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Hotmail (Beta)

         

Cepheus

4:43 pm on Jan 8, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Was anyone else invited to participate in the Hotmail beta test?

I know the layout is different, minimal, compared to normal, but what's the reason to take you to start.com on signout?

mrMister

9:07 am on Jan 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



No, not being on any of Microsoft's mailing lists, I haven't been invited. How did you get your invite? As a Hotmail user or was it from MSDN, Partner Program or similar?

Is the Hotmail Beta AJAX based?

The reason to take you to start.com at signout would be similar to the reasons to take you to msn.com in the past.

I believe start.com will become the launching pad of all Microsoft "Web Services" and therefore further up the hierarchy to MSN.

Start.com is the direct competitor to Google's web services and therefore Microsoft need to be pushing it to the people as fast as they can to gain ground on Google.

Cepheus

2:33 pm on Jan 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thanks

I've only got a real basic knowledge of this stuff, so I'm afraid I can't answer whether it's AJAX based or not.

I logged on to my old but still used hotmail account one day a couple of weeks ago and was asked whether I wanted to participate in the testing.

The layout is similar to that of Outlook. Personally I like the simple look and feel but I've seen other posts from people who don't - personal preferences. Having said that, I don't like start.com look and feel.

It's also worth noting the disclaimer at the bottom of the start.com page:

"..this site is not an officially supported site. it is an incubation experiment and doesn't represent any particular strategy or policy.."

If they are wanting to push this, they may want to start doing sooner rather than later.

mrMister

3:51 pm on Jan 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Bear in mind you're using a beta version of Hotmail. I preseme that when the beta of Hotmail goes live, start.com will as well (which looks to me like a type of beta version of live.com).

kona

10:32 am on Jan 11, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Yeah, it's AJAX. Very very similar to Gmail.

I didn't receive an email invite. One day when I was logged in to hotmail I just saw a green button at the top that said something like "Try Windows Live Mail Beta" and I pressed it :)

Trace

3:26 pm on Jan 11, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I'ev been using it for a couple of days.
I'm pretty sure anyone can sign up for it here: [ideas.live.com...]

mrMister

8:54 am on Jan 13, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Nope. I signed up there when I got my Messenger Beta, still no Mail invite.