Available in the coming weeks

Feb 9, 2009 16:31 GMT  ·  By

Windows Live Hotmail is evolving yet again, following the introduction of Wave 3, which debuted in the fall of 2008. The past week, Microsoft started rolling out a new update for Windows Live Hotmail designed to add new features, but also tweak the service in accordance with user feedback. The software giant indicated that the new features would be rolled out gradually, and that not all users would be able to experience the update at this point in time.

“It’s that time again! The Hotmail team has been hard at work since our last release in the fall, and we’ve got a bunch of new features coming out… and we’re rolling them out now! Your Hotmail account has seen a number of awesome changes in the past few months - we’ve introduced a great new look and we’ve made everything faster and easier to use. The new stuff we’ve added came from the feedback you sent in, and we hope you like what you see so far,” a member of the Windows Live Hotmail team stated.

Windows Live Hotmail continues to offer 5 GB of storage for messages by default; however, the software giant informed that storage would grow with the needs of end users. The company explained that the process is entirely automatic, and that storage space would be added to compensate for the growing volume of messages. At the same time, in order to accommodate more emails, the banner ad at the top of the screen was migrated to the side.

The update will deliver “info at your fingertips. Making plans with friends and family is easy. When you’re writing a message, it’s just one click to add local maps, direction, movie times, and more. We’re trying this out in the US and the UK to get feedback for now, but more places are on the way,” the Windows Live Hotmail team representative added. Also, the new Windows Live Hotmail will be “a little more social. Open your Hotmail to the Today page to see what's new with the people you know, like the latest stuff they’ve posted on blogs, Twitter or Flikr.”

Microsoft will allow users to choose from an increased number of themes in order to personalize their accounts, but also to customize their email signature by editing the HTML. At the same time, POP3 technology is being made available to all users of Windows Live Hotmail.

“Some of these features are still making their way out. If you don't see one of these features yet inside your Hotmail account, you will over the coming weeks,” the Hotmail team member said. “We've designed Hotmail storage to grow with you, but at a reasonable pace. That means you should have plenty of storage unless you suddenly want to store the planet Jupiter on Hotmail, in which case we'll send you a nice e-mail asking you to please not try to store planets on Hotmail (although gradual storage of planets, moons, and asteroids is ok).”