It was a surprise waiting for me when I logged in to Hotmail last night .. I noticed the green button glowing under the Hotmail sign asking me to sign up for testing the new Hotmail Beta .. I thought wow Ive been selected as one of the lucky people who can actually test and contribute to the service before its released .. I clicked on the button immediately and was presented with a Beta signup agreement page which I read and accepted .. I was eager to see the new features ..
The interface: When I logged in to Hotmail beta (aka Kahuna) the first thing to notice is changed interface .. I really liked what I saw .. Such clean interface reminding me of Outlook 2003 .. Clicking on Inbox lead me to the folder where message view was selected as three pane view which is default in Outlook 2003 .. And when you click a message in the Preview Pane, its content are displayed in the Reading Pane immediately without the need to refresh the page .. Some features such as MSN Messenger contacts info was missing from email page .. I saw in their info pages though that they will soon be adding it… The Calender is also integrated seamlessly into the interface .. The Calender’s interface is also similar to the Outlook .. Adding new events such as Reminders or Notes is possible just at a click ..
New Features: Now thats the best part .. New features include :
- Now you can drag and drop messages from one folder to another .. Very handy feature ..!
- You got a nice context menu – most often used options such as Reply / Forward are available when you right click on a message ..
- When you write a new mail, you got a nice Address autocomplete feature just like the Gmail one .. The MSN Messenger contacts are already imported to the address book so finding the recipient is easy as pie .. I knew this was coming as Yahoo also added it recently ..
- And now you can compose emails in rich text format too ..!! You can add colors and emoticons and set formatting as you like .. Looks nice too .. 🙂
- There are new shortcut keys (limited at the moment though) for often used functions .. I wish I could customize them .. Hope they add the feature in the final version …
- There is a new anti phishing feature .. You’ll be warned if the message you are viewing is from an unknown source making it difficult for phishers to dodge you by displaying fake information ..
- And the best of all .. Yes .. you will get 2 Gb of space for your account ..!! How much is the attachment size limit is not clear yet but this is much better from that measly 25 Mb ..
It works very fast too .. Now its nice to see all major email service providers fighting to give the best features to the users .. Most of my experience with Kahuna was nice … The only problem that I find is its only supporting Internet Explorer 6 or above right now .. I hope they will soon add support for more browsers .. I submitted two feedbacks yesterday .. Ill find out more features today .. 🙂
And if you want to test the new Hotmail Beta, Try registering here .. ..
You can find more screenshots here
Nice one..Actually I am more excited about trying yahoo’s beta mail..
I hope I get invitation to test it soon 🙂
Deep
Hmm… How do you get the invite ? Do they send or it`s like orkut n all . If yes Do send me 😀
Nah .. Nothing like invite .. Just register here and wait .. Thats what I did ..
Anyways .. I am gonna edit main post a bit tommorow ..
lol..both of us reviewed it on the same day 🙂
I have two main grudges.
i)It is chopping away the edges of my email
ii)No check box.
I also want to try out yahoo mail beta.But I had heard somewhere that for now only people with id @yahoo.com are being invited.
@ Pallab: You can view the message by double click it in the Reading Pane .. Check it out ..
Thanks batty 🙂
I didn’t notice that.
Well MSN Sux man
been a 7-8 yr old customer that too
use it day in day out
being my primary email i need to check it atleast
4-5 times a day
and then they dint give me beta
sux man sux 🙁
I dont know,but may be I got the invite because I have my country set as US.Batty what about you?
Hmm.. My address is also set as US .. 😛 .. India wasnt on their map I think when I registered this account ..
Okay .. Here’s the official news Kahuna will be called Windows Live Mail..
Infact Windows Live is a set of interent services built around communication over the net .. The MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger will be integrated into one Windows Live Messenger so you wont have to install two programs for one function .. In the whole Live suite, I liked Office Live thingy .. I have registered for OneCare Live Beta too .. See how it turns out ..
More at Windows Live‘s Beta page ..
well, FYI, RTE has been available for quite a lot of time now!! 😉 maybe you didn’t notice, but the RTE is there for composing emails where you can format text & add emoticons etc.
I think this will all be integrated into Windows Vista, if you noticed, the MSN Messenger looks quite similar to the interface of Windows Vista(there are lots of screenshots available online of Beta versions).
As I see it, Microsoft will be making Windows as one shop stop for everything, providing the most common online services right there to the user so he doesn’t has to look for them(a first timer?). What’s the betting that they’ll come out with a Dashboard & Widgets replica of the OS-X? 😉
and, do I see another anti-trust law suit coming at them, a la european style where they are forced to ship windows without media player(sic)!!
please send me hotmail beta (kahuna) thanks
William, you should try registering at the link I gave in my main post .. And wait ..
pleas invite windows live mail
my e-mail: removed
Gustavo, I removed your email from the post to save you from getting spammed by bots .. You should go the link I provided in my first post and register there .. 🙂
sebnem ne yapuyorso ben canan okulda
sebnem ne yaporsun ben canan okuldaki
mas capcidad
me encantaria obtenerlo…..
I would like an invite!
Please can some one send me an invite my e-mail is [email protected]
I`m a beta tester for the WLM asoon i receive invite you will be the first to receive 1
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Hi Adonius .. I dont have any invite right now .. As soon as I’ll recieve one, I’ll send it to you .. Meanwhile you might wanna try registering at the link mentioned in the main post and try your luck ..
🙂
I Tryied and waited 4 weeks nothing!
please e-mail me on my e-mail so we can keep in contact
please invite windows live mail
bye
BEWARE!!
Using HOTMAIL Beta will totally wipe out all of your saved contacts! This new setup is rife with programming bugs!!
Can you help to get new my email, [Edited Shahab: Removed login info]. Thanks.
Ho Hsen Please mention clearly what help you need .. 🙂 ..
gostaria de receber novamente
please invite windows live mail to [email protected]
thank you from Greece
hola
It is CRAP!!!
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SIGN UP!
YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS IT!!
[I THINK IT HAS A PROGRAMMING BUG OR SOMETHING]
How can I get the old hotmail back.. I tested the beta and it has not allowed me to open my mail sence i only get a white screen
want ittttttttttttttt
WELCOME
Very good! and Nice
quiero el hotmail beta porfavor
hola
kiero nuevo msn
porfavor ¡¡¡quiero el hotmail beta porfavor!!!!!!porfavor!!!!
hi
PLEASE SEND ME AN INVITE!!!! IVE BEEN WAITING WEEKS FOR THEM TO REPLY!!IVE TRYED SOOO MANY TIMES !!!!
i am searching for hotmail beta mail.but cant get it yet.
it’s to difficult the procedure of getting the beta mail like the yahoo it’s too easy to sign up in beta mail than hotmail.
pc servicios de integracion en computo
I NEED SING UP IN HOTMAIL BETA
H NEED SING UP IN HOTMAIL BETA
I NEED MAKE UP GRAD TO MY MAIL
i wish i could join Hotmail beta so if is there any possibility do favour for me as soon as possible ooooh what wonderful will be!
Mickky