The Hindu Business Line : MSN Hotmail (too!) hits 1GB storage limit

Live Mail
Features include 2 GB storage space, 120 days expiration period, anti-phishing features, address autocomplete, and drag-and-drop functionality making it easier to read, send, and organise email messages.

Chennai , Nov. 15

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday announced a global storage upgrade for MSN Hotmail accounts by increasing the storage limit from 250 MB to 1 GB. Also extended was the expiration period for inactive accounts from 30 days to 60 days for accounts that are more than two years old.

Gmail

The first major player to move into the 1 GB storage limit league was Google's Gmail (in April 2004), and then raised it to 2 GB in April 2005. Yahoo! initially extended its email storage to 100 MB and then to 1 GB. Rediff extended its storage to 1 GB as well. Earlier, Hotmail had increased its storage limit to 25 MB and then to 250 MB.

There was much noise made about Gmail's 1 GB offering when it debuted, but the idea of `lots of space' really took hold when Gmail upgraded storage to 2 GB. That limit is still counting. This is when general Web and email users started thinking about what to do with all that space and the moment they found something they wanted to save or back-up, they would simply send it to their email account.

Lycos mail

In terms of sheer size, Lycos mail (3 GB) and Gmail (2.6 GB+) take the cake. In terms of integration with commonly used services, functionality, and ease of use, Gmail (Chat, word processing and spreadsheet, calendar, photos, toolbar etc.) and Yahoo! (toolbar, photos, briefcase etc.) are usually preferred. Windows Live, an online desktop now in Beta (testing; available at http://www.live.com) is expected to be Microsoft's response to Google and Yahoo!'s suite of services. And Hotmail's upgrade is one way of keeping the flock together.

Hotmail upgradation

Hotmail's storage upgrade and extension of the expiration period for email accounts is part of Microsoft's attempt to meet the evolving needs of Hotmail users as they transition to Microsoft's next generation email service, Windows Live Mail.

"As we continue to ramp up our Windows Live services across Asia, we also remain focused on enhancing the capabilities of the MSN Hotmail service for our loyal users," said Mr Alex Stewart, Asia Pacific Regional Director, Online Services Group, Microsoft.

"Hotmail is one of the world's favourite email services and now we are able to offer our customers an even better service with more storage than ever before."

Live Mail

Windows Live Mail, the next generation of Web mail from Microsoft, is currently in Beta. It has been built from the ground up to be faster, safer and simpler. Windows Live Mail will feature 2 GB storage space, 120 days expiration period, anti-phishing features, address autocomplete, and drag-and-drop functionality making it easier to read, send, and organise email messages.

The storage upgrade, which began rolling out in Asia on November 7, will affect Hotmail users in ten markets in the region including Australia, China, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. There are more than 260 million active MSN Hotmail accounts worldwide.

More usage

Increasingly, what seemed like a huge amount of space suddenly looks small. When the first GB mailboxes came out, they were used extensively to send and receive digital photos. There were fewer digital cameras (with smaller image sizes) and fewer (and slower) Internet connections at that time. Today, not only are there more cameras taking larger pictures and faster Internet connections, but also the new medium of mobile phone cameras and more common Internet access through mobile phone. This has led to a complete change in the way people view use email and email storage: More pictures, flowing with more frequency and faster into mailboxes around the world.