[Update, Nov. 7, 2008] Thanks for your thoughtful comments and questions! We ARE listening, and we’ve posted answers to many of your questions here.
Hey, there! I’m Dick Craddock, Group Program Manager for Hotmail.
As we roll out the newest release of Windows Live Hotmail, I want to talk a bit about what kind of performance improvements we’ve made, and how we made them.
I also want to talk about our decision to combine the old “Classic” and “Full” versions of Hotmail into a single experience that we think will work extremely well for all our users.
First things first – we’re fast
No kidding – we’re fast! We made the new Hotmail much, much faster than the old “Full” experience. The “Classic” experience was already lightening fast, but we made the new Hotmail a wee bit quicker even than that! Compared to the old “Full” experience, loading a new messages is about twice as fast. It’s faster to sign in, too. In fact, we picked out the most common things your do on Hotmail and made them all faster. The following chart compares four common tasks and how long each one takes when you do it for the very first time in both the old and new versions of Hotmail. The times shown in the chart are the average page load times across a lot of different environments and are normalized. Shorter bars are better!
But wait! It gets better! Your browser actually caches (saves) a bunch of stuff that Hotmail uses (images, code, etc.). So, it turns out that each of these goes even faster after the first time you do it.
The second chart shows a comparison of the same tasks after you’ve done them at least once (for instance, reading a second message; or signing out, then signing back in). We made getting to your inbox and reading messages smokin’ fast!
Merging “Classic” and “Full”
In our last release of Hotmail we actually had two different versions. “Classic” was aimed at people who wanted a lightweight experience that looked a lot like, well, classic Hotmail! “Full” (or “Rich” as we sometimes call it) was aimed at people who wanted the whole kitchen sink – every feature we could think of. “Full” was most useful for folks with very fast Internet connections, since all those features take time to load in the browser.
When we started developing this new release, we asked ourselves an interesting question: What if we built a single user experience that starts out clean and simple, but lets people turn on new features when they want them?
The experience would have to feel familiar to our “Classic” users.
It would have to feel powerful to our “Full” users.
It would have to be easy for all our users to discover new features.
And it would have to be fast. Really fast.
How did we do that?
First, we decided that most of the “Full” features could simply be options that users can turn on whenever they want. For example, the reading pane (one of my favorite features) is turned off by default.
But using the Options menu, you can display the reading pane on the right or the bottom of the Hotmail window. Users coming from “Classic” will automatically have the reading pane turned off, while “Full” users will retain their reading pane setting from the previous version of Hotmail.
We also decided to make a whole bunch of improvements to the Contacts pages. “Classic” and “Full” users will both find lots of new features here. For instance, when you click a contact to view their details, along with the usual stuff like e-mail address, phone numbers, and whatever other info you entered about that person, you’ll also see other useful information about them, like recent messages you’ve exchanged with them, or (if you have their address) a link to a map of that address. You can even send a contact a quick e-mail message without leaving the page!
The page you use to compose a new message was quite a challenge. We love the auto-complete feature from “Full” and we love the favorites pane from “Classic.” In the new release, we figured out how to get the best of both worlds.
To use auto-complete, just start typing the name of one of your contacts in the To: line, and Hotmail automatically starts filling in matches from your contact list. Try it! On the other hand, if you want to quickly get to your favorite contacts, you can still bring them up easily by clicking the To: button, and then clicking the Favorites tab.
But how did we keep it fast?
In the old days, it was pretty easy to make a website fast. In Web 1.0 it was all about “page weight” – that is, the sheer number of characters that had to fly across the Internet from our server to your browser. Every click brought in a new page, and most people had fairly slow connections. So we spent a ton of time making the page as “light” as possible.
You might ask, “What’s the problem?” Well, the problem was that we wanted to add a bunch of cool new features that were going to make the page “heavier.”
Enter AJAX… and lots of performance tuning
The great advance of the Web 2.0 world was a cool thing called AJAX. “AJAX” just refers to the technologies that can be used to make websites more interactive. Using AJAX means that you don’t have to go fetch a whole new page with every click; instead, you just go fetch the parts of the page that need to be updated. That’s better (and faster) because, typically, most of the page hasn’t changed.
For instance, in Hotmail when you use the reading pane and you click a message in the message list, we just go fetch that new message and pop it into the reading pane instead of downloading a whole new page. Most of the page – the header, the folders, the message list – hasn’t changed at all, so we don’t bother to fetch that stuff again.
Our team spent a lot of time optimizing the Hotmail experience to make it as fast as possible. We used all kinds of techniques – everything from tweaking arcane server settings, to doing aggressive edge-caching, to delaying the download of parts of the user interface until you need them. We’ve learned all the ins-and-outs of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari, and how to get the most out of them. We’ve learned a great deal about the world’s networking infrastructure and how to best take advantage of it. And we’re measuring our real-world performance all over the globe to make sure we understand the experience that our users are actually getting when they use Hotmail, no matter where they are.
We think improving download speed is some of the most important work we do. We hope you agree! And we hope you like the new user experience, whether you’re coming from “Classic” or “Full.”
Enjoy!
- Dick Craddock, Group Program Manager for Hotmail
[Update, November 7, 2008]: Thanks for your thoughtful comments and questions! We ARE listening, and we’ve posted answers to many of your questions here.
[Update, November 25, 2008:] Check out this recent blog post for updates about the bug fixes we’re making in repsonse to your comments.
Technorati Tags: clubhouse,Windows+Live,Hotmail,updates,story
Technorati Tags: Windows+Live,Hotmail,updates,performance
An absolute mess, 7 years with hotmail and I\’m rewarded with a service that doesn\’t work. Worse, I can\’t let anyone know i\’m changing my email as i can\’t sroll down the contacts list. Trapped on a broken Microsoft island with no way to tell anyone i\’m moving next door. Pathetic customer service.
Well, mine seems to working better of late, but I don\’t think I\’m going to be able to stand that tiny reading pane. No matter how it\’s configured, there is just not enough room! Feels like I\’ve got tunnel-vision and I have to scroll way too much! I think fixing that would go a long way to making this version better!
Hotmail is now a disaster, slow, unresponding. Don\’t the idiot developers know what they are doing. I am changing to Google mail….
To be fair, some things I like, some things I hate. I miss the old colours they were easier on the eye and would like them back please as an option. Also the reading pane would be good if the splitter stayed where I left it. Every time I go back in and the pane is at the bottom I can only see 5 subject lines and a huge reading pane. It\’ll be staying off for now.I do like the "mark as read" option which was sorely missing and the speed appears very good to me…
Frankly, this buggy slow steaming pile is NO improvement. 160-220 validation errors depending on the page? Upwards of 150k of code to display 2k or less content? Filling FF and Opera\’s error logs to the brim on every page view? ZERO gracefuldegredation for scripting off? ZERO middle-click functionality for tabs? Yeah, it\’s probably faster in IE compared to the rubbish you had before it – too bad it\’s bleeding errors like a sieve and ten times SLOWER than what you had a decade ago as flat markup.I\’m a web developer by trade, and I swear if I was in charge of hotmail, you would have massive firings for the sheer ineptitude shown in this latest incarnation. I\’ve had to struggle through using the mobile version of hotmail because for me, this version is next to useless! (which is a billion times faster than ANY of this 100% script rubbish). The POINT of javascript is to ENHANCE functionality, NOT REPLACE IT!!!… and the sad part is there is NO reason for there to be more than 10k of HTML UNCOMPRESSED, maybe 7k of CSS for the ENTIRE HOTMAIL SECTION, and what, 20k of actually NEEDED javascript for the goofy accessability /FAIL/ that is ajax in a mail client? There\’s a REASON I don\’t use gMail – well that and I\’ve been with Hotmail since before Microsoft owned it.I swear, I\’d kill for the old 1998 codebase, as it would be better than EVERYTHING you have done with it since! Heck, I\’d settle for a flat version of the mobile site that had the full navigation on every page and flat navigation – it would be even FASTER than what you have now, could be made to look the same….Lands sake, at least give us an option to turn off that STUPID MALFING WYSIWYG editor rubbish and make the \’plain text\’ actually work as \’plain text\’.I used the word ineptitude above – and that is the ONLY reasonable explanation for the average hotmail index to take 59k of markup uncompressed, 168 validation errors, more stylesheet errors than I can count, and a whole host of other nonsense that blatantly shows whoever you have writing this needs to do the world a favor, back away from the keyboard and take up some harmless hobby like macrome weaving.
Addendum – you know, the speed comparisons above are a complete laugh, because I\’d love to see it compared to http://mobile.live.com/hmYou increase the numbers for the /hm version… eh, about 50% for the missing extra\’s on the page… figure a bit more for loading CSS on firstload – and it would STILL be faster than this train wreck you call the new hotmail…Oh, and just so not everything is harsh, I DO like how it looks – unfortunately it\’s twenty functionality steps backwards.
Sorry guys, but this is an unmitigated disaster for non-IE users. I\’ve had my Hotmail account for a LONG time, and I may end up having to move off of it because the new Windows Live hotmail is completely unusable in Opera 9.62 for Linux. It barely works in Firefox 3.0.3 under Ubuntu Hardy for me, and no great winner under Opera 9.62 for Windows XP. I realize that I may be in the minority as a user in that I tend to use Hotmail on a non-Windows platform, but the fact is that is DOES affect me negatively and it is likely to push me further away from Microsoft products.I appreciate the time and effort it must have taken to get the new Windows Live Mail working, and to a certain exent I understand the goals behind why it was done. I feel, however, that you have done insufficient testing to ensure that the new system works across multiple platforms.
Further addendum… Anyone of our friends across the pond bothered reporting the new hotmail as a DDA violation?http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/uk-website-legal-requirements.shtmlI would think this might qualify. Hey M$, good going, give a european country ANOTHER way to screw you.
This so-called new version is crap, the page is cramped and the site is slow due to all the rubbish you\’ve crammed into the page including the huge online ad. Whoever thought this was a good idea is an idiot.
I would love to know what I have to do to enjoy this new \’faster\’ Hotmail – since my accont was upgraded, I get the "loading" message EVERY TIME I CLICK ANYTHING – my email used to open instantly, now it\’s always loading, loading, loading…. HOW DO I MAKE IT GO FASTER?!
hotmail is slow slow, slow. you say you will not run 2 different types of email, what have you been doing for mths.
When I click on one of the emails in my email box I completely lose the horizontal and vertical scrolling bars. Therefore, I can not read complete emails. I go into my Hotmail account using IE 7usually but even on Firefox I lose the scrolling bars. I thought perhaps this was a problem unique to my computer but have read many similar complaints. My email box is going to fill up if I can\’t read my mail. I am not happy!
My Firefox crashed THREE TIMES in a row last night as I was trying to start writing to an email in the new Hotmail. I\’m not exactly sure what the problem was, but it seemed to be that I wanted to start typing my message before the damn ads finished loading. When I finally waited for all the ads to load before I started writing, it didn\’t crash. I have a very decent connection, so it was not my computer or connection speed. Thanks, Hotmail. I hope my choice to "send error information" will actually help you to solve this problem. I would hate to have to wait for the stupid ads to load until I can actually use my email. I live and work overseas and have previously found Hotmail to be fairly reliable in areas with poor connections. I guess I will have to rethink that.In addition, I dislike the too-white appearance of the page now. Especially the left-hand side where it used to be blue. It hurts my eyes. I am not about to give up my Hotmail address but, like others, I may use a different address / service as my primary email. Too bad Gmail sometimes loads so poorly on international connections.
What a mess the new hotmail page is. I cannot believe there\’s no option to stay with the old page. I\’m outa there. Set myself up with a Yahoo address today. I\’ll keep this Hotmail acct open for awhile \’till I see if it gets better. I loved Hotmail before and don\’t like being forced to change addresses.
Again….The stupid SCROLLBAR is not on my computer (mac) either! But I logged in on another computer (pc) and it was there??? Just tell us how to fix this PLEASSSSSE!
Why almost of the peaplea do not understand the adventage of windows live no use and try do your best then you will get the best
I AM an IE user and this new garbage locks up on me every few minutes.
Y\’know, some companies run new software as a BETA option for a while till they get the bugs out and feedback.
Somebody is getting reemed out at an 9am meeting this morning.
I keep waiting for you smart guys to do something, so i can use hot mail.So far it is completly
useless to me.What a big joke this new windows is. I am now using verizon and yahoo.
thanks to your wonderful upgrade.
Personally, I like the new format, I had a little trouble at 1st, adjusted my computer to fit the problem and everything works fine. Thank you very much
I am not sure whats going on with hotmail but I can\’t get it to open my mail. I can\’t get it to delete thing or hardly anything. Can you tell me whats going on or if I am doing something wrong. I can\’t read any of my mail Thanks
November 10 2008TO: Dick Craddock, Group Program Manager for Hotmail And Mike Schackwitz Lead Program Manager, for Windows Live
YOUR work is no good.
YOUR team is worthless
YOU ALL did lousy work!
I am coping and pasting and sending this onto Qwest my ISP tolet them know that I am chaning ISP.
Yes Qwest contracts with MS Hotmail
My email thru Qwest/Hotmail is no longer an option.
How come when I click on the To button that the screen that opens doesn\’t have a scroll bar on the right side so I can scroll down?
THERE IS NO RIGHT SIDE, IT IS OFF THE SCREAN AND YOU CANT BRING IN INTO THE SCREEN, AND THIS ON A 28-INCH HIGH RESOLUTION DOD (Department of Defense) monitor.
How come the "CLOSE" button to close the email list selection window can barley even be seen?
Why can\’t I see ALLl my contacts on the same page anymore?
Why can\’t I highlight and then copy the email address anymore from the contact page?
Why can\’t I right mouse click a folder and then open it in a new window anymore?
How come it takes forever for the INBOX page to load?
How come I get a "Loading window" now when I select a folder or another email to view.
I JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE WANT THE OPTION …… TO ….. OPT…. OUT…. OF …. YOUR … GARBAGE!
BRING US BACK THE "CLASSIC VERSION" THAT WAS NOT BROKE
And it doesn\’t take a rocket scientist to understand that YOU ALL did this on purpose to get rid of everyone who doesn\’t pay.
Because the BANNER IS NOT PRESENT ON QWEST ISP CUSTOMERS, JUST YOUR DAMN GARBAGE NEW FORMAT.
Dick Craddock & Mike Schackwitz YOU NEED TO JUST GO AWAY
YOU AND YOUR TEAM ARE WORTHLESS YOU ARE ALL LOOSERS
PERIOD!
Are you part of the same group that developed Vista and the awful Office 2007. None of you sem to have any idea that we users just want to get a job done and cannot afford the time to relearn how to use the applications we are accustomed to using. I have been a loyal Microsoft customer for many years but now I am switching to Open Office and other tools because Microsoft has no respect for my time. Your changes to Hotmail are just another example of yor disregard for your customers. You had better bring Bill back or at least put an adult in charge before the market completely trashes you.
Ray
The "new" Hotmail was definitely created & tested without user input. That\’s too bad. 1. The banner ads take up a LOT of space at the top of the window.2. The horizontal AND vertical scroll bars have disappeared. I cannot scroll down to read my message!This is the most stupid, and amateur, design flaw in web development!3. Why did the team change the folders panel? I set up rules to direct certain messages to certain folders.I CANNOT see which folders have a new message because I have to scroll down to see the folder!4. I am sick of having to select \’Show content\’ for every single message in my email that contains pictures.I understand that the purpose for doing this for obvious spam. But, if I placed a sender in my safe list, I shouldnot have to keep selecting \’Show content\’!
DO NOT like the change. Before the change was have no problems, now I can only send emails and msn, but CAN NOT receive any of my emails, and it was been about a week now
Hello. I cant open my emails on my mobile?
The panel on the left that is supposed to show Inbox, Sent, Deleted, etc. does not display on my screen. Actually, it shows up for like a second and then disappears leaving the 3 items under Related Places only. Also, when composing a message or replying to a message, there is no scroll bar at the right. All in all, the new Hotmail is a huge disappointment. Maybe you should revert back to the Classic and keep things simple.
classic hotmail didn\’t need to upgrade to this!fast, fast, fast? SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS!!!!!!!!
For those of you that use Qwest as your ISP and thus Use Qwest Mail by Windows Live Hotmail
If you are unhappy with this new version and want the old version backYou may send written correspondence to:
Presidents Customer Advocacy Office 1801 California STE 450 Denver, CO 80202.
You can also go to this Qwest link http://www.qwest.com/internethelp/email/live.htmlAnd click on "Click For Live Tech Support"
The Live Chat Person will take down your complaint andforward it up the chain of command.
Qwest appreciates your business and values you as a customer
I finally had enough. I moved to Yahoo!, and OMG, I can actually read my emails. I can scroll down to avoid all the ads, and have practically a whole page to view instead of the half inch display at the bottom.
Yahoo is similar to what Hotmail used to be like.
SAVE YOURSELVES, switch before you go bald or get an ulcer.
So happy in Culver City,
Mary
I cant open, read.junk,delete send e mail or anything my box is filling up and i cant do a thing nor contact customer services.WHAT A PILE OF ………
I wanted to RENAME a folder
So down at the bottom of the folders
I clicked on "Manage Folders"
A new page opened up
Only one problem though…
THE DAMN FOLDERS ARE NOT THERE
THERE IS NO NAME FOR THE FOLDERS
JUST A CHECK BOX
JUST A DIGIT THAT SHOWS THE AMOUNT OF MESSAGES IN THAT FOLDER
JUST A DIGIT THAT SHOWS HOW BIG (HOW MANY BYTES) THAT FOLDER USES
COULD YOU PLEASE PUT MY NAMES
(THAT ARE LISTED ON THE MAIN INBOX PAGE ON THE LEFT SIDE)
ON MY FOLDERS ON THE "MANAGE FOLDERS" PAGE
I HOPE THAT MS DIDN\’T GIVE THIS GROUP THE POWER TO THROW AWAY
THE SCRIPT SOURCE CODE FOR THE OLD "CLASSIC" FORMAT
MAYBE THAT IS WHY THIS GROUP WILL NOT LET US GO BACK
MAYBE THEY DESTROYED THAT SOURCE CODE
MS YOU NEED TO PUT SOME BETTER PEOPLE ON THIS NOW PLEASE
Why are you all still miserable. Save your sanity, get a new email host. I went to Yahoo! and OMG, I can actually read my emails. They transfered my contact w/o a hitch. Their format is similar to what hotmail used to be, but better, I think!
Go with those who appreciate you. There are plenty of free email hosts.
Of course now that I\’d like to transfer my files to yahoo!, I can\’t get in them.
M. Rivera in Culver City
Having to type in the first letter of the addressee is a pain since it was so simple before when all of the addresses showed up on the right. I also am having trouble with printing an email. The right side of the email is completely cut off.
As one who worked at and left a job because they "fixed" it when it was not broken I am not impressed. If the hassles continue I will take others\’ advice and switch to Yahoo.
Melody
I recall the, ahem, delight I felt when MS said they would be keeping the classic hotmail around. Though not without flaws, it was clean enough to use and did the job. Some extra features added to it, such as more sorting and better mail management, would have made things much better.
Lo and behold, the new Live Hotmail is pushed down to everyone. The interface is cramped, scrolling is limited to a portion of the screen (or portions, depending on how you configure it), you cannot search folders (try searching then moving messages from inbox to a folder and see what kind of mess that generates), the contacts list is no longer easily accessible, the editor is slower, and on and on…
I\’ve had my hotmail account for nearly 10 years. Like others, I am going to go try gmail and/or yahoo. I don\’t know who keeps designing these "better" versions but I sincerely doubt the people doing the programming are using the interface. And if they are, heaven help them.
- another dissatisfied hotmail user
Man, This new version keeps locking up on me. I have to restart IE. I cant get rid of the display box on the left and printing is messing up? Is this a beta? How do I load the version that works back?
The functionality has improved and is almost as good as the old version now, but the interface, especially the cramped reading pane is extreemly annoying. In any configuration, right, bottom, and even when it\’s off, it\’s just too small. It\’s like looking through a slit. I have to constantly scroll text, and can\’t see most illustrations and pictures in their entirety within the frame. This was not anywhere near as much of a problem in the old Hotmail. Also there is way too much white in the background. It\’s blinding! I think if you offered more colors schemes and a bigger reading pane, it would be a huge improvement.
I wish to delete the name from the contact info when its in the "To" field, leaving only the email address. I don\’t want other recipients to see this information. I can\’t do this. I used to be able to do this, but now I can\’t. Why?Example: I want the "to" box to show joe648@hotmail.com, not Joe Smith (joe648@hotmail.com) with a box around it. It\’s not that complicated.I could get rid of the name by editing my contact list, but then I wouldn\’t know how to find the person from my list. What a hassle!Please fix it.
You have taken, what was (for the longest time) the most popular of all web based e-mail clients and turned it into a children\’s book and free or not, have caused such an uproar like never before due to the unbelievable and unacceptable changes made to a program which already had it all. You\’re so full of it with this constant and transparent "pitch" about this new version being "cleaner & faster" than the previous version,
1. As if we don\’t have eyes &
2. As if (by pulling us away from the version we\’re all fighting to have restored), you\’re doing everyone this huge favor by rescuing its members from eternal damnation, a rescuing that no one either wanted, needed nor asked for.
Windows Live Hotmail "Classic" & "Full" (as testimonies throughout indicate) was in fact "home" or has overtime become "home" to most (if not all) of it\’s members and isn\’t that/shouldn\’t that very atmosphere be your only concern? All that is important? All that matters? You might take a step back and if you do, might come to realize you\’ve made a mistake here, that the "cleaner & faster" version, (you know, the one you keep making out to be "dirty & slow" and unreliable) is and was in fact, and will be again (once it\’s restored) the version most popular, the version most widely accepted, the version which would not only help turn around those threatening to move on but help restore your reputation as well. Having never been one to "post", you might want to take all that we have to say and strongly consider bringing us back "home" again.
When I select the "TO" button and the email address selection window pops up
I can make my selections but there is NO BUTTON SEEN to "CLOSE" that window.
Also when I edit an email address, after I click the "Save" the next window that opens does not have a link to get back into my contacts, (a link on that page sure would make it easier for me to fix what you screwed up), instead I have to click on INBOX and wait for that page to open up and then click on contacts again.
AND YOU CALL THIS FAST?SLOW SLOW SLOW
Why did you ruin an already good thing?Please fix this
Hi!Do you understand the reason you have gotten so few complaints?It is because it is damned near impossible to figure out how to complainif practically nothing works in Hotmail.I accidentally stumbled across several Hotmail blogs, including thisone – but only after wasting a lot of time. And I am probably morecomputer savvy than 99% of computer users.
i cant scroll down to read any of my messages . I am so frustrated already switched to google
Like other reports, keeps completely locking up on me. Had to disable MS Error Reporting to allow me to kill locked IE task. Also, Infocard.exe keeps starting with it, and does not stop when IE closed. Any way to run the old version?
Hi folks,
Thanks again for the feedback. I want you to know that we are still reading the feedback and investigating the issues you are reporting. Unfortunately, we do not have time to respond to every single comment. Any detailed information that you can provide is very helpful for the issues you are experiencing. There will be a follow-up blog post coming soon (sorry, can\’t say exactly when, but it\’s in progress) with details on what changes we are going to make.
If you need immediate support, please to go http://support.live.com for help.
Thank you for using Hotmail, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
- Ellie Powers, program manager, Windows Live Hotmail
Ellie…(see post below)…You are all smoke and mirrors.
This stuff is a mess and your all sunshine and roses…admit it yall SCREWED UP>>>>>>BADLY.
Maybe you should go to work for the Big Three Automakers and do the pitch for them to get some money….the way honey drips out of your mouth they\’d probably come up with a wheelborrow load.
We are indeed working on fixes to many of the issues reported here and will share more news when we can.
In the meantime, as a temporary measure, please see these alternative ways of accessing your Hotmail account. http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!16221.entry
We have and continue to acknowledge that some customers are experiencing problems, and are truly sorry for this. We are working to resolve these issues. Your feedback continues to be important.
- Ellie Powers, program manager, Windows Live Hotmail
Mon, Nov 10, 2008 15:14 EST
Microsoft\’s Windows Live Hotmail Redesign Met with Wrath from Users
Posted by: Shane ONeill in News
Topic: Infrastructure
Blog: Eye on Microsoft
Current Rating: Comments: 3
Redesigns and new user interfaces don\’t have a history of being warmly embraced ("How dare they change the look and feel of my Facebook page?!?") So far, Microsoft\’s new Windows Live Hotmail interface, first unveiled in late Sept., has generated lots of fear, and more loathing.
Users by the boatload are complaining that Microsoft\’s decision to combine the "classic" and "full" versions of Hotmail has made it sluggish and confusing.
Angry responses posted at Microsoft\’s original announcement about the revamped hotmail are still rolling in today. To say users are tense about it would be an understatement.
Some of the more heated comments at the Windows Live site:
"I really HATE the new hotmail and that is the first time I have ever used all caps. On some of my browsers, it won\’t even let me delete emails. On other browsers, if I click on a link inside the email nothing happens. I can\’t be the only one with hand pain and not being able to view a larger amount of emails at a time to delete, just makes for more clicking. I am sorry that my hotmail was my primary email address and I signed up for so many things with it. I have been using it since the 90\’s. I will be opening a yahoo account in my name."
"Please put me down under the "I hate it" column. Too many crappy things to list here…. The font changing (I don\’t need glasses so why did you increase the size?). Seeing fewer folders on left, and fewer emails in the in box due to the larger font. I know you added some extra features like better spell check, etc… but why did you feel the need to change the look? Is it because i\’m seeing more ads? I just don\’t like it so I think i\’ll switch the Gmail."
"Just got back from a week in Mexico and came into this new mess you created. Get me back to what I had or I may change companies. Contacts now under first name. Trying to find anything is difficult. I had to catch up on 145 emails and I don\’t need the stress this created."
"How do I switch back to Classic? You have one week to fix this mess or I am closing my account and using my work email…"
"Mike Schackwitz [Lead Program Manager, Windows Live Hotmail], be a man and take it on the chin, you\’d have been better off spending your summer on the beach rather than screwing up hotmail. I\’d like you to reply to me personally but unfortunately I can\’t open my inbox, idiot."
Microsoft responded to the redesign outrage by thanking users for their "thoughtful comments and questions" and providing answers to the most pressing questions. Lead Windows Live Hotmail programmer Mike Schackwitz is apologetic and sincere in his efforts clear up confusion and improve the interface, but even after some explanation, the venom comes out again in the comment area.
"Your new upgrade or should I say downgrade is awful. Pages are superimposed on each other, cannot read or send email, so…..I just set a
how frustrating !!!!!!!!!!!!!! i didnt want this new version … and guess what .. it wont let me scroll down to read emails and also locks up on me …….. g mail here we come.. how annoying…………… it was actually a horribl surprise when the new hotmail arrived… why change something when it was so good . ;-(
I HATE THE NEW HOTMAIL!!!
You have received almost 6000 complaints about Hotmail (on your other complaint site) and you still haven\’t listened to your customers. Enough is enough … have you not read the thousands of complaints or added them up? I would love to know how many people wanted to complain and couldn\’t find any of the sites. The sites are well hidden and deliberatly I am sure.
HOTMAIL!!! Faster? Easier? BULL!!! Do you believe that you have reinvented the wheel or made a better mouse trap with
your new version of Hotmail? The new improved Hotmail is now … junk! A Fred Flintstone hammer and chissel would
work better than what you have forced upon us.
I have to scroll all over the place using two different scroll bars. The email area shows only a few lines, no matter what monitor display I use and the lines are chopped off at the ends. The ads at the top of the page cover-up half of the page and if I move my curser over the ad a pop-up comes up and covers the email area I was reading and I can\’t get rid of it unless I x-out and start MSN and Hotmail all over again!
Where did you hire your developers from … a Kmart Blue Light Special? You have ruined Hotmail! Fire them all! If not … I suggest that you climb into one of your private jets and fly to Washington DC to ask for a handout like all the other losers, scammers, liars and thieves are doing because … you\’re gonna need a financial handout if you don\’t start to listen to your customers.
I can get my news anywhere on the internet. I will no longer be using MSN as my homepage and I am in the process of moving everything out of Hotmail and away from your entire site.
I didn\’t want to leave MSN or Hotmail but you forced me to do so.
Sorry for your loss.
In mid-December, we\’ll be changing Hotmail so that it scrolls just like Classic Hotmail. This will give you more space to read mail. Read more here: http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!23799.entryThis is in response to your customer feedback. We do listen.- Ellie Powers, program manager, Windows Live Hotmail
New Hotmail=new Vista=new Coke!
Sorry, Dick cant visit his blog. He is too busy getting his resume together.Here lies DickHe screwed up Hotmail and made millions miserable.
I am so sick of this "new improved Hotmail" nightmare! Still can\’t view my messages even with Full Screen on. Can\’t click on the options and messages are cut off on right side of page. Can\’t edit a message I plan to forward because I can only see one line at-a-time. Page doesn\’t fit my monitor no matter what viewing size I use. I spend more time writing a complaint to Hotmail than using it anymore.Hotmail Staff: I hate you for ruining my internet experience and making my life miserable with your, now horrible, Live Hotmail! I wish it would die and go away!
Yeah, nice one Dick so you\’ve made it real fast. Now can we have the OLD ONE BACK.Go to the feedback section of hotmail and complain. You\’ll find it on Options 9 ( top right corner ) -> More Options ( on drop down menu ) -> and scroll down ( Scrolling is doing my head in. Do you understand that? It\’s doing my head in. Why don\’t you make your hotmail out of sunbaked sand? ) to the bottom of the page. Feedback is on the bottom right corner. Advertising will kill this off. Thick ad with nearly as much space wasted on either side ( and wasting my e-mail space ). No Hotmail, I don\’t want a thick ad. Just get rid of them altogether and have an ad link to the ad page. If I want to look at the ads then I can look at a whole page of them. Stop those annoying Flash ads. They\’re worse than Pop-ups. How long is it until someone invents the Flash blocker?Please , please, please can I have my old interface back? I\’m sick of scrolling, sick of opening up e-mails that I didn\’t open, sick of having to close them down again, sick of having to move my cursor to the scroll bar, sick of having to move my cursors around all over the window to find the borders of function boxes, and my eyes hurt through the lack of colour contrast. I couldn\’t log in earlier. I\’m sick of all of this. Recommend to new users. Yeah sure I would, I\’d recommend that they stay well clear of it. You gave me the choice to stay with my old interface at the beginning. I tried the new one and instantly didn\’t like it and decided that I liked the old one better. Now my feelings are growing stronger. I now, not only not like it, I hate it. Everytime I use it, I hate it more and more. Then one day, you say to yourself enough is enough and you lose another customer. Who wants to advertise on something that no-one uses. Change it back and change it quick. Businesses like gratuitous, superfluous change, customers hate it. I\’ve sent an e-mail before. It it possible to have a reply, please? Screen resolution??? How many excuses are you going to come up with. I see maybe we\’re all wrong and Hotmail is right after all. Why don\’t you save everyone the trouble and resign now. You know it\’s inevitable. How much has this fiasco cost? I could come up with at least 10 ways to improve the old interface. Congratulations to the idiots who designed this. You\’re real good.
I checked or unchecked your little box that was suppose to hide my last name. Thanks.
HEY EVERYBODY, PROBLEM SOLVED !!!!!!!!!Ellie Powers-Boyle says:"There will be a follow-up blog post coming soon (sorry, can\’t say exactly when, but it\’s in progress) with details on what changes we are going to make."Phew. Situation under control. I too find that whenever I\’m in the s**t a follow up blog post usually fixes it. All Hotmail users look forward with glee to more changes. We\’ll all tell you how to fix it.OLD ONE BACK – OLD ONE BACK – OLD ONE BACK – OLD ONE BACK – OLD ONE BACK –OLD ONE BACK
So how do I get stop my name being shown? Where is the easy to find tick box? I\’ve checked it and it is unchecked, WHY IS MY NAME BEING SHOWN. What a mirage all this Windows stuff is.
I\’ve unchecked my privacy tick box. You\’ve got my name already, why should I enter it again? If I delete my name from your box I can\’t proceed. You say that you\’ve had complaints about peoples names being shown and that you\’ve fixed it. Well you haven\’t.
Yeah, I did save it.
Adding to the daily Hotmail problems, like Anthony, I too cannot stop my last name from being published on this page. I do not want Hotmail to share my last name by making it public … check, uncheck, check, uncheck the privacy box … I have tried every way, following your directions, to keep my last name from being shown. But your system won\’t accept the change …. sound familiar Hotmail staff? We don\’t like your changes either!!!Now I\’m going to have to spend hours … perhaps days … trying to figure out how to get out of your Hotmail maize! "Come on scammers, cheaters, liers, thieves … Hotmail sends you an invitation to access their customer\’s personal information by allowing last names to be flaunted all over the world! Hotmail Live … I wish I had never answered your questions … I wish I never provided you with personal information.
This says it all:Ron wrote on Nov 17: You have taken, what was (for the longest time) the most popular of all web based e-mail clients and turned it into a children\’s book and free or not, have caused such an uproar like never before due to the unbelievable and unacceptable changes made to a program which already had it all. You\’re so full of it with this constant and transparent "pitch" about this new version being "cleaner & faster" than the previous version, 1. As if we don\’t have eyes & 2. As if (by pulling us away from the version we\’re all fighting to have restored), you\’re doing everyone this huge favor by rescuing its members from eternal damnation, a rescuing that no one either wanted, needed nor asked for. Windows Live Hotmail "Classic" & "Full" (as testimonies throughout indicate) was in fact "home" or has overtime become "home" to most (if not all) of it\’s members and isn\’t that/shouldn\’t that very atmosphere be your only concern? All that is important? All that matters? You might take a step back and if you do, might come to realize you\’ve made a mistake here, that the "cleaner & faster" version, (you know, the one you keep making out to be "dirty & slow" and unreliable) is and was in fact, and will be again (once it\’s restored) the version most popular, the version most widely accepted, the version which would not only help turn around those threatening to move on but help restore your reputation as well. Having never been one to "post", you might want to take all that we have to say and strongly consider bringing us back "home" again.
Some time ago I arranged to forward e-mails from 2 hotmail accounts to another hotmail accountsFor some reason, the e-mails aren\’t forwarding, and I\’m not receiving replies that have been sent. I can\’t find a way to contact anyone for help or advice, and the help section is fruitless for me. I have tried to reset the options but to no avail. For the first time ever, I am seriously considering changing my e-mail account to somewhere more reliable.
This interface is better, at least my scroll finger isn\’t sore, and there\’s good screen space for my messages but leave the ad at the top please. My full name had changed back to first name yesterday but now it\’s back to full name again. Why is it changing back and forward?
Nope it\’s the full name again. I wasn\’t asked if I wanted to hide it or not.
Dick "crash" Craddock is where? Ellie now has his job title? Are heads Rolling?Classic Hotmail or gmail bound forever!
How can you hit forward and get to all your contacts? It won\’t add contacts to the forward…it wants to make a completely new message. Sometimes you can read all of an email & sometimes it\’s too big and you can\’t scroll down to read it. The files aren\’t scrambled now (thank goodness!!) but there are still a lot of bugs in the system. Just not happy at all~~
The format, even if there were some "improvements" made in response to customer comments, still stinks. No matter what I do, even putting addies on my safe list, there are emails that I receive every day that Hotmail STILL wants me to go thru 3 clicks to actually open!!! And, if I want to use CC or BB–too bad about the people @ the end of my contact list. The scroll button reaches the bottom of my screen with some names still below that, and I can\’t move the "box" up to get down there. In addition to that, I had finally gotten my contact list in the order I wanted, but w/the "upgrade" they show up in a different order. I have to figure out how to enter the info so it will be back the way I had it–IF it can be done.I\’m not excited @ all about using Yahoo, but do think I will have to look into this gmail thing I hear about. Life is too short to be irritated everytime I try to read my emails.
just when i though i was done with hot mail, i find i can use it again. i guess somebody there was listening to our comments. up to now i have been using other email sites. about time marge
Microsoft Rolls Back Hated Hotmail Changes (MSFT)Eric Krangel | December 18, 2008 4:40 PM Back in September, Microsoft (MSFT) introduced a series of "improvements" to hotmail.com that were largely panned by users. By now, web companies should be used to histrionic responses to any change in a service people are used to, but the Hotmail complaints were different: The new ad layout made it so people couldn\’t read their emails.It took a few months, but Microsoft has bowed to users\’ wishes and rolled back the changes.Another baby step in the right direction from the always-being-overhauled Microsoft online team. According to a November report, Microsoft\’s Hotmail is still the market leader in webmail with 283 million users, ahead of Yahoo\’s (YHOO) 274 million subscribers and Gmail\’s (GOOG) 113 million users.See Also:Another Microsoft Online Executive Shakeup. Good!
Now give us back Classic Hotmail!
I\’m trying to get used to this new mail. After so many years of using MSN mail, this is a lot different for me. Also, where do I locate the Junk Mail Safe List so I can clear out some uneccessary names so that it will let me add more to the safe list?
Hey, there! I’m Dick Craddock, Group Program Manager for Hotmail. As we roll out the newest release of Windows Live Hotmail, I want to talk a bit about what kind of performance improvements we’ve made, and how we made them. I also want to talk about our decision to combine the old “Classic” and “Full” versions of Hotmail into a single experience that we think will work extremely well for all our users. Ummmmm….yaaaa. How\’d that work out for everyone?
I have a couple of paid hotmail accounts. Will hotmail ever support IMAP for paid accounts?
i added a comment that this new hotmail is annoyingly alot slower and jerkier to use than the last one, and that i DIDNT like the layout and you added my comment to my profile page, totally against my wishes, and also unbelievably, you edited it to make it sound like i liked the new service (which i do not as it is awful) and also re-wrote the heading. Remove this comment from my profile page as it not only is deeply offensive that you couldnt be bothered to read my comment and reply, but also that you falsely and without my permission used it for your own benefit. i cannot find how to remove it myself so as you took the liberty to add it, now remove it in the same way.. I will be following this up as i am severly worried as to the security and privicy of hotmail if this can happen.
For most of you who complaint against Microsoft with "revised" Hotmail, I\’d suggest you try out Google\’s GMail. It have many new features. (Don\’t you dare delete my comment (Free to Speak!)! It don\’t have annoy Ad\’s just like Yahoo! and Hotmail does. All of ad\’s is in text words instead of annoy Flash Ad. Please excuse my English grammar (I\’m deaf)
Hmmm, it doesn\’t seem too many users like the change. If that\’s the case, why not comment on it? Maybe you should listen to the majority, or at least explain yourselves to your users. It seems everything is one way, yours. I have to wonder why you are trying to fix something that wasn\’t broken? Sometimes it\’s better to leave things alone until you are certain you have created a better product. I don\’t think that\’s the case here. Sorry.
Well, I find the new really slow, reminds me of dial-up, cannot figure out what I may be doing to have it take so long, 30-45 seconds.
Re: Moving the advertising to the side. I don\’t have a wide-screen monitor. You have now forced me to open every email (including the junk mail) because the full subject line is not fully displayed. Hotmail freezes, is slow, and is now more useless than before your November changes. I didn\’t believe that the Hotmail crew can make it any worse but you did. I am sure your so-called (cough and spit) elite Hotmail programers … will soon offer more pitiful changes to a program that once-upon-a-time worked so well.
I Cant stand it, this is my inbox and it doesnt feel private anymore not when i got idiot Ads in there, do other places also have ads in there mail boxes because if not im gonna switch. Ive been using hotmail for as long as i can remember and now i cant stand it, this is intrusive and an invasion of my Privacy
The ad pane sometimes covers up my email content to the right and I miss some of my email content. This is nuts! The window was small as it was. now i have to scroll up down left right to catch glimpses of my email message. Lose the ad pane to the right.It was working fine before. After 6 years with hotmail, I am looking elsewhere.
I completely agree with those who have complained about the ads on the right side of the screen. I too am looking elsewhere. This is ridiculous. Change for the sake of change is absurd. I have also been using hotmail since I can\’t remember when, and I used to like it. If I wanted ads, I would turn off the pop-up blocker. Please offer an option to eliminate these ads. Full view should be able to be turned on permanently.
Warning, Comments are removed to keep the positive or not so bad once only.Do not post.
@ Nameless: The only comments that are removed are those containing profanity, containing links posted for commercial gain, or otherwise violating our terms of service. We do welcome your feedback, and we read it all. Thanks!
Wow! after reading some of these comments, I\’ve felt compelled to contribute! I signed up to hotmail back in 2001 I think, primarily to use as a portal for msn messenger (which I still use to this day). I quickly got fed up of hotmail back then as I found it clunky, a little ugly and slow, slow, slow… also, I\’ve used a desktop-based email client for the longest time, which just meant I didn\’t require full use of webmail (except as a junk mail account to sign up to junk I didn\’t wanna check… eg: Facebook). Anyway, I\’ve monitored the evolution (or devolution as I can definitely see many would find it as being!) and never really been compelled to use it properly again nor felt any reason to recommend the service to friends or family. Until maybe now…. *ducks to dodge rotten tomatoes* In all honesty I\’ve only written a couple of emails through this "new hotmail" interface in the last month and mainly using the shared calendar features instead with a small workgroup currently. However, I do have to say, it does seem much faster, responsive and "lighter" than older iterations (though still not as fast as the BRILLIANT Gmail – I recommend that first to EVERYONE! So would Paul Thurrott, an influencial reviewer of Windows software who is well respected in MS) and simpler to approach. I think it\’s fine for what is necessary to get simple emailing through the door – in fact it kinda reflects the spartan look of Gmail – and I\’ve currently not experienced any of the email viewing troubles others have complained about in full view or preview pane view (maybe they\’ve fixed text previewing now?). It also syncs with Outlook again, which is neat and probably the closest thing functioning like an IMAP account at the moment.On that note, here are some problems I do agree with and some that I have of my own. Hotmail needs to be IMAP enabled – it would gain a lot of wins for mobile users (yes I mean iPhone owners). I have noticed, even after using – sorry, ABUSING hotmail for years by filling it with junk email, MS seemed to have tackled a lot of the junk problem that this webmaili suffered in the past (again, maybe it\’s just my account not seeing so much of a problem, I don\’t know) so MS shouldn\’t be afraid of giving people the ability to sync their accounts to other devices again. Also, I agree with the ad banner being distracting on the right. But I also found it distracting on the top, as this jarred from the rest of the sites aesthetics (yes, I\’m actually using my Live home page fully linked to my twitter, stumbleupon et al). Aesthetics aside, there shouldn\’t be a need for ad banners full stop (or period if you\’re living on the other side of the pond!) In fact, the screenshot you give at the top of this blog is a little deceptive to users it shows NO ad banner anywhere! Maybe that\’s coz it\’s running hotmail plus? You seriously think I\’m gonna pay you guys to get rid of an ad banner?! Please do your loyal customers and returning customers (that\’s me) a favour and remove it all together, like on the rest of the Live site, before we all walk away again!One thing I was recently horrified at – new customers can\’t forward their mail to anything other than a Microsoft service! I have a very old account as I explained and when I tested emailng forwarding to a Gmail account I had, there was no problem. However, I recently got my colleague to sign up to a Live account but he is yahoo! mail user and when he went to forward his new @live.co.uk mail to his regular account, it refused to do it! That\’s bad, bad, bad Windows Live Team and you gotta fix that fast, fast, fast or there might be another anti-trust suit or something of the sort knocking at your door! You shouldn\’t assume all of your new customers are joining because they have given up on their old emails in favour of yours, as you provide a very wide range of services! My friend only signed up to a hotmail account so he could take advantage of your Office Live Workspace fully! You shouldn\’t tie them in to having no option (but maybe some users could say that about other aspects of the "new hotmail" :-p)As I\’ve already suggested, personally this new layout seems fine (but definitely not great). But I have been more compelled by it in the last month overall than I have in the last 8 years of not giving it a chance (maybe more so because I have been using the other services the account now provides) and have been happy to recommend it to others as a good second choice, leaving the coveted first place to you know who…. You still got a lot to do!
Since moving to Live Hotmail. It doesn\’t load pages using Mozilla. Works fine on Explorer. But I prefer Mozilla. If I can\’t go back to Classic and use the service, I\’m outta here.
Oh yea, Dick Craddock, How do I go back to a working version of Hotmail?
I do not like the new windows live calender, suddenly I am not getting my email pop up alerts for email or calender reminders. I have been a loyal customer, I have windows XP and been using windows since the 1996 version, I have all microsoft downloads,k and your internet explorer, but since you made the changes in november my IE freezes daily and sometimes many times in an hour, I recently nstalled modzilla again and it works better wioth all of those features than the IE, the only thing I can not do with it is play games on msn games, I would like my pop up feature back, please. I have waited for a long time for the windows profile to start to become popular, I got tired of blogging to myself, I honestly believe I was one of the first to sign up with it. I am having trouble downloading photos. I am getting tired of the issues. if I am going to pay $200 for upgrade software to the next level it had sure better work. If I am going to be loyal to the MS and windows family then they sure better be quick at fixing issues. I was not given a choice to change from my calender and now I am missing important alerts because the pop up with the bell sound is not working. I am truly very tired of patiently waiting for you to work the bugs out o I have to go back to gmail, I left them to come back to you because you sent me an email stating all the exciting things coming up, oh and by the way, how do you get a mailbox alias. I should be able to have more than one name going to the same box just like I can at bellsouth or comcast email. i am thinking about leaving you and going back to bellsouth lor google. i have sent emails now I was someoone to contact me by phone and work these things out, you have my number on the account. Thank you very much for your time and hopefully quick response to these isues.
oh yeah and the page load time is slower with the new box, I waited 5 minutes yesterday for the page to load and no it is not my computer, that\’s been checked out. it also says loading on the left side. As far as the aid I agree here is an idea slim the ads down cut them in 1/2 width wise. Please expect me to lose mailbox space for someones as. or you can put it in the blank space under the inbox area, there is a gap under the inbox box. then we get our boxes back to the correct side. Thankk you for your hopefully fast response to these issuies.
When I open LIVE Hotmail on Explorer, the browser shuts down. Doesn\’t happen when I open with Mozilla. Is this the Master Plan?
This was an interesting read. I really like that hotmail is actively trying to improve the product and the user experience, its great
For a while it seemed like only gmail was doing that but its really great to see you guys doing something similar too 
So thankyou 
.
Does anyone know how to take your favorite links you have saved into Windows Live???? And what happened to settings where I could make some changes?
I am very sure this is a replica of many other posts, BUT… Dick, (Craddock) we dont care how fast you made H.M. just LOSE the ads that block previews. It has worsened from only being on the right to being an overlay on the preview screen. I am not so tied to this email address that I can\’t change, but PLEASE listen to your users.