Hotmail rollout picks up steam!

I am one of those 100 million!  The update hit my inbox over the weekend.  So many goodies in there it hurts!  The conversation view is fantastic :D  I love that I can use my Outlook keyboard shortcuts in Hotmail (that might actually an old feature).  Adding content with Bing is fast and easy.  I finally have a single home for all my contacts too!

Not to disrespect all the other great features in this update, but my favorite is the removal of taglines.  That was critical to the switch from gmail.

Thanks again to the entire Hotmail team!

I'm not one of them yet, which makes me a bit sad, but at least I know it's coming... maybe by month's end?! :) But even more important to me is the ActiveSync functionality. My whole family will benefit from this!

I have it as well and really like the new features. I think I like the conversation view better in the Windows live mail desktop client however the Hotmail version is _much_ better than Gmail's.

One thing I'd LOVE to have is the ability to create sub-folders as I have a lot of folders and this option would help with organization.

Again, great job!

I had it earlier today but this evening after I clicked into my linked acounts it reverted back to the old style. Anyone else had this?

I don't know where to leave feedback, so I'll ask the question here...

First let me say, fantastic improvements, and I too am excited about the Activesync, that will be huge for me.

However, I've found one little annoyance that I'm wondering if it's an option I can turn off.  Everytime I sign in to hotmail now, it automatically signs me in to messenger (on the web, not my desktop app).  I have NO DESIRE to be signed in to messenger everytime I sign in to Hotmail...is there a way to turn this functionality off?  I looked through the settings and couldn't find anything.  Any help?

Thanks for all your hard work!!

Conversation Threading is really good.

But the one thing I HATE (and something which may still get me running to GMail for) is the contact information automatically updating (although some contacts it says it will automatically update, others don't - and doesn't seem to be any logic to the ones that have that or not).  Anyway.....

I do not want the contact information I put in to be updated automatically, I want to control the information I store.

How do I turn this feature off????

The one contacts things just seems too 'messy'... I have some added as 'friends' but can't delete them from my profile without deleting the contact fully (and when re-added but they are listed as friends on my profile.

At the end of the day, I just want a simple contact list which I can completely manage.

The most useful feature - Exchange Sync is still to happen.  I would have prefered that over any of the 'new' hotmail features.

I've got it. Thanks! Excellent work.

Following on from my earier comment I have found that if I switch to one of my other accounts and then back it reverts back to the old hotmail. If I log out and then log in again the new one comes back.  Hope they can fix this.

@rick_london. I had the same thing happen to me but once I signed out completely and signed back in it reverted back to the new Hotmail. Hope this works for you too. Love the new Hotmail by the way

@rick_london I guess you were posting while i was posting. I see you've figured it out.

Thanks Sadatay. I noticed that my other accounts have not been updated yet. Maybe that's why it reverts back to the old in in my main account when I switch back. Hopefully when they are updated it will work fine. I love the new version too:-)

Still nothing new.  Hopfully I will get it soon. :)

@rick_london - Linked accounts are not necessarily on the same cluster, in fact it's statically unlikely. Your linked accounts will be upgraded in due course. Thanks

I have no new Hotmail at my Zune HD yet...

According to Hotmail, I am not a one in a million. I still do not believe there is an update coming out. I think that it is a scam. When will I get my update?

I do have a question.  When Hotmail ActiveSync goes live, will it only be for the mobile connections or will we be able to setup Outlook with a Hotmail Exchange account as well?  I only ask because the Outlook Connector.....well....sucks.  It errors out quite frequently even after reinstalling both it and Outlook and doesn't always want to sync material.  Do you guys have this information?

I got the new Hotmail on one of my account but not on all of them. I thought that could be some kind of error as most of them are Windows Live Admin Center accounts... but this article answers me what I was wondering. Now I just gotta wait to have it on my main account.

By the way, I believe this is the best upgrade in a long, long time, for what I could use. The only thing that still lacks is the capability to create subfolders to arrange e-mails. But it is a great service anyway: the reason why I moved from Google Apps to Windows Live and Windows Live Admin Center.

Keep up the good work!

Finally got the update, looking great, but have some issues- what is the point of Office Docs button?  This button would serve much better as a function to attach Office Live docs from SkyDrive.  Just seems to make more sense to be able to.  So to attach office docs, I created a Network Share to Office Docs on SkyDrive, something that should have been right out of the box.  

I really think it's time to ditch the ads.  Gmail can do, why can't you?  

Calendar seems unchanged.  One thing I love being able to do is sync my calendar events between Outlook, Gmail, iCal, iPhone and iPad.  I'm hoping you guys make it easier with ActiveSync.

Love the Conversation View.  

Skydrive integration really needs some work.  Live Sync, Office Live and Hotmail should all be able to access docs, photos and video in the cloud, period.  

Overall, nice update, but in th end, I hope Microsoft now fully understands why Gmail has been taking a large share of their customer base- more open and more simplified.

Well, I have some suggestions, so I may just post 'em here.

1) What about integrating Windows Live Skydrive with Windows Explorer, making it appear as a device or just a "cloud harddrive" so acces to de directory tree could be more easy?

2) About, Hotmail, I know we can receive e-mail from other accounts via POP3. But what about sending mails through STMP? This would be really great. That thing "... on behalf of ..." isn't just as good enough for some people.

3) About Windows Live Messenger, wouldn't it be great if you also could chat with people using Facebook's chat for example? I know that this is still a Beta so I'm waiting to see more in the final release.

New ideas will be poping in my head within the following days, as always. I'll try to pick te right post where to comment about 'em.

Again, thanks for all the effort you're putting on Windows Live and go on!

I really love the new ‘Wave 4’ features of Live Hotmail, however what has happened to the Out-of-Office / vacation auto-responder function that was available in the 'old' version of Live Hotmail - or am I just missing something really obvious?

Incidentally ActiveSync... ActiveSync... ActiveSync please, pretty please with sugar on-top... and a cherry :-)

P.S. I have no affiliation to Apple or iPads (I just thought it was a cool avatar graphic)

I got the New Hotmail today! thnks Windows Live Team! I'll enjoy it now here from Brazil.

i got mine today. now i may use hotmail more often.

Mike,

Great work on the new update. Just a few issues I've noticed:

1. The index doesn't seem to update very well for search -- I cleared out my Junk folder a few hours ago, but if I punch in a letter (such as "b") in the search box it will display e-mail addresses that were listed in the junk mail messages.

2. The contacts feature is pretty messed up at the moment - view the details for a contact, and it looks broken beyond all comprehension. Happening in IE8, fully updated.

3. My account seems to switch back and forth between Wave 3 and Wave 4. Seems weird.

4. If you go through the process to add a POP account to your Hotmail it seems to switch the account back to Wave 3 temporarily. Logging out and back in a few times seems to fix it.

I love it. I posted that in my facebook too :-). But, I am surprised that language options are now centralized and we can't hve seperate language options for Mail and Live Home page. Previously I was having my mail in my local language and English to my Home page. This is done to make sure that if I need to upload any files to skydrive or photos, I can drag-drop instead of having to use the browse

option. Actually I don't understand why we can't drag-drop files to skydrive or photos if we have the language option other than English.

I had the language option as "Telugu" (India).

I got the new update on all of my email accounts and those of my friends.  However, what I really need is the ability to create SUB-FOLDERS.  All of the other email accounts have this feature and Windows Live really needs it .  And, for Active Sync.  This is the most important for me.  Will everyone get it at the same time or will it be rolled out like this.  In any case, how will be know it is available.  Do you have the details for out to connect (email server, domain, etc) so we can check from time to time?

Can somebody please reply to this, I am scared.

I went to hotmail.com today, and a weired page showed up. It looked like the Home page. Then, I looked at the favicon, and, IT WAS THE ORANGE LETTER ICON!!! As I didn't want to potentially loose the page I was on, I went to Hotmail using the link at the top. But it led me to the old Hotmail. So I clicked on it in the original tab, and I lost the new Hotmail. I tried going back a page and back two pages and it only would bring me to the old Hotmail. What happened?

Can somebody please respond to this question. THANK YOU!

I also have the same problem.  My account that does have the new Hotmail switches back to the old Hotmail after switching to other accounts that aren't upgraded yet.  Now, I keep losing the new features even after logging out and in again.  I hope this problem is fixed soon.

Looks nice. But still a redirect to msn after logging off. why???

Do we get mailbox aliases for the mail domains, hosted on hotmail?

Waiting for Exchange ActiveSync. This is going to be the killer feature for Hotmail after a long long time..

@AlexD77

Indeed WHY redirect to MSN ? I posted this question before in the teamblog website. It seems to be ignored completely. Probably they want more page-hits on msn websites.

I also posted before with a question why the **** you (microsoft) are deciding for me what language settings I get. I just checked my hotmail, and this time I am lucky it is in English and not Dutch, however, now the date is set to US format.

@barts2108 You can disable the opening of MSN messenger within the messenger preferences I believe.

Exciting stuff! Thanks for the update, this information is very much appreciated. I hope my account migrates to the new Hotmail today!

All we need now is the ability to upload folders on SkyDrive and a proper embed code to embed WMV videos on SkyDrive. ;)

www.timacheson.com/.../skydrive_feature_requests

It appears that Active Sync is working for many people now, is that just hit and miss?  I have the new wave 4, but active sync doesnt accept my credentials.  - Also I use a custome email address (not an address that ends in hotmail) so I guess this shouldnt be an issue?

Good work though, I love the new hotmail, but I NEED active sync!

Will there be a tool to import data from Gmail?  That would be really great.

After long wait Finally I got it today Morning! and I want to give thanks to Hotmail team for their excellent work. They have done great job. conversation view is really good. Its also fast than past. overall performance and new look is really cool. I give Hotmail 100% marks. Hope they will keep it up in future.

Best of Luck!

I like it, I just want to be able to customize the colors and theme and not have to pick from the few available themes.

I HAVE A PROBLEM--HOTMAIL HATES ME. Yesterday, I got the new Hotmail but this morning I have the old Hotmail. I told you all it was a spam.

I want hotmail to give mobile support in nepal as well, as it gives in other european countries, we are unable to communicate through our mobile.

our zip code is +977

@James Manes

We are not talking about the built in messenger. We are talking about the redirect to a msn website after signing out from hotmail

Once you turn on Conversation view, you have to go to Options to switch to individual messages again??? Please add a simple "Switch to individual messages" above each conversation view.

Thanks for all the great comments! Please keep ‘em coming.

@ anonymous: You can quickly turn conversation view on and off using the “sort” drop-down menu on the right-hand side of the toolbar above the message list. It’s that little icon just above the “flag” column in the message list.

@JRedH: You can choose to sign out of Messenger using the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner of the window – you get it by clicking on your user name, above where it says “profile | sign out”. That setting is “sticky” between sessions, so once you’ve signed out you won’t be signed in again automatically.

@Rohan: Thanks for your patience! We’re really going pretty fast now, and should have your account updated very soon.

@Yogesh Sharma: We’re working on getting vacation replies enabled again – they are coming soon.

To everyone: Thanks for all the great feedback and suggestions (nested folders, send through SMTP for added accounts, etc.). We can’t promise to do everything immediately, of course, but we are dedicated to continuing to make Hotmail better and better. We are really grateful to all of you for using our service and giving us the great feedback. Keep it coming!

@Dick Craddock:

Is there any particular reason why some accounts seem to switch back and forth between the Wave 3 UI and Wave 4?

Hello, I am one of those customers whose account has been updated. All my three accounts have been updated.

THANK YOU HOTMAIL.

I am still exploring new features.

How can I view my office documents in my mail because when we click it, it starts to download rather than showing it in hotmail as promised!!

Hi Mike,

Does the upgrade automatically mean that we get the Exchange ActiveSync enabled or is that a seperate rollout. I got the Wave 4 upgrade yesterday, however I cannot get my Android phone setup my Exchange connection for Hotmail.

Thanks,

Pranay

The new features on the whole look pretty decent and beneficial. I've been using hotmail for about ten years and am reluctant to move to other providers (not completely sold by gmail I'm afraid). But I have been having some problems with the new conversation feature. The idea isn't entirely new to me (I ave a gmail account as wellf or work) but it seems to be struggling a bit more in Hotmail.

I have just noticed some suggestions about turning the feature off, which is great - I wasn't aware I could do this, so thanks to Dick Craddock.

I dont object to the feature, but it is lumping all kinds of unrelated emails together into supposed "conversations" and it is very confusing. After some thought I realised that the one thing they have in common is that they all have no subject. Is hotmail grouping them together because of this?

I can control whether I send an email with a subject (but come on, how often do we all write emails in a hurry to people we know without using them...) but I cant enforce it with people sending them to me. Rather than "reclaiming my inbox" I feel rather like I have lost it.

New mails are appearing buried in "conversations", which seem to be incongruous lists on unrelated subjects from different people. I've already missed several important emails over the last few days.

For example in my inbox list there is apparently one new email (in bold) at the top. In reality, when I click this 'email' it contains three from different people on different subjects, muddled in with different emails I have sent or have received from other people. It's all very messy I'm afraid. Surely I cant be the only one have problems...? As I say the conversation idea is not new to me, so I dont think I'm just being a bit of an idiot. The same is happening with emails in folders (e.g inside a older called "Emails from Joe Blogs" are lots of totally unrelated emails now in conversations... apparently just because they all have "no subject" and are being categorised together).

Glad I can turn it off for the time being, but it is a useful feature and it seems a shame to have to lose it simply because it doesn't really work. Hope this makes sense. I was delighted to find this blog where microsoft actually seem to be listening and responding to feedback  :o)

@Deioneus: The answer is a bit complex. It doesn’t have anything to do with the particular account, but rather with whether or not you sign out and sign back in during the update. Basically, your account is tied to a cluster, and we update the machines that serve the Web UI by cluster. But we can’t update all the machines in the cluster simultaneously, since that would interrupt service. So we update those machines in groups over a short period of time. That means for that brief period of time, the cluster is actually running both versions of the software – both old and new – on different machines. The software is smart enough that any given session will stay on the SAME version. However NEW sessions (a new sign in) could get either the old or new version. So, when you sign out and sign back in while the cluster is being updated, there is some small probability that you’ll “switch” UIs. Once the cluster update is complete, all sessions for all accounts on that cluster will have the new UI. We realize this isn’t ideal, but it’s one of the tradeoffs we made so that you would not experience any service interruption during the update. It’s also something we will consider addressing in the future. Thanks for the question!

Great job, I'm looking forward to the upgrade - ESPECIALLY ActiveSync; I refuse to use any other e-mail service and it has been hard not to switch to Gmail due to it's IMAP and syncing functionalities with my Blackberry.

I do have one question.  I know that there is a huge issue with people not being able to delete contacts and e-mail addresses from the auto complete cache in the current version of Windows Live Hotmail - even after they have been removed from the contact list/address book.  Is this an issue that is resolved in wave 4?  

I feel like a child waiting for Christmas morning :)

I will try asking this question a third time. When Hotmail ActiveSync goes live, will it only be for the mobile connections or will we be able to setup Outlook with a Hotmail Exchange account as well?  I only ask because the Outlook Connector.....well....sucks.  It errors out quite frequently even after reinstalling both it and Outlook and doesn't always want to sync material.  Can someone answer this?

just wondering how long it should take to get an access/account hacked problem resolved - there seems to be a problem with the new system posting to the forums when you can't log into you account...I also noticed a rather large number of similar problems since the last updates to live rolled out

- I use the account to work with helping the homeless charities and people wishing to make donations cannot reach me...

Today i checked my email and... voilà! My new (awesome) hotmail! :-D

I have been very happy with the new Hotmail. Its also good to have something new and fresh from Microsoft in an era with Google running wild! My only complaint is the contacts section. There has to be a way to opt out of importing Facebook contacts without opting out of facebook with Windows Live. Having a flood of individuals (including duplicates, because people use weird names on facebook) contacts in my contacts is horrible. Please Please allow users a choice to import all contacts ,and tell the Windows Phone 7 folks the same  ;)

Other than the contacts issue, You all did a great Job!!!!

Apart from conversation threading I'm not sure what else is so good about the new hotmail.

From the hype I was expecting it to be amazing - but not really sure what everyone likes about it (is it really any different?)

For me, contacts is now completely messed up - having (most) of them say that the information I am putting in will be automatically updated when the contact updates their details (what if I don't want my information overwritten?!!!).

The whole 'Windows Live Profile' just seems pointless - not being able to remove 'friends' without deleting  them off MSN Messenger and Contacts (in help is says there is no difference now between contacts and friends, so why doesn't friends listed on my profile match all my contacts?).  

If they got rid (or at least gave the option) of automatic updating contacts, and also got rid of the Live Profile bit then it might be good.

Not having exchange sync has been the biggest let down.

@Steve B: Outlook does not support the ActiveSync protocol, since ActiveSync is for mobile devices. Make sure you've updated to the latest version of the Outlook Connector (you can get it here: office.microsoft.com/.../microsoft-office-outlook-hotmail-connector-overview-HA010222518.aspx), and we will continue to look at ways of making Outlook and Hotmail work even better together.

Ok, I was just misunderstanding ActiveSync in general.  I didn't realize it was for mobiles only.  (stupid me), lol  As for the Outlook Connector, I have the latest.  Its just not a good program.  I would strongly suggest allowing Hotmail customers (maybe even Plus/Premium) customers to be able to setup a "Hotmail Exchange" account in Outlook so that way it runs smoothly.

@Dick Craddock  ActiveSync is simply a syncing protocol.  Certainly Microsoft desktop clients (outlook, live mail) could support it.  Since it appears to be better than deltasync, why not?

@bRonCOde: You're right; ActiveSync is just a sync protocol. Outlook does not "speak" ActiveSync, but it does have the ability to sync to Hotmail through the use of the Outlook Connector. We definitely hear the feedback that the experience could be better, and that's something we'll be taking a look at for future releases.

I had the new Hotmail imposed upon me yesterday, which I greet with all the joy of a tourist finding they have booked into a leper colony.

in short, I hate the whole thing: being visually challenged I had enough problems with the old one, but at least I knew where everything was. With this new version I am absolutely lost, frustrated and mightily annoyed.

Please take it away and give me the old version back.

I want my old hotmail back.  I really liked the way I could attach photos before.  When I picked attach>photos>browse, I would get a nice list of all my photo files in alphabetical order.  The best part, there was an option to upload "all".  Unless I am missing something, I now have to keep going back to file folders and picking one picture at a time.  Yahoo can do that.  I am a rookie at this stuff and I liked it the way it was.

Nice, now I have it on my main account too. This is really great...

Well, I have one more suggestion: when I receive an e-mail, my Messenger pops up a sign and my beta bing bar displays it on the Hotmail icon... but it would be really great that the Hotmail inbox refreshes itself once every 15 or 30 seconds, or at least when I got a new e-mail.

I'll keep giving any feedbacks as they come to my mind.

Keep doing a great job!

Bruno Giordano: Hotmail should automatically refresh your inbox when a new message when it comes in -- at least it does it for my account -- what browser are you using? I'm using IE 8.

I HAVE ONE QUESTION.... Whenever I login to Hotmail using IE8, the Windows Live Messenger automatically starts. This is really annoying... The same does not happen when I sign with Firefox or Chrome..  I would like to know how to disable this automatic startup...

As far as New Hotmail is concerned , It is awesome. The layout looks cool and UI is very productive. Congratulations to Hotmail Team for such a wonderful update... There are some features which needs to be included and Hotmail Team seems to be working on it.... So I am satisfied as far as Hotmail Team has intent to offer better experience.

@koi14 You're using it wrong!

@Windows Live: I wanna try it... But everyone in my family has gotten the rollout but me... So not lucky =(. One more thing. Do I have to set up Office Web app (which I think you should make a little more open but, that's another story) or is it enough to just receive an Office document before I can edit it an see it right in my browser?

Just got the update a few hours ago. So far no problems at all, and loving the ability to connect it to Facebook. Also love being able to put future mail to automatically go in to folders that I create. Pretty awesome!

@Mike Schackwitz I have it enabled indeed... I was asking because I was promoting it (it would be very useful in two offices I work for) but one of the users simply couldn't use it so, well, they gave up on that. I'll definitely give it a try since it seems I missed something, if I convince them, my work days will be happier.

At last I have the update!!!!!!!  The problem is they updated every account except my main one.  I have 5 accounts with four being used for junk mail.  The account that I have had since 1996 still not upgraded.  You would think they would have updated the oldest first.  This is why Microsoft is lagging and not popular.

In the new Windows Live Hotmail version the function to get the full header with

option View Message Source does not work.

It seems that the internal function co123w.col123.mail.live.com/.../GetMessageSource.aspx etc etc etc

is not working properly.

Now it is not possible to view the

X-Originating-IP address.

The GMail killer! I like the new update, interface is great, and it seems like a huge overhaul compared to what we've seen over the past 10 years or so. Quick question though... I normally sign into Windows Live Messenger on my desktop... but when using Hotmail, the Messenger (in browser) seems to control everything happening on the desktop. Is there anyway to disable Messenger in browser? I've tried signing out and back in but to no avail.

@Dick Craddock, okay but that button really should be inside a conversation of messages too.

@Mike Schackwitz: I've got Silverlight installed, however I seem to be only able to upload compressed pictures - there's no option to upload to SkyDrive, and there's no Docs button. Is this integration coming in a future update?

I got it over the weekend as well. So glad that the tag line is gone! What's this Active Sync thing? Does that means I can sync everything with my Blackberry?

I just want to personally thank the Hotmail team for the conversation view. That is something that almost made me want to move over to Gmail. I'm glad I can even turn it off here. I just got the new Hotmail today and am excited to try out all the new features. I've been submitting feedback about suggestions and problems like a maniac over the last few weeks. I hope you guys really read through the feedback. I like what I see and hope updates keep on coming.

Now, can Hotmail start advertising on TV, radio, and the net so that more of my friends can join?

Thanks!

@Lorenzo - Thank you for your comments, I've forwarded it to the team and we (the Hotmail team) appreciate it. Stay tuned for more news....

@ Dick Craddock - Thanks for the response!  I must say it is great to be able to post something up ona  blog and get a response from an actual Microsoft employee, (who I assume actually knows what he's talking about, not just some generic help desk guy :)).  I can't think of any other company I can say that about.

I just signed in to my Hotmail and it signed me into messenger again, but I will check a little more closely, as perhaps my cookie settings or something are preventing it from being sticky.

Once again, thanks for the response!

I have been a Hotmail customer for over 10 years. Most of the "improvements" over the years have been 80% lousy (something like 1 step forward, 4 steps back). Not this time. Lots of good improvements- congratulations! I especially appreciated the remarks of Michael Kopcsak in a previous blog. Must be a new hire (where did you get this guy? is his background in psychology, I wonder?)-- he actually thinks like a customer-- what a concept!

Likes:

-- You got rid of all that links to movies, restaurants, and all that junk. It's still around but at least it is not taking up valuable real estate-- a third of the screen-- and has been discretely tucked away. I never used that stuff then, and I won't use it now, but at least it is safely out of the way.

-- Flagging. They are golden! While you're at it, how about having a gold flag and a red flag? They are totally useful.

-- Conversation. It's nice seeing all the related emails wrapped up into one HOWEVER the inbox now looks terribly, terribly confusing (see below)

Dislike:

-- Conversation. My inbox is a mess. Example: I get an email from Christopher McMillan. I responded to it. Later in the day I want look at it again. I look at the left column of my inbox and I can't find his name. I mostly just see my name. Oh, wait! There's my name, followed by "Chri". I guess that must be it. I know that I can do a search or sort-search for "Christopher McMillan" but that is cumbersome. My three million year old eye ball is still a better search tool than your algorithm. This feature needs refinement.

-- Social networking emphasis. I have no interest in those features, but at least they're out of the way.

Great effort! Congratulations.

Figured out how to sign out of Messenger in-browser:

In the top right hand corner, you should see:

[YOUR NAME]

profile | sign out

Click [YOUR NAME] and "Sign Out of Messenger" (or something similar)

Voila!

Note to Hotmail staff: Please, please, please make things like that more obvious. I mean, it was sort of obvious, but I had to Yahoo Answer it.

I received the update today. I'm loving the new features. But I can't see the option to send documents using SkyDrive? I only have options to insert Attachments, Photos, From Bing and Emoticons.

Two problems:

1. Signing out of messenger is not straighforward.

2. Unlike GMail, messages don't automatically show up in your inbox unless you have signed into messenger.

Apart from that, I like it.

Well, it works with IE and Firefox. But doesn't work with Google Chrome.

I have an iPad and whenever I go to mail.live.com it takes me to the Mobile Live Site.  I really want to use the regular FULL SITE.  Any idea how to get around this problem?  For my iPhone maybe this is ok, but for a 10" screen I want the FULL SITE.

@pezzonovante - Google Chrome seems to work fine for me.  Tested on Safari as well.  My problem is only with iPad forcing me into the Mobile Site.

All my accounts have now been upgraded and it now stays with the new version when I switch between accounts. Perfect!

I am thrilled with the new Hotmail, but I still want more..

I would prefer a feature that attach office files that exist on my Windows Live Office, so I can send them directly from hotmail, and dont need to upload them again...

Also I would like to see mails in my inbox arranged accorfing to contacts categories...

And at last, why can't we create subfolders in the Hotmail Inbox folders...

and thanks

I have had my Hotmail accounts mostly upgraded to the new version (mostly meaning it will switch back from time to time). So far I have not been impressed.

The most annoying thing is the Messenger Social section. I just want Hotmail. I don't have any Messenger Friends, I don't want photos that have been emailed to me or posts on my Facebook account to show up under the Messenger Social section. Is there a way to turn that off? I have looked everywhere and haven't found a way to do that. Please, please, please if there is a way to turn that off let me know!

I do like the new Conversations feature. I haven't looked into the Contacts section too much, so I don't know if I can create separate address books (say one for personal addresses, one for business contacts, etc.). That is a feature I would really like.

Another thing is that it crashes using IE8 in Windows XP. Hopefully that will be worked out soon. However, if there isn't a way to simply have Hotmail features without all the annoying Windows Live and Messenger stuff I might be ending my 10-year relationship with Hotmail. I have Yahoo and Gmail accounts for specific purposes but have always preferred Hotmail as my main email program. Until now....

@Carrie_G: You can choose to go directly to your inbox when you log in to Hotmail instead of going to the Windows Live Home page (which shows your Messenger Social feed amongst other things). To change this setting:

1. Log in to your Windows Live Hotmail account.

2. Click on "Hotmail" at the top of the page.

3. Click on Options and then click on "More options..."

4. Under "Customize your mail", click on "Windows Live Home settings".

5. Choose "Show me my inbox when I sign in", and then click on the Save button.

Now, when ever you log into Hotmail you will be taken directly to your inbox. Hope that helps!

@The Hotmail Team: Will you be implementing an option on the Windows Live log-in page to control whether or not one is logged into Messenger or to set your messenger status upon login?

I found the iPad workaround.  There is a link "PC Site".  That gives me the full site on the iPad.  Not sure why Windows Live thinks the iPad is a small mobile device like a phone.  It should default to the FULL Site and have another way of going to the mobile site.  The FULL Site appears to work fine on the iPad.

I was updated today :) I love it.

I guess I'm just a ludite, but really all I want is email. I don't want to edit my documents in cyberspace, use social networking etc. So tell me in simple language how I can simply save a word document/exel file etc. that someone has emailed to me to my hard drive. No, I don't want to save it as a web page, no I don't want html, no I don't want anything else. Why is a simple thing like this seemingly impossible now?  I also have a gmail and yahoo account, I may have switch over to one of them because really, I do not want to store documents in cyberspace. EVER.

This new hotmail is a pain in the.....

Everytime I get onto my hotmail, I am not given the choice to sign into web messenger. Neither am i given an option to prevent this from happening. One thats not OBVIOUS at least.

I use WLM AND HOTMAIL at the SAME TIME. Every single time, I have to be faced with the signed in to two places message. Not only that, everytime i open my hotmail, I have to change my name back to what it was because once i log in, it changes my WLM nick as well! ZZZZZZZZZZZ muchhh.

This is VERY, no... EXTREMELY.. annoying, and I hope to have both hotmail and messenger on AT THE SAME TIME with NO PROBLEMS.

Please get this fixed or revised for disregarding this scenario asap.

P.S. make the delete button more conveniently located. other than a drop down menu.

Got the update... like the look, but is it just me or is Hotmail even slower now?  Maybe it's IE causing it, b/c it's a little better in another browser, but I was hoping for a vast improvement, snappier like GMail.  Also, I'd love it if I could somehow turn off the prompt to save a user in my contacts/confirmation screen after I send an email.  This could be accomplished with a line on the screen back on my inbox... it just adds another click to get back to my inbox... I thought for sure there would be a change with that "feature".

Hey --

I've been happy with hotmai, use it for everything, until today. Why is it logging me into MSN Messenger every time I log into hotmail?  I cannot seem to find the option to disable this. Even if I am already logged into MSN Messenger with my status set to appear offline, it changes my status to online -- but there's a reason I set it to appear offline, I don't want to necessarily chat with people, just check my email!!

Extremely frustrating, plus I don't like it when my computer does something that I do not know it is doing or want it to do. Please fix. I'd hate to have to start using my Gmail account for everything, cause everyone is already used to this hotmail one and it would just be bad all around -- but I do want the ability to check my emails without my MSN friends starting up convos with me that I just do not have time for.  I can get that with Gmail.

Just found out that my account on blu137 got updated! Great job guys, it looks great! I love the social updates view. Got a question about that. How does a site/service get listed in the "Connect the services you use to Windows Live" directory?

@Dave T - thanks you explained my problem with the "conversation" feature in a more succinct way. I dont object to the feature, but my inbox is now a totally unnavigable mess! My own name is the most prominent! Mails from different people on unrelated subjects are being lumped together.

I've turned off the conversation feature, which seems a shame since it is useful, but it was simply making everything 10 times longer.

Hope hotmail can fix this...

@evilc676

All the contact information for your "messenger friends" will automatically be updated. You can certainly remove that person as a friend without deleting them. You can do that from the details page for the contact, under the manage menu by clicking "remove as friend". That will keep their contact info in your address book but stop updating it.

well it's good to finally got my hands to try out the great looking new Hotmail, but I just curious when the Skydrive-OfficeDocs-Hotmail integration will be introduced to other markets ..?

@Omar Shahine Thanks for the reply... but that's a rubbish feature!

I don't want the details to be updated automatically and overwriting the information I have for them.

ie. if I have a 'personal' mobile number for them which I've recorded, and they go and update their records putting in maybe a 'general' mobile number they have then my info gets overwitten and lost?  

It would be good if it would show up underneath what they have set it to (like the info from facebook does) but NOT change it automatically, without any warning.  How am I supposed to trust and use Hotmail as my central application to records my contacts details if it's going to be overwritten.

Like other posters have said, I want hotmail as a simple email/calendar and contacts app - not all this Social 'stuff' which looks to have ruined Hotmail - and seems the only way to record contacts information is remove them from messenger so you can't even chat with them.  How is that good?????

It looks like hotmail's days are numbered for me if I can't trust the contact details I put in.

This feature really needs to be switched off!

Like I said, if the information doesn't match, can't it just show it under the field like the facebook ones do?  That way it gives people the (possibably) up-to-date info but not overwriting what they have until they have made the choice to change it?!

@Omar Shahine to try and make the example I have a bit clearer in the above post....

As an example;

I have a 'personal' mobile number for a contact which they don't generally 'advertise' (ie. a number they only give friends').  So, I update the contact details I have for this contact by putting this number in the 'mobile' field.

The contact does have a another mobile they give out more generally (for people that aren't close friends), and they put this number in hotmail.

From what it appears, and from what you have indicated - the 'personal' number I have for them will be overwritten - and I will lose that information if it's stored in the contact details of hotmail.

I can see why it was thought of being a good idea to automatically update contact info, so that it's always up to date, but this does cause a BIG problem that it does that (especially when someone has a personal number they don't generally want everyone to use).  

I've used the example of a mobile number, but it could be for any field.

It would be good if it showed the 'updated' info they have in their profile but NOT overwrite the details you have for them.  You could then decide to update the information, if you choose to manually.

Please change to give the option of automatic updating as an OPTION and not be forced to have it.

Before the Wave 4 Update, I found a way to ensure all my contacts didn't update automatically, but since the upgrade this has been undone (and, like you said, the only way to stop this is to remove them as a friend ie.  remove them from messenger - meaning you can't chat with them!).

This is the only major issue I have with the new Hotmail - even though I don't really like the 'Social' side of it, it's mainly email, contacts and calendar which are important for me - and the automatic contact updating is something that isn't good.

Good work on the new Windows Live.

I just hate how every time I sign in to Hotmail it signs me in to Messenger, and changes my name/status. Please provide some options for this functionality. There have been consistent complaints about this feature, so let's see if Microsoft acts on this.