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Last week, some of you may have noticed that the sign-in page for products that use Windows Live ID (like Hotmail) changed. Instead of multiple user tiles and two check boxes per account (one for “Remember me” and one for “Remember my password”), now there is a streamlined page focused on one account and one check box to “Keep me signed in”.
Some of you have posted questions on this blog or in our forums and I wanted to share the thinking behind the change.
The previous sign-in experience was optimized for managing multiple accounts on a single PC. A tile was saved per account, and there was a “Remember me” and “Remember my password” check box. The “Remember me” box kept the tile around, and if you checked both boxes, this allowed you to sign in by clicking on the tile instead of retyping your password each time. This was convenient for shared PCs and for people who juggled lots of accounts.
At the same time, there were problems with the old design.
We’ve also steadily added many features to Hotmail to solve scenarios that previously required juggling multiple accounts. Most notably:
With all these changes, we felt that it was time to give the sign-in experience a facelift.
We streamlined the sign-in page to prioritize one account per device, and simplified the two check boxes into one “keep me signed in” check box. Once you check “Keep me signed in” we’ll keep you signed in with your Windows Live ID until you explicitly sign out. This also has the nice benefit of giving you a much faster page load time, so that getting to your inbox or whatever service you are using is now much faster.
You can see the old sign-in experience next to the new experience below.
We’ve heard a few questions from people who were used to the old design and not sure how best to set things up in the new design. Here’s a quick breakdown of different scenarios and the best options for each.
I don’t remember my password. The most common question we’ve heard is from people who had passwords saved in the tiles and don’t remember their passwords. If you forgot your password, simply reset it here. I don’t want to type my Windows Live ID and password each time. Check “Keep me signed in” the next time you sign in. We will keep you signed in until you explicitly click “sign out.” I personally have multiple accounts that I want to manage. There are lots of reasons why you might have multiple email accounts. Here are a couple of the most common scenarios, with suggested solutions: You have multiple email accounts used for different purposes (for example, personal vs. business). The best solution here is to add other email accounts to your primary Windows Live ID account. This works for Hotmail accounts and for other email accounts too. And you get all the benefits of simple, fast sign-in. You don’t want to use your primary account at websites that send newsletters and other potentially annoying mail. To solve this problem, a few months ago we launched the ability to quickly add and remove “aliases” on your account, so you can quickly add and remove multiple email addresses, all associated with your primary account. Someone else from my family wants to sign in on a shared PC. If this happens only occasionally, just sign out and sign in with a different Windows Live ID. If switching between Windows Live accounts a common activity, consider creating a separate Windows user account for each person who uses the computer. Once you’ve set this up, it’s easy to switch between Windows user accounts–all your login info will be saved and you’ll automatically be signed in (if you choose) when you browse the web. This is also handy for Facebook and many other websites, which also save info for one user at a time.
I don’t remember my password. The most common question we’ve heard is from people who had passwords saved in the tiles and don’t remember their passwords. If you forgot your password, simply reset it here.
I don’t want to type my Windows Live ID and password each time. Check “Keep me signed in” the next time you sign in. We will keep you signed in until you explicitly click “sign out.”
I personally have multiple accounts that I want to manage. There are lots of reasons why you might have multiple email accounts. Here are a couple of the most common scenarios, with suggested solutions:
Someone else from my family wants to sign in on a shared PC. If this happens only occasionally, just sign out and sign in with a different Windows Live ID.
If switching between Windows Live accounts a common activity, consider creating a separate Windows user account for each person who uses the computer. Once you’ve set this up, it’s easy to switch between Windows user accounts–all your login info will be saved and you’ll automatically be signed in (if you choose) when you browse the web. This is also handy for Facebook and many other websites, which also save info for one user at a time.
A few of you have also posted that we should have proactively blogged about this change. That’s good feedback, and we’ll work harder to be transparent about our work in the future. Hopefully the info in this post will help steer you in the right direction to troubleshoot problems and set up your account to work the way you want it to.
Keep the feedback coming.
Thanks,
Eric Doerr Group Program Manager – Windows Live ID
Good move. As one of those users who used to always get the tile, even though I'd opted to log me in automatically, I can tell you it's been working much better since the change. This redesign makes a ton of sense.
@Eric,
Thanks for the explanation.
In the future, I would encourage you to document changes like this (that affect many customers) well in advance.
Regarding the new changes ....
Managing Multiple Accounts feature. I do not use that feature, but (as you could tell from the feedback on WLSC) many of your customers do. I do not think the alternative suggestions you presented really make up for the loss of this feature ... but I'll let those who actively used this feature to provide their feedback as to the adequacy of the changed sign-in page.
Remember Me feature. I actively used this feature. The new Keep me signed-in option is definitely not equivalent. With the old feature, only my email address was remembered. With the new feature (as advertised) one remains signed-in (even after shutting down and restarting the browser). Thus, if a user only wants their email address remembered, uses the "Keep Me Signed-in" option to achieve that function, and then closes the browser when finished with Hotmail (but forgets to sign out), the next person using the browser will have free access to the first person's account. A definite security risk for public computers and computers shared by multiple people.
The problem is that you took away the (less dangerous) feature to remember ones password, and replaced it with a (more dangerous) feature that keeps a user signed-in. If a customer uses the "Keep me signed-in" feature just to regain the lost functionality of having their email address remembered, and that person does not fully understand the potential consequences of remaining signed-in, then that customer could potentially have their account compromised.
Please bring back the function of "Remember Me" that ONLY remembers ones email address and does not keep one signed-in
I agree with Greg that it makes sense, and with you that it's less confusing, but langware has a great point that you really opened the door for a more dangerous problem. People still do check their e-mail in computer labs, libraries, kiosks, and on friend's or family's PCs using a shared user account.
Also - It appears that you've removed the Linked IDs feature from accounts that aren't already using it. One of my mailboxes still has this feature, but it's limited to one linked ID.
•You can add other email accounts to your Hotmail inbox
•You can create additional “aliases” connected to your account,
Why haven't you mentioned Linked Live IDs here? To my mind Linked Live IDs is one of the best features you offer - this would have been a perfect opportunity to talk about it. I'm sure more people would use Linked Live IDs if they knew about it.
As one of those users that used the old functionality on my computer and on family member's computers I want the old "Remember my email address" back. I don't understand how the old functionality could be so confusing that they had to remove it completely. Now I have to type in my email address every time unless I want to stay signed in which I do not want to do. This is a very weak explanation for suddenly removing functionality that is used by a lot of users I know. I don't buy that only 2% used this.
As others have said, by removing the ability to only save your email address and not your password you have made things less safe. Very strange change in my mind (and many other I have talked to about this).
are you kidding? so the few "idiots" that cant work out what "remember my password" means get priority over the rest of us? this change is a JOKE. a terrible terrible TERRIBLE change.
seriously hotmail, and your answers and explantions are so condescending, explaing in the weakest terms why you did this.
seriously, IDIOTSSSSSSSS
please look at all the people who posted on your forums complaining about this.
jeez louise what a huge step BACKWARD.
I am very unhappy with the explanation provided in this blog because I can see that "managing multiple accounts" will be gone forever.
You say that working with aliases is the solution to that and I tried to figure it out.
It is COMPLICATED and I can't get it to work when I login.
I cannot understand why you replaced something very easy and user-friendly with something that is so complicated.
I am afraid that this change will be the end of Windows Live and Hotmail all together for me because MS just imposed the change on me without even thinking about the consequences for my dayly workflow.
And these consequences are unbearable !
Thanks for the blog post - I see the benifits of the changes now. :-) However, three more things need to happen:
1) We need alias alerts! What I mean by that is that we get an alert in WL Messenger 2011, and Windows Live Home updates to show one unread message. This is 100% nessesary to make me and other people use aliases intead of separate Windows Live IDs.
2) You should have mentioned Linked Live IDs!
3) You should be able to change your Windows Live ID!
Keep up the great work Hotmail team!
I can't get my other Hotmail account emails into my normal Hotmail account - when I try to access one using POP in the other, it won't let me and says I haev to link the accounts together.
So much for a simple, fast sign in and one inbox...
My friends and I all have families who share the home PC. Being able to sit down and simply select which account one wanted to use was perfect. If security was ever an issue, one simply would not choose to have password remembered.
Because there allegedly are people who thought "Remember me" was confusing, we all have a valuable service taken away? Because it was unsafe if they didn't know they were supposed to log off at an internet cafe? Yet MS has decided that "keep me signed in" is a safe alternative. For the people that didn't know how to sign out in a public place in the first place? OMG.
Integrate email accounts? Not if we're talking about mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma and whoever all sharing the same computer....... all with their own Hotmail accounts.
To top it all off, MS didn't bother to tell anyone about this change. I get countless Microsoft e-advertising monthly in my inbox. But for something this important, not a word was said, which led so many people frantically trying to figure out what was wrong with THEIR computer! System restores; uninstalls, re-installs. And what about those Windows Live "techs" who kept posting that we should all re-download Windows Live stuff? MS pays these folks? THEY don't even know what's going on.
Please bring back "Remember Me" and the individual choices for all Hotmail account owners who share home PC.s. "Keep me signed in" is a terrible idea.
@ Eric Doerr
You say : "If switching between Windows Live accounts a common activity, consider creating a separate Windows user account for each person who uses the computer."
Are you serious ? You must be kidding !
How can you be so ignorant, user-unfriendly, tactless and arrogant.
It is not the first time that MS takes away features that they made us love:
- Features disappeared just like that between Office 2003 and 2007
- Features also disappeared between Vista and 7
- The latest changes in the user Interface of Live Photogallery suddenly are rediculous (between the last beta and the final version)
- Live Sync has been replaced by Live Mesh (what a catastrophy)
And I could go on with this list.
There has been lots of diagreements, about the above mentioned changes during the beta and RC trajects of the different programs but the answer from MS was always "Sorry it is by design".
That is why I used the words "ignorant, user-unfriendly, tactless and arrogant" above !!!!
On the other hand, features that users ask for already for a long time are never implemented.
One example : a search function in Live Calendar.
You delete features that we like, but you don't add features that we ask for.
In other words :
- You develop what you want us to like ...
- You don't care about what we ask you to develop for us ....
Staying signed-in or linking IDs within hotmail is not the answer for families on one home computer. Please bring back the multi ID screen or at the very least the "remember me" button.
I'm so unbelievably dissapointed in this action. I do understand each word and decision in your blog, but despite that, I'm really pissed off.
At least there should be the choice to keep the login-assistant for the people who really use this feature (also in a safe way).
The suggested solution (to create multiple user accounts for windows on 1 computer) is in my situation inconvenient because of the normal startup (which normally brings me to the desktop) is now interrupted with a login. And I should do so specially because of Hotmail???
For me, being logged in all the time, gives me a very unsafe feeling. I prefer typing in ONLY the password each time. (I know this is a point on which you could have long discussions...)
Furthermore, I would like to keep my work e-mail (which multiple people can access) and my private e-mail (which is strictly private) seperate... Really this is very unconvenient, and your blog post really drives me mad.
So please bring us a good solution!!! Thanks for listening.
"You can add other email accounts to your Hotmail inbox – even accounts from other email services – as long as they support POP aggregation (most do). "
That works not with other hotmail addresses for me. When I try to add my Hotmail adress I get this Message:
"Anscheinend versuchen Sie ein weiteres Hotmail-Konto hinzuzufügen. Testen Sie Ihre Hotmail-Konten werden miteinander verknüpft, damit das Wechseln zwischen den Konten schnell und einfach für Sie ist. " (German)
This means in english:
"It seems you want to add another Hotmail Account. Test the Hotmail-Link feature, it allows you to switch fast beetween your accounts."
Think about that
I don't understand the hostility here... "OMG! CHANGE!! NOOOOOOOO!" Seriously, people?
I sign in and out of 3 different accounts constantly throughout the day (two personal, one work), and I find this no more or less difficult than before.
If anything, I wish that they would allow me to take two Windows Live ID accounts and MERGE them so that one of the addresses becomes an alias address instead of a separate, linked account. I currently use the Linked ID feature, but it's still cumbersome.
But seriously, straight up OUTRAGE over something so trivial? Get over yourselves. One sign-on experience, cross-browser supported, and simple... email, password, option to save. Perfect!
I agree with amktk: bring back the multi ID screen! The change of the sign-in page shows: 1. that you don’t think things true, 2. that you don’t care about you costumers. You write that it only occasionally happens that different people want to sign in on a shared PC. I disagree. I think many people (who use one computer of have different hotmail ID’s) want to have the option to choose between accounts.
The reasons that you give are absurd. Costumer confusion?? If people don’t understand which check-box did what they have to read the message next tot the check-box. As you probable have seen, English is not my natural language but I understood the text next to check-box. If some users get interrupted by the tiles just give them a extra option ‘keep me signed in’.
Please bring back the the old sign in page!!!!
My wife & i both have hotmail accounts, We both had our ids remembered but not our passwords, it was very very convenient to simply click on our id and enter our password, after reading many forums on this subject, there appears to be an awful lot of people like me who are EXTREMELY ANGRY at the blanket removal without any prior warning of this useful feature. A VERY BACKWARD STEP.
Now i'm no computer or software engineer, but surely there must be a way to let the many people who like the multi sign-in feature to use it, and those who don't like it to opt out
@Goodthings2life. It can be considered as a small, trivial change. But when you are used to this feature, and suddenly can't use this function anymore, it is really a huge step backward.
Change is good, but this change isn't. You should for example see all the reactions on other windows forums...
And maybe it is in general good to know that only 5% of unsatisfied customers do complain while the other 95% choose another product/service without giving notice.
I am one of those long-time hotmail users who opposes this latest change. I prefer the multiple id and remember me sign-in page option, and think it should be restored. At least, give users the CHOICE: to remain on the "new" system, or to return to the multiple id/remember me sign-in page format! What is the problem with that?
Am also one of the users who always got the tile, even after opting out for Log me in automatically. I understand the way many of them wanting the old login page back. But wanted to point out this overhaul has been made in so many other service providers, as I haven t seen remember my password option anymore, as I guess that is a browser feature and not the service provider. So if you want them to just remember the username, most of the browsers save them automatically, and if you opt to save the passwords, the browser does so. So in a way, it makes sense that log me in automatically is a great feature, as I just open the pinned Hotmail link in my Win 7 laptop.
Eric... good grief!!!
Who are you trying to kid here? maybe the 0.00001% of idiots you speak of that 'reportedly' dont know what "remember my password" means.
I have no idea what the real reason for your changes are... and i guess we will never know, but to initiate a new design that makes processes harder, more drawn out, and less secure for many many users seems
a little counter productive to me..... no! .. Its Stupid
The PC in my home, 'and i'm sure i'm not the only one', is used by 4 family members... 4 seperate private people that have no wish to "keep signed in" or "link accounts together" but were very happy with the previous system.... which none of us had a problem with by the way.
This Backward step has not only anoyed a lot of users and made thier life harder, its wasted a lot of their time and effort trying to find a remedy to a problem that YOU were responsible for and should have told them about in advance.
For the past week your moderators have been giving rubbish answers and solutions to question raised in the forums.
effectively blaming the user each time.
in short....
Sort your life out and make changes for the better...not the worse.
Put the old system back in opperation.
Peplace the "remember my password" box.
In future.... Dont insult our intelegence with " WE'VE MADE CHANGES FOR THE BETTER" excuses to cover up internal political problems.
Yours with respect
Mr not happy
This is BS! Microsoft has ONE thing that works great,and t the benefit of the user,and you take it away.
Google,here I come!!!
Is it really THAT hard to type the email address when signing in? I agree that this change is a step backwards in usability but it certainly doesn't warrant this kind of outrage.
Wow guys this has been an ugly and unhappy change to the UI.
"If switching between Windows Live accounts a common activity, consider creating a separate Windows user account for each person who uses the computer."
COME ON! THIS IS NOT USER FRIENDLY, AND YOU SHOULD KNOW IT.
The advice of creating a separate user account for each person using Hotmail is pointless, arrogant and NOT user-friendly. Just consider the amount of steps/clicks one person has to do to switch users when with the old UI one can login to Hotmail right from the start and logout in a breeze to allow other users to use the same window. I'm technician and switching users is not a problem for me, but what about my mother, grandma, wife, sons, all of them sharing the same computer? Just ask out there if they will be willing to learn how to switch accounts.
The best approach would be to allow the usage of old UI to those users who doesn't login via smartphones. The UI should detect the OS and show the best fitted UI for that scenario, while allowing the user to set one or the other as default. Please anybody tell me if this have sense or am I crazy.
Are all you people complaining serious???? You have a problem putting in your username and password, really? And for all of the people saying they are going to switch to Gmail, you do realize Gmail doesnt have a multiple account log in right and only have a stay signed in check box, right????
Seriously is it that hard to log out of your account, and someone else log in to their account by.... entering a username and password?
@treize13: for non-IT accustomed people, yes, it is a pain in the a** having to switch accounts. Simple people needs simple solutions. Just click logout at Hotmail and let other choose what profile use to log in. That is really easy to do to users of any level.
Post from Windows Live ID Team in Windows Blog and this blog does not support sign-in with Windows Live ID? Nice! ;-)
I understand your reasons for this change, but her implementation I really do not like it. I use my main Windows Live ID account, in which I added two more (so switching between them). One for testing functions as an internal account for some MS services and the second because reason that Microsoft itself does not consider accounts from the Custom Domains as full Live ID (in some services just they do not work right). So now I must write the account name and password each time when I log in instead of click on profile picture and typ password. Bacause I not know on which account I'm logged on when this is done automatically (in the header is name always the same).
So I look forward to Windows 8, which hopefully will bring some improvements in this matter (fast switching accounts maybe) or true SSO.
Please re-add the ability to remember only the username, for use on laptops and other devices that travel to unsecured locations. With Microsoft's strong stance on security in other areas, your either force us to enter all information or choose a complete insecure option. Now, I must choose to remember nothing for my portable devices.
Wait just a minute here, I've been testing this changed since it was set loose on users unexpectedly. I don't see where the convenience is for a single user to type their full Live Id credentials repeatedly. Who don't want the automatic sign-in. Limiting their choice to either “Keep me sign-in” for one account or retype repeatedly their full credentials is unwanted. Simplicity has become so streamline does not benefit all users. Having said that installing Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant only for testing purpose. Automatic sign-in for every website it is needed can be tempting, but comes with it's own risk. Even desktop computers can be stolen or hacked into. This changed could be more acceptable if the Sign-in Assistant had the choice to remember email address and not the password.
I peronally can't see why microsoft can't offer the sign in assistant as a seperate download like it used to be in the old days (not so long ago) and then if we chose to have it on our peronal computers then so be it.
I think a simple thing like hotmail is becoming over complicated by all of the other live services which can be confusing to people who aren't interested in all this stuff. Keep it simple Microsoft.
To the people who think some of us are a bit excited and becoming hostile and out of control are themselves misguided.
It's not change that we aren't liking. It's change for no sensible reason and making things worse not better that's getting people upset. Plus it took a week or so for microsoft to tell us what was going on after the majority of us were told by solutions support engineers it was us who had done something to our computers and suggested all sorts of un intalls and re installs and cookies blocking and add ons not set correctly etc etc.
And no it's not difficult to sign in every time someone else wants to access there emails but it's easier to just click and enter a password - and I thought that was what it is all about. "Simplicity"
Any way thats me done!
PS. HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY HOTMAIL!
I much prefer the new sign-in method. It's more secure. Good work to the WL team.
Microsoft does-
www.windowslivehelp.com/solution.aspx
Under 3. How to obtain Windows Live ID Sign-In Assistant? Under b. Install Windows Live ID Sign-In Assistant standalone.
First download link is for Windows 7 too, I know used it.
I, (like the majority), would like the Remember Me feature back and am annoyed I was not notified or given a choice!
@treize13
For this single user account if it was for email only then more than likely their would not be a complaint. But for every Microsoft site that Live ID sign-in is require for me to use. It does become a pain repeatedly retyping Live ID credentials on everyone of them through-out the day or night.
"To make matters worse, tiles only worked on Internet Explorer"
Did you know about cookies ? I mean, why do you need in first place an external app (sign-in agent) to display two or more accounts
"consider creating a separate Windows user account for each person who uses the computer"
I'm going to take this as a very good joke
"we’ll keep you signed in with your Windows Live ID until you explicitly sign out"
Security risk for those who rent pc's and just close the window
"don’t want to type my Windows Live ID and password each time"
Read well.. people don't want to TYPE.. a button click is very different than "Keep me signed"
Changes are good, but sometimes are bad (unnecessary and not user-friendly), as this thing is
This is a very poor idea. I agree with the many unhappy, and disappointed hotmail users. Removing the old sign in page, where your sign in name, as well as the sign in name for other people using the same computer, was most convenient.
The purposes you set forth seem more like an excuse for steps taken in a backward direction. I would encourage you to restore the sign in screen the way it has been, or at least give your users an option as to which sign in page they want to use.
Have a look at the following Softpedia site :
news.softpedia.com/.../Windows-Live-Hotmail-ID-Sign-in-Experience-Upgraded-210269.shtml
where Eric Doerr explains to the world what a brilliant idea MS had.
It means that we can forget about getting back our beloved multi-ID login screen.
In that case it means the end of my Windows Live participation and this of all my network colleagues. We all start moving towards Google services from next week onwards.
I tout Hotmail and Live Mail on the Financial Blogs I publish. This "New View" is one of the most irritating changes I've experienced with Microsoft (remember Vista?). My clients have e-mails set up through Hotmail which are dedicated to getting info on their accounts. I was able to go to ONE Page and access their mails, easily; nomore...
I realize I can access the multiple accounts on the Windows Live Format (something I've been obliged to do), but Hotmail is so Great! and so simple to use, it's my format of preference (...and I'm hardly alone in this sentiment).
Surely, MSFT could devise a program to separate account access from users of mobile devices from those accessed by us on the "good 'ol" PCs. What?, we should be inconvenienced because someone doesn't know how to use mobile devices efficiently? And I'll offer a disclaimer of sorts: I use mobile as well, but know it's a bit of a tradeoff.
C'mon guys, this is just a "NEW Coke" moment at MSFT. I'd like to see the "Old View", again. Thanks.
This article basically says that the "remember me" box has been permanently removed for security purposes...and instead you have the option to remain signed in. It further suggests that if you have a household of many users using the same computer, there is no longer the convenience of having the sign-in page display all the email addresses of those members of the household. (Some of the members have multiple email accounts as well by the way). It is suggested that you now have to set up multiple users on your computer and log off each time you log into a separate email address if you want to access your live id accounts quickly...so am i to understand that the sign-in assistant is now rendered useless and that you can no longer have the option of viewing all the addresses on one page? So why would some members of the product team be investigating this issue if it was purposely changed and designed to eliminate the option. As the owner of the computer that requires these multiple email addresses to be shown, i liked to have the control to monitor how much disc storage, file folders, etc are on my computer and the control to delete unnecessary files, folders, etc to free up disc space. It sounds to me like Microsoft wants every individual in every household to have their own computer....so much for energy conservation...To set up all these other user accounts just so others could read or write their mail is retarded. i'm very annoyed with this abrupt change and the added inconvenience it has and will cause me and others in my household.
I am also very annoyed that Windows Live could not email us in advance to let us know this change was coming. When Windows LIve Space accounts were closing, i received multiple notifications of this upcoming change...Also when other major changes were being implemented we received emails. I think it would have been respectful if the same consideration was given in this latest incident.
Can i get further clarification that Microsoft has no intention of investigating and correcting this matter further???
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Ugh. Bad move, the old style was way better. Consider this another vote against this change.
@Eric
Thanks for an honest reply, however I also agree with Langware. Also as some have mentioned, a heads up to all users would have been nice, because dio you know how many elderly people don't remember their password because they had checked off to remember it. I'm the techie in the family and have been called numerous times for this.
Re-Langware, I fail to see the more security with the new faeture. I'm really puzzled.
I as many many users wish you would bring it back please.
Thanks
Well, that's some really pitiful excuses. It's the standard line though I've heard over the years, when Microsoft decides they know more of what people want, than the people themselves. I guess some haven't found this info yet since there are many more complaints in other places. Could be they just left and went elsewhere, which is what people that don't like the change should do, instead of putting up with it.
It is really complicated to NOT click remember me, but so SIMPLE to NOT click keep me signed in. Honestly I don't believe anything you said. Its just a standard corporate line.
To the few that think everyone is crazy for complaining, unless you work for Microsoft, I have no idea why the sign in assistant bothered anyone with a brain. Its not like if someone when to another computer and signed in, that all their email addresses would show up. That's not how it worked.
But right, don't allow a option that works for the people that want it, just take it off. I have 7 Live or Hotmail accounts, and the reason is because of the sign in assistant. Now I'm not going to have any, because you took away something that worked. Also, I have to add Hotmail.com or live.com to sign in, and on Gmail or yahoo all that is needed is the user name.
I could change between the accounts easy and fast, and the password wasn't kept. Now I have to type in a complete sign in for each account. That is now faster with Gmail or Yahoo. Not that I like having to do that either, but its better than what hotmail offers now. You have listed no reasons to remove the sign in assistant that makes sense. The keep me signed in thing is much more insecure.
I have no intention in keeping any of my accounts now, including the one's I pay for to keep the ad's out. I'm tired of giving Microsoft money as they remove things that work, because of reasons they keep secret.
I can no longer go between my acounts quickly so I have no use for your "new features".
I forgot to mention in my previous post. If it's suppose to be more secure, why haven't they done the change for Messenger. I can still login to my multiple accounts as before, therefore access my inbox. So I fail to see if you say you are securing one door, but leaving the other one open?
Thank you very much!
This is really a good reform, and so nice to read the clear text (although I have to use a translator from time to time) and see pictures. Keep up the same way, I want more illustrative pictures and videos! =)
@Eric Doerr,
Thank you for providing an explanation for the change. But, quite honestly, I find the expanation so weak that I think there must have been some other reason for the change, and these reasons were created after the fact to try to diffuse customer dissatisfaction.
Customer Confusion? If customers were confused between the difference between "Remember me" and "Remember my password", why not just change the labels to something less confusing, like "Remember my User ID" and "Remember my User ID and Password".
Changing trends in Device Ownership and Consolidation on Primary Account explain why you would want to add the "Keep me signed in" feature, but doesn't explain why you would get rid of the old features. For people who are sole users of their computer, it is great to give them the speed and convenience of remaining signed in without having to retype their user ID and password.
But why take away a feature which is beneficial for people who share a computer (such as a family computer) or for security reasons don't want to remain signed in (like accessing Hotmail from a work computer, and don't want to worry about logging out before someone from their company helpdesk accesses their computer).
Even the work-around suggestion of creating different Windows logins is absurd. With the old Hotmail feature, I could be creating a PowerPoint presentation on a shared family computer. If my wife wanted to check her email, she could just interrupt me, and with a few mouse clicks view her Hotmail email, and let me get back to PowerPoint. Instead, you are suggesting that I close my PowerPoint presentation, log out completely, and then she log in, check her email, and then log out, then I log back in, and then reopen my PowerPoint presentation. Hardly simpler, faster, or less confusing.
To me, it seems the right answer, to provide the flexibility to meet the needs of the most Homail users is to give your customers a choice. When they first open the Hotmail sign-in page they are given the option of three check boxes:
- Remember my user ID
- Keep me signed in
- Do not save my information. (Select this for public computers)
If the user selects "Remember my user ID", they are then given the option to "Also remember my password".
This gives the people who want to remain signed in the ability to remain signed in. And the people who don't want to remain signed in and don't want to have to retype their user ID everytime, will get their ID remembered. And the people who want the sign-in tiles to switch between multiple accounts can just save multiple IDs. And the people who don't want anything remembered can select the choice to ensure their information is not saved.
Let's face it, as computer users, we expect Microsoft to provide us with flexibility and configurability. If we wanted some corporation to dictate to us how to do things, we would own Apples.
good call.. nice to easily switch between windows sites without always getting the tiles
Changes struck me badly :) I have to manage two different accounts in two different browsers. But it could be more secure in some cases I can imagine at work and home. Please MS people make all MS sites browser agnostic, i.e. rewards.xbox.com drives Chrome to a error
400 Bad request
Your browser sent an invalid request
I agree with langware. Bring back the option to remember the email adress. I refuse to use the option to remember email and password as this creates a MAJOR security hole. So now I'm forced to type my email and password each time: quite annoying. Lowering security for more usability is always a bad choice.
Thanks for all the feedback today on this. I really appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts on this subject. I recognize that some of you are frustrated with the change and I am truly sorry for that. I can also assure you that there is no secret hidden agenda :-) - we’re just doing our best to build stuff to solve your problems and make the products better and faster.
No matter how many customers we delight (thanks for those of you who posted), when we miss the mark with even one person I do want to understand why, and I (and the rest of the team) do take the feedback to heart and we will work hard to do better.
Looking at the posts I’d like to take a couple of the common themes and comment briefly.
Several folks have commented on the suddenness of the change and the lack of notice. There was also some confusion in the first few days after the change on the support forums. Please don’t blame the hardworking folks who help answers questions on the forums, we should have done a better job equipping them to help. This is good feedback. And we will just do better here.
There were some questions about adding accounts vs. linked IDs. For individuals who personally juggle multiple accounts I suggested adding an email account in Hotmail. In some cases this will set up “POP aggregation” and in other cases this will encourage you to link IDs. If you are having issues getting this to work please let me know and we’ll investigate. This suggestion is, of course, good for one person with multiple accounts and isn’t appropriate for a family of people each with one account of their own who share a computer - you don't want to merge your email accounts for different people.
A few others have shared feedback about missing the ability to just have “remember me” but who don't want to “keep me signed in” for security, and some miss the ability to manage multiple accounts like on a family PC. I do encourage folks who haven’t tried to set up multiple Windows accounts to give it a shot – it’s actually a great solution for many families – especially as more and more apps and services get deeply connected with the internet and begin to deeply personalize the PC and assume that one user primarily uses each account. For the rest - the feedback is good and we’ll think hard about this and see if there is anything we can do to help.
I’ll respond separately with some comments on individual posts, but wanted to get a quick response out on the thematic stuff.
-Eric
What system does this site use?
I tried to sign in with live ID, and the original sign up, it failed on both. I then tried password recovery and that also failed. (I waited a long time, no email arrived. So I guess that subsystem failed, as did the upload an avatar system.)
Fortunately my live ID still works on MSDN.
So I've signed up again, to post this.
I haven't tested the new interface. (I normally would but my time got eaten by this site's sign on.) My initial thoughts are:
1) Changing things that a lot of people have become used to can cost them a lot of time. (I remember the Excel interface changed at one stage. A simply stopped doing some things I'd done before, and used other tools. Then we have Office 2007 and the new interface. Although I own it I've moved to writing HTML and coding things up.)
2) There are different audiences. Including (1) those who've used computers for years and have the commands hard wired into their fingers. Including (2) a subset of relative newcomers who couldn't handle the old interfaces. Including (3) mobile device users, which are just another story, they just need different interfaces even when talking to the same people who use full computers.
3) It seems the old hands sometimes get dumped when a shiny new interface designer, who hasn't researched the history, comes along and gets political power. People who used to be your friends can turn on you, to varying degrees.
4) If we pay for something and it kicks us in the teeth we're going to get mad! Read MSDN subscribers etc. (Be careful.)
5) Maybe it's worth looking at the, admittedly unpleasant, option of alternate interfaces. On the web there's a number of ways that can be stored in a browser, and there's options on the server too I imagine. Give it a thought please.
Thanks for your response.
I especially appreciate your taking ownership for the fact that the update was not documented ahead of time, and that the WLSC moderators were not properly equipped with the necessary tools/information to help customers who were confused by the undocumented change.
I think your customers have made it clear that (from a security perspective) the new "keep me signed in" feature is not equivalent to the old "remember me" .... and from a security perspective I hope your would agree.
Regarding your suggestion for customers to set up multiple Windows accounts, please let me remind you that many of your customers are not experienced in administrating their computers. In addition, many customers have older hardware and are running older versions of Windows. For those customers, setting up multiple accounts and then switching between them is not an easy/comfortable/quick task.
Also, you are assuming that "one user primarily uses each account". That might be true for some customers, but other customers are sharing one computer among many family members.
Please do not ignore your "low tech" customers. You stated: "we’re just doing our best to build stuff to solve your problems and make the products better and faster". Your customers are telling you that the "remember me" and manage manage multiple accounts functions (previously available) did indeed solve their problems and made Hotmail better. Please listen to your customers and restore these features.
I have a problem where I have my main @live account, but my university also uses live@edu which uses the Outlook Web App mailbox. As my main @live account doesn't support the Outlook Web App mailbox I have to completely sign out and switch accounts every time. Are there any plans to fix this annoyance?
Liked the new view. Not sure what langware is complaining about. Have you used Facebook/ GMail? I can finally bookmark hotmail.com and see inbox directly!
Sorry Eric this change in my opinion and the vast majority of users as seen by the negative feedback is totally ridiculous
It seems it was changed for a very small minority of of idiots
As you can see with it seems to be to me 95% of users replying to this blog think it a backwards step
Will it just be another typical ms change that nobdy likes but in ms arrogance wont fix
Its about time ms developed some decent client relations with the everyday non computer geek user
@Doerr, there are many things I agree but I have a question, I use different email for different purposes, like for bank, credit card company, sensitive matter and few people who I don't want to expose to the list of friends i.e. just family members for sharing photos and messages. Other email address for cases where I won't care too much about the privacy and security concern. In that case, I don't want to link every email IDs to a single one (for security concern) and also the cloud is never 100% secure, can be hacked anytime as we have seen many examples right now. So, I wonder if linking all kinds of email compromise the privacy and the security of the person lets say email used for facebook and email used for more sensitive matters like financial. If the security of facebook is compromised, I believe the the security of email for financial matter is also compromised since its cloud. So, I see far security concern on linking multiple emails despite their easy use and interconnection. In that case, I never would link multiple emails to a single one, at least not all of my email will be compromised because of a single one. So, is compromising the security isn't that important?
Aslo, I would not like to type @hotmail after my email ID everytime, that is not user friendly. Users want a quick come and go without many hassales. I believe windows phone is all about that. But again, that doesn't seem right. Does microsoft has any plans on that?
Eric, it's good that someone from the Windows Live ID designers finally clued the users in on this change, even if it IS in this obscure forum.
I don't know about the 2% figure, ("We knew from our telemetry that fewer than 2% of users were using the tiles") but I know you use different terminology than we do. Are tiles the same as "icons"? I can't imagine accidentally setting up anything like these icons at an internet cafe or a friend's house, do people really do that by accident, seems careless.
Some of us use email like we do running water, and aren't interested in learning all the ins and outs of using Windows LIve. I have studiously ignored all the bombardment about Windows Live during the past few years. It was quite annoying. I have several hotmail accounts to serve my different purposes (online shopping, banking, personal) and HAD the interface to allow me to see the accounts at a glance and log in without having to always enter the Id and password. Lately hotmail had started asking me periodically to enter my passwords. This was a small p.i.t.a, but I figured it would ensure my never forgetting one. (Maybe my frequent use of ccleaner is to blame for having to enter a password.)
I find your attitude astonishing. I waited 24 hours before posting this, not wanting to rant, but I'm still mighty annoyed with Microsoft. I don't have time for this email account project right now! Why didn't they provide a seamless transition for us, or at least some step by step guide for us to get back some of the functionality as you describe -- if it really is possible -- without learning your terminology and without having to learn a lot of Windows Live terminology? Well, it is too late for the seamless, there already is a huge honking rip across our email interfaces.
I am not generally low tech or challenged about anything here. But I do find the whole Windows Live hoopla boring. I just wanted to continue to use my hotmail email addresses with a convenient log-in screen. If hotmail gets faster, great, but it won't make up for my losing the convenience of logging in quickly at home.
If I am too simple a life form for Microsoft to respect, then it could be a good time switch everything to Gmail. 2% is not much market share, but probably it will contribute to the erosion of Microsoft's browser market share when there no longer is any incentive to stay with IE.
if security is the concern why hotmail still doesn't have https feature which google has because of security concern?
Having read through all the comments I find it hard to believe that ...
We knew from our telemetry that fewer than 2% of users were using the tiles.
I've only seen 3 or 4 comments out of 57 who like the new change. So that's closer to 95% of people reading this blog who were using the tiles.
WE WANT THE 'REMEMBER ME' FEATURE BACK FOR MULTIPLE SIGN-INS!!!!
I'm also not quite sure what you meant by
100% of our users were interrupted by them in the old design.
I certainly was never 'interrupted' by the tiles/icons.
I was just having a quick look at the 15th anniversary of Hotmail and thinking that I've been a member (with the same hotmail address) since last century! And this is the first time I've been so frustrated with a change that I've joined and posted on a blog, looked for answers and posted questions in a forum, and otherwise complained, complained, and complained some more!
We want the 'remember me' feature back!
(Or at least something to replace the feature so that we can have multiple sign-ins in a 3 member household with extended family occassionally visiting and wanting to check their hotmail!)
The whole family wants Microsoft to put back the features that worked perfectly. We deserve a choice. All of us. We either use the "remember me" features or we don't. Simple. What you've done now is slow us down. And who's the genius that decided all of us with Hotmail accounts have to keep typing @hotmail.com AT the HOTMAIL SIGN-IN PAGE????????
Seems to me that most people have an email program through their ISP. We do. But we don't use it and have always preferred Hotmail, even though there were always ads displayed. Know why? Because it was easier and faster than having to type everything out every damn time! Give us our choices back!
I see comments, but no mechanism to add a comment?
It's not obvious that signing in is required to comment, and when I do sign in, the site loses context and dumps me in the middle of nowhere. I have to walk back to what I was trying to comment on; that suuuucks.
Thank you for not breaking back-navigation; it was the only way to get back here! Now on to what I wanted to say about this article, after getting side-tracked with the site's mechanics...
User accounts in Windows are still broken, for those outside corporate IT with particular requirements. It is still not possible to prevent new accounts starting with MS defaults, such as "hide file name extensions", shell folders located in C:, etc.
Until that is fixed, I consider multiple/new user accounts in Windows to be unfit for use. What I'm waiting for, is a way to interactively (i.e. via a normal GUI, not domain-based Group Policy, scripting etc.) set up the new user account profile so it doesn't suck. Then (and only then) would I create new user accounts as a solution to limitations elsewhere.
Articles that describe copying a well-setup profile over the new account prototype don't work; because these copies are invariably incomplete (e.g. "works for everything except the registry", etc.)
Wonderful! It's like being back in kindergarten; a few users have trouble getting to grips with the rules so they "simplify it" for everyone. The lowest denominator wins, once again!
FIX IT!, GUYS
Hmmm...
Still I don't get it.
How can I login with my personal Hotmail account and enjoy the Live ID websites, that I have registered with my personal Hotmail account, and the other Live ID websites, that I have regsitered with my work LiveID-enabled e-mail address.
For example, I'm browsing Microsoft Technet with my work Live-ID enabled e-mail (to get the corporate downloads), and connect to Hotmail with my Hotmail e-mail.
Will I need to disconnect reconnect and type everything in everytime?
Streamline? Consolidation? I am not building a car nor do I want a loan. I just want to sign in without having to type my user name and so does the missus. Streamlining suggests improving, making quicker and more efficient. Can you seriously say that is what has happened here? Read the comments and you will see that virtually nobody agrees with you. This many people can't be wrong.
This blog has made it clear to me . I am deleting IE as soon as I have finished writing this. I only used it because of the sign-in assistant which is not available in Chrome etc. IE9 is embarrassingly slow at start-up and now this crap! This is truly beyond contempt, as is the fact that some idiot has been telling us to re-install this or disable that add-on for about a week. The cherry on top I suppose. I am going to start saving for a Mac!
Frankly, if you can't work out the difference between the check-boxes, you probably shouldn't be using a computer,or for that matter, electricity because the slivvers from your chin my cause a nasty shock and stain the keyboard. Taxi for IE9!
The answers given by Eric Doerr so far
- emphasize the problem that we have, they do not give a solution to our problem.
- make it very clear that MS will again (as usual) persist in her obstinacy and arrogance
- that we will have to live with what has been decided
Bring back the remember me feature for multiple sign-ins!! seriously. It was easy to use and kept me coming back to hotmail.
SMH the outrage over this is silly!
@ treize13: why do you think the outrage is silly? Isn’t it ridicolous that Microsoft change a perfect working feature? Can’t we indicate that this change is strange, unnecessary and users unfriendly? So because it’s the (big and powerful) Microsoft we all have to shut up and simply adopt their decision?? This change suck big time and they have to change it back.
So you just dumbed it down, call it "simplifying" and tell your users to live with it and shut up. I don't see how the "simplified" version is better than the one which allowed multiple sign ins with any ID the user wanted.
Please undo this. As a user that regularry uses as many as 4 live id's having it save all the usernames but not the passwords made it easier to switch between ID'S. Log out of one click the button for the other type the password. I am acutally waiting for the MIcrosoft Connect Team to implement this feature so I dont have to contaantly retype the email addresses. Dislike.
@ treize13
I am happy for you if you don't miss the feature.
But please stay out of here with remarks if YOU do not understand why WE miss it a lot !!!!
Very poorly handled. The tech support people don't understand what has happened and are still telling users to download and install the Windows Live Sign-In Assistant to fix the problem. This move was a mistake and is truly customer disservice. After many, many years with Hotmail, I am very strongly considering moving my entire family to gmail. In the meantime, my fix was to simply use my biometric device to memorize the log-in info.
Very poorly done.
I agree with an earlier post that we desperately need "remember me" function on the hotmail sign-in page. I HATE, HATE, HATE having to re-type my entire email address every time I want to check my emails. I access my email at a work and sometimes public computer and I do NOT want it to save my password AND email address. So, I need to have a way to allow the browser to retain my email address. Remember, even "hotmail.com" is a long string to re-type each time. So, imagine how painful this is for people like me who have a large name/email address. Please fix this ASAP. Thanks.
I didn't like this at all. Why change something that worked perfectly? If you love it so much, why don't you make it an option so we who doesn't live it can use the old login? Why do you have to make it so complicated? Come on guys me and many others wants the old login, please change it back :(
I didn't like this at all. Why change something that worked perfectly? If you love it so much, why don't you make it an option so we who doesn't love it can use the old login? Why do you have to make it so complicated? Come on guys me and many others wants the old login, please change it back :(
The removal of the remember me box is really irritating and the explanation that it improves security does not stack up as the keep signed in alternative is less secure . My online bank remembers me , my account is then protected by password. Why can't MS do the same? Answer - you can because you used to and much more convenient it was too.
Please bring it back or I'm off.
Windows Live - the ugly stepchild of the Windows family, never user-frendly and hardly ever listens to feedback.
I don't see any problem with that. I use two accounts which are linked and I alternate between them easily. These people are overreacting.
Ridiculous. The one feature that set Hotmail apart from all the rest. The only reason I kept paying for a msn.com email account. The suggested alternatives just don't compare with the multiple account sign-in now lost forever.
@ treize13 and Leoberto José Preuss Jr.
Good for you 2 that you don't have a problem with the changes, but as you can see 95% of us do!
Leoberto - most of aren't complaining about logging into LINKED accounts. I'll assume that you are the only one logging into hotmail on your computer, on a regular basis anyways. Our problem is MULTIPLE hotmail users on ONE computer who want their addresses saved and displayed!
This is to KNIGHTSKY (about 30 posts from beginning)
I looked at your post last night, wasn't sure what you were talking about but wanted to investigate the site you suggested ..
I was able to get the site last night but today it's disappeared. (Maybe Hotmail/MS removed it?) It seemed like you were suggesting that there was a way to maybe get around this 'fix' that Hotmail has implemented - which certainly appealed to me!
So, I'm curious what it was that you were trying to say/show and if you had any other suggestions?
@shannonkook. Could be Microsoft has remove information about the sign in assistant. I haven't checked but since they are the last word and everyone has to obey, it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe they can search the internet and find the program and take it off everywhere. Might even remove if off people's computers !
Anyway, what people should do is close accounts and say why. That is the only think they really look at. IE9 has things that bother a lot of people, like moving the favorite tab to the right side. It seems like once they make the law there is no going back. Plus I'm sure they know most will keep it and not use something else.
But I'm not going to use their email much longer, for just the point of it. I don't like having to type Hotmail or Live.com everytime. I wasn't the one that decided to let people have the same user name on both, so they have to sign in with the complete address. Its much faster with Gmail or Yahoo. So, my 7 email accounts will soon be closed out and no more paying for Hotmail plus.
Do you know that on top of all that misery, the service for managing linked IDs has been out of order for several days (weeks?) by now.
MS really made a complete mess of their 15th anniversary : congratulations
@Eric:
Regarding your statement: "We knew from our telemetry that fewer than 2% of users were using the tiles, but 100% of our users were interrupted by them in the old design."
With over 300 million Hotmail customers, 2% of your customer base is 3 MILLION people. You deliberately removed tiles (managing multiple accounts on the Sign-on page) .... and thus knowingly impacted 3 MILLION customers. That may only be a small percentage of your customers, but (in absolute size), it is a very large number of customers to deliberately impact!!!
If other customers were interrupted by the old design (tiles), then why not make tiles an option? Then, those who want to use it can do so, while others who are impacted by it can disable the option.
Sorry, my math is a bit off ... 2% of Hotmail's customers is 6 million people .... deliberately impacted by this change!
@ ShannonKonk
Yes, I see the page is unavailable; it’s the correct link that was provided by Windows Live support in a thread I was participating in recently. The page included links to both Windows Live Essentials (Messenger is required to download to get Windows Live ID Sign-In Assistant) and standalone download for the Sign-In Assistant.
I’m the neighborhood troubleshooter in my neck of woods for all things computer. I’ve been studying whether (during the time theses new changes caught everyone off guard) at that time installing Messenger (installing a program that is not wanted just to gain simpler sign-in experience for web base email, was pathetic); didn’t work well had its own issue(s). That’s why shortly after becoming aware of I tested the standalone Sign-In Assistant it, it was working the last time I was using it, using different computer right now.
Eric Doerr: "We knew from our telemetry that fewer than 2% of users were using the tiles, but 100% of our users were interrupted by them in the old design." 1. I don't need statistics (=worthless) of a defect telemetry (whatever that is) to understand that more than 2% users WANT the OLD login BACK. 2. Why do you keep lying and say 100% (all) users were interrupted by the tiles in the old login? Many people WANTS THE OLD LOGIN BACK, LIKE ME. 3. You are not funny and I hope all of this this is a joke, please end it now. Please give our old login back!!!!
Eric Doerr: "We knew from our telemetry that fewer than 2% of users were using the tiles, but 100% of our users were interrupted by them in the old design." 1. I don't need statistics (=worthless) of a defect telemetry (whatever that is) to understand that more than 2% users WANT the OLD login BACK. 2. Why do you keep lying and say 100% (all) users were interrupted by the tiles in the old login? Many people WANTS THE OLD LOGIN BACK, LIKE ME. 3. You are not funny and I hope all of this this is a joke, please end it now. Please give our old login back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My household. One computer. Three distinct accounts.
Now instead of pushing the password and away we go, Now were back to manual logons.
What is next, DOS again?
If you single users want to stay logged on, just use Messengers "sign me in automatically" option for that.
@ Nick Dandy
This single user does not need Messenger to “sign me in automatically” I can do that by tick “Keep me signed in" on the Live ID sign in page. Besides installing Messenger also includes my Live ID credentials + one more stored on the computer, not too thrill with it, even if I understand the why.
On the sign in page my preference will always be not to saved my password, just my user name (email address).
I can be very brief about this decline :
It means the end of my "Windows Live" life !!
Bring back the old log in.
Surely if people do not like the old log in, they can disable the live ID sign control in add-ons?
So we now have to manually sign in. you know, i've had a think about this, WL may be on to something, i decided to remove the starter motor from my car, i now have to manually crank the engine to start it just like the old days, it's so much fun, i have also removed the starter motor from my wifes car, without telling her, she loves me so much more now,
PLEASE bring back the multiple sign-in page, think about all the poor one finger typists in the family who have to keep filling in their e-mail address,
COME ON DO THE RIGHT THING, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO REALLY.
MS provides us with extremely nice features and makes us love them.
Once we can't live without the features anymore, they take them away, and they hope that not too many people will leave.
After a couple of years, MS brings the features back again as if they were unique in history, and they hope that more people (than those they lost previously) will join due to this false new featues.
This has to be stopped !
My first ever comment on something that Microsoft have changed and I think that tells you how frustrating this change is,
You really need to listen to your users as posted above.
People don't like the change. They would prefer if it was changed back to the way it was.
It worked ! Why try to fix something that worked .
I never had a problem. my kids never had a problem, but hey you're telling me I had a problem so i must have.
This is like cosmetic surgery on good looking people... a waste of time and after all the effort , it just doesn't look right.
you really need to pause , seriously listen to your users who are telling you that you are now causing the problem, not fixing it. and most important be BIG enough to realise that you got this so wrong.
Are you ignoring us who wants the multiple sign-in back? Please bring it back, or at least make it optional. Us who loves the old one can use the old one (multiple emails saved on the sign-in page), and those who wants the new one can use the new one. Please please?
I am truly disappointed in this. Please let us have the old sign-in back I really miss it, it was like the main reason for me use hotmail.
i am one of those people that left a comment earlier, yet i have yet to hear you acknowledge one of the issues i raised. You reiterated in your last reply that people should really try and give the setting-up-multiple-users-option-on their computer a shot...this totally angers me. AGAIN---as a the OWNER/ADMINISTRATOR of the only computer in our household of 6, who has relied on the multiple email address sign-in page, you are missing a major point here! As the owner of the computer, i had the control and option to do a clean-up of unnecessary files and folders on my computer and to monitor my available disc space. i know you can adjust the security settings so that multiple users cannot save/read/or write files, etc but i like the members of my household to have the freedom to download files, their pictures, etc. What you are saying is that I would have to monitor all these separate user locations on my computer from now on...to "clean up and remove unnecessary files and free up disc space." So instead of me monitoring one location, i am forced to go searching through all the other user accounts. Again, it sounds to me that Microsoft is deterring multiple users from sharing a computer and encouraging users to invest in their own computer...definitely not a energy-conserving attitude. If you think that this change is to simplify things and make things easier, you are sadly mistaken.
HI,
I like the
Windows Live essentials Tools Developer options and updates
for Photo Gallery Movie Maker Live Mail ...etc
with new features.
There is one dread with update for Live Essentials
is how the Windows Paths
are redone post install.
Here is the feature request and hope that you can change Post install steps:
Could you take the exisitng path and append to
the %PATH% after or at end
of the %PATH% not at beginning or before
%windir%\System32;%windir%;
The current %PATH% modification slows the system start up
and prevents some other paths form operating correctly.
Thank you for your attention to this,
Martin
Looking at this from the Windows Live point of view, why was this REALLY done? Reasons given above:
1)Customer confusion about the tiles.
2)Trend, to having one user per device.
3) Increasing use of one primary account.
Number one is mis-named. Was anyone really confused about the tiles? This one is really a security concern.
Number two is true, but the user SHOULD be able to choose whether the sign in assistant is there or not. Could they? Is this an un-bundling problem?
Number three may be true, but it is a fact that Windows Live wants it to be true and has introduced features to make it be true. So it is decreed that users will use only ONE primary account. People using the same computer will have to make adjustments.
These are the concerns being ignored:
Privacy: Family members want to use the same device for email; an individual user may not want email accounts linked because of privacy concerns and to maintain absolute separateness.
Utility: Distrust of the functionality and dependability of Windows Live software in maintaining the linked accounts.
Principle: Ease of login should not require the user to remain logged in. That is the tail wagging the dog.
Windows Live ignores these concerns and changes features without regard to any customers who aren't confused, have more than one user per device, or still use multiple accounts due to personal preference.
There is no detailed and upfront information on exactly how these linked account and alias features work, as far as reversibility. Users may want to try it out without having things be permanently done. Is this possible? I see users complaining of problems in these areas, on the forums. Problems both in linking and un-linking.
Overall, I can see that the developers did what was easiest for them to do, the simplest solution is to ignore all the concerns above, and just disable a feature causing complaints by some users. If there really were all those complaints about it getting in the way, why choose between groups of users? Just fix the problem by making it optional. This action is another version of the forum help "cut and paste" way of helping. Mindless.