.2 Posted by ClintEastman on 21 Jul 2005 - 08:27
- Just the MSN Butterflies i think.
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#6.4 Posted by Geo on 21 Jul 2005 - 09:04
- "Microsoft is inviting people from the MSN Messenger beta to join the beta of their brand new web mail service."
^ is incorrect, it's only available to the butterflies as far as I can tell, not all MSN Messenger 7.5 testers are butterflies. -
#6.5 Posted by rseiler on 21 Jul 2005 - 14:37
- And by "butterflies" I assume you mean the former testers of MSN8, MSN9 etc?
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(2 replies)
#7 Posted by edgefield on 21 Jul 2005 - 08:59
- The interface will suck if its anything like hotmail. I couldn't go back to loading a different page every click after gmail.
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#7.1 Posted by ClintEastman on 21 Jul 2005 - 09:20
- Why is it going to look like Hotmail when it's ment to replace it?
Anyway it doesn't. -
#7.2 Posted by threedaysdwn on 21 Jul 2005 - 16:14
- Looks like OWA to me.
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(1 reply)
#8 Posted by Superluminal on 21 Jul 2005 - 11:15
- Why is all news on the front page tagged with the "reporters" real name, except for this NDA breaking item, which goes under "News Staff"?
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#9 Posted by axious on 21 Jul 2005 - 11:22
- "based on input and feedback from customers"
And it will still be plastered with adverts, and a script (as bad as spyware) that runs tries to force msn messenger at startup whenever you login.
Yeah, I'm sure the new service will be "based on input and feedback from customers"
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#10 Posted by Ferret on 21 Jul 2005 - 11:59
- Got my invite this morning
It says it'll take about 1 week to upgrade to this
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#11 Posted by Cubiz on 21 Jul 2005 - 12:22
- Have MS said whether this will be free or not?
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#12 Posted by dotRoot on 21 Jul 2005 - 13:04
- Why would it send a bounce message to a spammer when almost all don't accept bounces anyway? Hell that's one way some mail transport agents see if you are a spammer or not - if you accept bounces.
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(2 replies)
#13 Posted by Kalphegor on 21 Jul 2005 - 13:22
- I still have a 2MB inbox on MSN Hotmail...
This is very sad...
And over 2GB on Gmail inluding all that new features of Microsoft Mail Beta and even more... -
#13.1 Posted by rseiler on 21 Jul 2005 - 19:15
- That's a mistake. Did you write to them about it? What did they say? The 250MB upgrades AFAIK were completed several months ago.
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(1 reply)
#14 Posted by nacs on 21 Jul 2005 - 17:59
- MS playing catchup to Gmail. Story at 11.
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#15 Posted by phantom76 on 21 Jul 2005 - 18:07
- Yup MS will be playing catchup for a while, meh hell maybe for good
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(2 replies)
#16 Posted by Sil9 on 21 Jul 2005 - 18:23
- Even if they offer 12 gazillion GB of space, they'll still automatically delete messages from your Sent and Deleted folders after so and so days. Bunch of cheap scapes I say.
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#16.1 Posted by rseiler on 21 Jul 2005 - 19:13
- Of course, that's just a wild guess. It's reasonable to assume that we'll have a lot more days to check out Junk, Deleted, etc. Why not?
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#17 Posted by jameseuk on 21 Jul 2005 - 19:51
- hmm should be interesting to test,I've already got a 2gb inbox though cuz I subscribe to MSN Premium,seems ms are playing catchup with accounts over 2gb.
I dont understand this talk of Butterflys though afaik I'm not one,cuz I've never been called one until the invite I got today
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#18 Posted by Dane2003 on 21 Jul 2005 - 22:15
- I havent received an invite for this program and am an MSN Beta Butterfly
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#19 Posted by maudit on 22 Jul 2005 - 01:04
- yeah an invitation thread for this would be great!
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#20 Posted by Matt500 on 22 Jul 2005 - 07:09
- If I cant access it from my email client I'm not gonna bother with it, its a shame we cant use pop3, when looking at what email provider to go with it was and still is a big thing to me. Id be back with MS in an instant if they had it but they seem to listen to the customers who ask for more ads and less functionality, hmm id love to meet those customers if they actually existed.
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#21 Posted by CarbonEyes on 23 Jul 2005 - 00:41
- Got invited. Hopefully this wont another SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWW hotmail
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#22 Posted by Jugalator on 23 Jul 2005 - 00:44
- The feature list looks "OK", but strangely listing few advanced features other free competitors offer.
There's for example a big scary lack of mail filtering/redirection features.
I.e. to put mail from my company to a special folder automatically, based on content and/or headers, supporting wildcards.
They also need to support POP3 for free too, IMHO.
It also have to support alternative browsers pretty well, at least to the point of not sacrificing features. That's a given nowadays, but you never know with Microsoft... :-p
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#23 Posted by Dakkaroth on 24 Jul 2005 - 06:19
- Hopefully this pushes Google to do a little more with Gmail. I mean, I love Gmail to death but competition can always help make what's good better.
It's funny seeing Microsoft desperately trying to catch up after its years of slumber; attempting to ressurect the torn up browser IE and such.
My question is: after they "upgrade", how long will it be before the NEXT one? And who's ideas will they have to hijack before they can offer something they can call "their own"? Forgive my lack of enthusiasm, but I don't look forward to their "new" email features.
A hotmail account is required and is moved over to the new beta automatically. It includes 2GB of space, includes a rich text editor, protection from "phishing" scams and a new easier layout.
Reading Pane
Cruise through your e-mail with ease, as you go from mail to mail without loading a new page. The Reading Pane lets you preview the text and thumbnails of attached images in your Inbox. Just click the message to display the full content of the e-mail.
Safety made easy with the Info Barback to top
The Info Bar tells you when the Mail Beta doesn’t recognize a sender, allowing you to block the sender with a single click, and bounce back an e-mail to help prevent a junk mailer from knowing you exist.
The Mail Beta also protects you from criminals trying to obtain ("phish") your personal information by hiding an e-mail’s content when it suspects the sender may be fraudulent.
Address AutoComplete
When you start typing the name of a contact in the address field, Address AutoComplete offers suggestions of matching names from your contact list.
Simply select the correct address—no need to memorize addresses or look through your address book.
Keyboard shortcuts
Mail Beta allows you navigate the way you prefer—via your keyboard, mouse, or a combination of the two.
These keyboard shortcuts let you easily and quickly navigate through messages and folders. Mail Beta also enables multiple select via a combination of your keyboard’s arrows or mouse and the shift key.
Many more keyboard shortcuts to come!
Rich text editing
Say what you want to say, the way you want to say it!
Rich Text Editing lets you add color, shading, and emoticons, control font size, and define formatting. Best of all, Mail Beta preserves all HTML formatting in the e-mails you receive so you can forward emails and know others will see them the way you do.
Storage that grows with you
We’re starting you with 2GB (2 gigabytes) of storage so you can save more e-mail, more photos, more attachments, more of everything. Over time we plan to develop a system that will grow as you need more space.
(2 gigabytes=2,000,000,000 bytes)
Save sent e-mail
No need to cc: yourself on every outgoing e-mail. All the e-mail you send will now be saved in a "sent e-mail" folder—automatically.