14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is currently offering ever-growing storage via Windows Live Hotmail, and there are some users that have been little hesitant about taking advantage of the company’s offering. Case in point: Ryan from Dallas, TX, who’s Windows Live Hotmail uses no less than 23GB of e-mail storage, of course free of charge. According to Microsoft, Ryan is not alone. A Hotmail user in Germany named Martin stored over 21GB of content in his account, and then there’s Yara in Brazil, using approximately 19GB. While it’s rare to see Windows Live Hotmail accounts with over 10GB of space occupied in inboxes, Microsoft’s promise of ever-growing storage was indeed put to the test by more than one user.
“And, as these users and the millions more like them who continue to use e-mail to share photos and communicate with friends need more space, Windows Live keeps giving them all they need. Free,” revealed a member of the Windows Live team. “Beyond e-mail, we are building the best place for your photos and documents on the web, powered by tons of free and secure storage with Windows Live SkyDrive. 25 GB to be exact. This means you can store just about as many documents as you’d like, save full resolution photos, and easily create photo albums, all online where they’re safely backed up, available anywhere, and more convenient to share with friends.”
When it initially made its debut, Hotmail was offering customers free email with a 2 MB storage limit. I think it’s safe to say that Microsoft’s email service has come a long way since then. The storage limit was boosted to 2GB and subsequently to 5GB, only to be removed completely. Still, Microsoft has taken necessary measures in order to prevent abuse. In this context, the rate at which users can increase their total storage is limited. Still, provided that the limit is reasonable, Hotmail users need to never concern themselves about email storage space. Of course, there are additional free storage options when it comes to the Microsoft Cloud, in addition to Hotmail.
“Even now our users are uploading 4 million photos each day, and we’re continuing to make this easier with features like Photomail in the Windows Live Mail program, which automatically converts the photos you send as an e-mail attachment into an online photo album for future access and easy sharing. Also, with the new Office 2010 Beta you’ll be able to save a document that’s on your PC directly to your SkyDrive storage space. So keep communicating, sharing, and creating online, and we’ll keep building the tools and providing the free storage you need for a great experience,” the Windows Live team member added.