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Hotmail Means to Double Gmail Storage

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the adding-pressure dept.

deputydink writes "Osviews reports that Microsoft's free email service, Hotmail, is throwing down to Google by increasing the free storage to 2GB! I wonder how choked the Hotmail Plus subscribers will be."

77 of 616 comments (clear)

  1. WAR! by alaric_uk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Holy storage wars!

    1. Re:WAR! by Johnny2Bags · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a war, but it's not going to be about storage. Gmail doesn't need to match Hotmail on the 2GB storage (at least yet).

      Hotmail is offering 2GB because that's all they got up their sleves. Gmail is a *huge* improvement over Hotmail on the user interface level. And the Gmail spam filter is pretty awesome.

      Storage is only a factor until a certain degree - meaning that 2MB is nearly impossible to live off of, but beyond 1 GB you are just talking wasted space for most users.

      Some may disagree, but at least in the near future, as far as e-mail is concerned - 1 GB will more than suit 97% of the webmail users out there.

      Right now I don't see Gmail touching their storage level. First and foremost they will focus on the user experience, new features, server availability, etc. Then maybe down the line when they see a large threshold of their users in need of more space, they will either then up the storage on all accounts, or offer paid premium accounts.

      And on an extra note as a Hotmail user, I don't trust anything they are saying right now, they promised more space like months ago and still haven't delivered. I love my Gmail though.

    2. Re:WAR! by Curtman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It may very well be an improvement on the UI. I wouldn't know, its impossible to sign up.

      I was interested when GMail was first announced, but if they're going to make me beg for an account, they can shove it.

      Hotmail sucks big time, but at least its accessible.

    3. Re:WAR! by manavendra · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I agree

      However, this isnt' simply about raising the stakes up to attract new users. This is also about retaining the existing ones - millions out there who are tired to Hotmail (simply because it was the first and at one time the only, free email service provider). Add to this those users who are tied to hotmail because of using MSN messenger as well.

      Now with Gmail offering such a vast leap over storage space, a large number of those users would be ready to migrate (no matter how painful it would be) to other email providers. However, if Hotmail provides them similar (or better) service (read storage - since that's the only thing that has been talked about most everywhere), they would have no reason to.

      --
      http://efil.blogspot.com/
    4. Re:WAR! by mgv · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's a war, but it's not going to be about storage. Gmail doesn't need to match Hotmail on the 2GB storage (at least yet).

      On the other hand, apples paid subscription service (idisk) with 100 MB of storage (At $99 /yr) starts to look a little paltry - It will be interesteing to see what they do in response to this.

      Michael

      --
      There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
    5. Re:WAR! by nzgeek · · Score: 5, Informative

      I wouldn't worry about it. I've got gmail, (bgracewood@gmail.com) and to tell the absolute truth, it really is not all that exciting.

      The spam filtering is okay. I've had one or two legitimate list emails noted as false positives. Nothing new here.

      Forum reply notifications get lumped under one big conversation because Google thinks they are part of a conversation. Err, bzzzzt wrong! Plus the funky javascript preview thing cuts off the most important part of those emails (the link to the forum thread).

      The contacts system is an abomination. You can enter a name and an email and some notes. No room for address, phone or anything.

      Sure it's a beta, but IMHO it's like a 0.4 rather than a 0.9 version.

      --
      gadgetophile.com
    6. Re:WAR! by iezhy · · Score: 5, Funny

      My God, 2 Gb of "increase your penis/tits", "buy viagra" and "super xxx site" spams? i wont bare it...

    7. Re:WAR! by lucas+teh+geek · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I was interested when GMail was first announced, but if they're going to make me beg for an account, they can shove it.

      i was interested too. interested enough to buy an invite from ebay (back before they changed the TOS. now everyones favourite "had to" close down my account. great business plan.

      1. create product
      2. create demand
      3. artifically restrict supply
      4. fuck over the poor users

      real friendly like. thanks for the advanced notice google. all that mail i have/had stored there is now effectively lost. sure, its on their servers and they can see it, but i cant fuckin access it. sort of goes against the whole "never delete an email again" concept

      --
      TIAEAE!
    8. Re:WAR! by mgv · · Score: 3, Interesting

      iDisk is only one part of Apple's subscription service(.mac).

      Along with the 100MB of storage, it includes hosting, several commercial applications, and several discounts on software and subscription. .mac also lets you access your bookmarks from any computer with internet access.

      Yes, I know that. However, its the only bit I'm really interested in, and its way too small. The antivirus stuff will probably be useful one day when there are a few viruses around, and I use my own domain's for eMail.

      But you would have to ask why, as a paid subscription service, they offer 10% of the storage of gMail.

      I would love to use idisk, and when I can offload a significant amount of the 40 GB of backup data I have online, I will do so.

      Michael

      --
      There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
    9. Re:WAR! by MikeDX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I just read your journal.. Damn dude you are angry!

      I have to admit that large corps rarely have anything human to say to their subscribers (paying or not), take eBay for instance, you can't even speak to a human, its all automated and the people behind it are locked away behind closed doors. Ever tried complaining to ebay? They closed my account for non payment of £1.12. They send emails out with "do not reply to this address" how on earth am I supposed to contact you then? Carrier pigeon? No I have to use the crappy contact system and go around in the endless loop of automated answers.

      I have a theory - The bigger the company is, the bigger percentage of idiots working for said company. Read into that what you will.

    10. Re:WAR! by mgv · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What a brilliant comment. So if you only read the sports section of the newspaper the newspaper is a rip-off for having the nerve to charge you for all those pesky other pages and you should go around ranting that it is only a sports section, the rest of the paper doesn't exist?

      Whoa, hang back a second here. I'm not saying that the other bits of .mac don't exist. I am just saying that they are of relatively little value to me.

      But the flip side of the coin - are you seriously suggesting that you think that the 15MB of storage for eMails and 100MB of personal storage is enough for you? Well, perhaps it is, but it isn't nearly enough for me, nor is it enough for many others now. And if I subscribe to .mac and never use half the stuff, is this to apple's disadvantage?

      I'm not trying to shoot down apple, I am seriously happy with my powerbook and my wife uses her iBook like she has never used any other computer. They work, and I like.

      However, some things that apple do are crippled deliberately to promote further sales. iSync can sync your personal data to all sorts of stuff - your phone, your PDA, your idisk and your ipod - but not to any other external hard drive. Which is a pity if you want more storage than you can buy in an iPod. Likewise iTunes is the only client to stream audio to an airport express - but I didn't hear anyone on /. complain about the encryption on that being cracked.

      So I'm saying, yes, I want more storage, and I'm not paying money to apple until it offers a gig of storage on the iDisk for a little less than $350 per year (current pricing on website http://www.mac.com/1/mac_faq.html#upgradingstorage )

      And no, you can't get more than one gig on iDisk, probably because with their pricing model they know that nobody will ever take the subscription out.

      In other words - 1 GB iDisk $350 per year. 1 GB gMail - free. Something is wrong there with somebody's pricing model for such a difference to exist.

      And when apple realises this and drops its price a bit, more people (including myself) will pay them money for the services.

      Michael

      --
      There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
    11. Re:WAR! by IAEBG · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yahoo! Mail has been offering 2GB to their Premium subscribers for the last couple of months.

    12. Re:WAR! by krymsin01 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Really, it's not google's fault that you went out and bought a beta account, from a third party, for a service that will be available to you for FREE.

      Have some patience.

      --
      stuff
    13. Re:WAR! by Smork · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm using MSN messenger just fine without a hotmail address. I think you're confusing Passport and Hotmail. Passport can use any e-mail and is not restricted to hotmail addresses only.

      But I can understand the confusion since they seem linked together, in the sign-up process it is very vague...

    14. Re:WAR! by feargal · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Gmail is a *huge* improvement over Hotmail on the user interface level.
      I beg to differ. Gmail's UI is geared towards low volumes of email. If, like me, you receive thousands of emails a week, a number of major problems rear their heads.
      1. There is no way to distinguish similarily named mailing lists. You can only filter based on "To, "From", and "Subject" headers. Let's examine the options:
        • To: Useless, as people will Cc a list, or the email will be sent to a smaller list which is then redistributed to the larger list. Bugtraq is an example of this.
        • From: Some lists set the "From" header to their own address, others leave it unaltered. In the latter case, the "From" header is useless, unless you happen to have a full subscriber list. Even if you do, you're screwed if somebody is subscribed to two different lists that you are on.
        • Subject: This usually works for lists that insert the list name into the subject. However, there are exceptions. I'm subscribed to the DBMail users list which inserts "[dbmail]" into the subject. I also receive bounce notifications from my mailer daemon which includes "DBMail" in the subject. If I set a filter to match "[dbmail]" in the subject, it ignores the square brackets and so tags the bounced messages as well. It also tags emails on the dbmail-dev list.
        By applying multiple labels I have it working after a fashion. It took way too much time however for such a simple task.
      2. New filters cannot be applied retroactively. If you receive a few hundred emails that need classifying and come up with a filter for them, you then have to manually apply it to the older messages. I still have about 8,000 unclassified emails because they came in before I created filters for them.
      3. Their address book is terrible, and there isn't any way to import an existing one.
      4. There's many more problems, including their stupid lack of a plain HTML version. That one I could understand if they were rushing to a launch date and wanted a feature-rich, IE only version out the door. They do not seem hurried at all though, so they really should have started with a simple standards compliant version and then added the per-browser bells and whistles. I have to go do some work however, so I'll end my rant shortly.

      I know and understand Gmail is in beta. I have reported all the problems I have had months ago. None have been fixed. However, the very fact that you cannot search by a user-defined header baffles me. I can only assume they index the messages by to, from, and subject, and don't cache the rest of the headers in a usable form.

      Shrug. In the end of the day, I don't particularily care, I'll continue using Sylpheed-Claws which copes extremely well. I would have like a web-based backup though for when I'm not near my laptop. I guess I'll have to finish writing my own.

      --
      "A goldfish was his muse, eternally amused"
    15. Re:WAR! by Svennig · · Score: 5, Funny

      You wont bare it? Thank god for that!

    16. Re:WAR! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So, let me get this straight:

      You bought a BETA Gmail account off ebay - a pretty stupid thing to do since its easy to get your own one for free - and started using it as your primary email address.

      Now that its gone you're complaining at google for taking away your BETA Gmail account which you bought under dubious circumstances.

      I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for you - you're just an idiot.

    17. Re:WAR! by avdp · · Score: 4, Informative

      3. yes there is, I imported all my Outlook address book into Gmail. Look again, it's a new feature (within the last two months).

      4. their interface works perfectly under firefox. It is not IE only.

      This is a beta service. Except improvements.

    18. Re:WAR! by critter_hunter · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Isn't that a known law of business? As a company grows bigger and older, it becomes less and less efficient, especially at the managerial level. Why? Because incompetent managers, fearing for their job, make sure only people who are less competent than themselves get hired. Let's not forget to overpay those suckers to squelch their ambition, further improving job security.

      --
      Karma: Could be worse (could be raining)
    19. Re:WAR! by kzinti · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Storage is only a factor until a certain degree - meaning that 2MB is nearly impossible to live off of, but beyond 1 GB you are just talking wasted space for most users.

      You are right, but look at that fact another way: the vast majority of users can't begin to fill 1GB in the foreseeable future. (I got a gmail account some weeks ago, subscribed it to LKML, and every other high-traffic linux list I could find - and it's now at only 15%.) Once capacity gets beyond about 100MB, most users won't come anywhere near their limit in the next couple of years.

      In fact, I'd bet that Google probably doesn't have enough disk space on hand for n users * 1 GB. They're probably under by (WAG) 90%. But that makes sense - why buy all the storage they're going to need right now if most if it is going to sit empty? With disk drives falling in price every day, it makes sense - especially at that scale - to purchase space only as it's needed.

      Therefore, Google's 1GB limit doesn't really mean anything, except as a foil to those few radical cases who see free storage as a chance to mail their pr0n collection to themselves, thus achieving an offsite backup. For most users, the limit might as well be 2GB. Or 10GB. Or 100GB. Given that (a) most users can't use all their space and (b) Google's not buying drives for that empty space anyway, then the limit becomes just a marketing tactic... but a good one, considering how much attention it has gotten for gmail.

      The guys over at Hotmail are just now figuring this out.

      My guess: when gmail is finally opened to the public, it will at least match the free storage of any other service out there, if not exceeding the others. Maybe 2GB, maybe 5GB, but I expect to see more that 1GB.

    20. Re:WAR! by gnu-generation-one · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Increase your mailbox size by 100%!!!"

    21. Re:WAR! by stevesliva · · Score: 4, Informative
      • The spam filtering is okay. I've had one or two legitimate list emails noted as false positives. Nothing new here.
      • the funky javascript preview thing cuts off the most important part of those emails
      Google has been tweaking both those features in the past few weeks. I recently noticed a number of mailing lists had been dropped into Spam, even though I had filters set to label them. That isn't happening anymore. And I believe the view message pane has begun showing more of the message w/o having to launch a popup.

      Annoyances: Bad contacts and filters sorting. No notifications of messages in Spam, filter-labeled messages in Spam are hidden from inbox.

      What's nice is that the number of filters is unlimited, versus hotmail's 10, the ability to search your old messages with google's engine, and less obtrusive, even interesting ads.

      --
      Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
  2. That'll be nice... by dmayle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    2GB. That's nice and all, but when are they going to actually deliver on the 10MB they promised everyone? I don't use Hotmail, but my girlfriend does, and I'm unable to send her any attachments larger than about 500k because she keeps old emails...

    1. Re:That'll be nice... by REBloomfield · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I had an email telling me about the wonderful upgrades, but I haven't seen any yet, and my box is permanently around 85% full. Even with the spam filter cranked up, they still let threw the odd vew fival attachments that push me over the limit. And as you can see----^ I've moved to gmail...

    2. Re:That'll be nice... by Build6 · · Score: 5, Informative

      considering the integration Outlook Express, Entourage et al have with Hotmail, for many people Hotmail *isn't* just "web"-mail.

      that said, I'm still waiting for the storage upgrade they promised, up from 2MB to whatever. I was going to retire my hotmail account and go elsewhere, but I decided to wait when they announced. It's starting to sound like what they've been known to do in the past - announce vapourware in order to delay migration/movement to elsewhere.

    3. Re:That'll be nice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The article got it a bit wrong. The free service will be offering only 250mb whereas hotmail plus will give you 2 gig. The free service emails will be limited to 10mb and plus will be 20mb. Still quite far behind Gmail it seems... http://www.imagine-msn.com/hotmail/en-us/

    4. Re:That'll be nice... by eraserewind · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I use Hotmail through Outlook Express on Windows XP (there goes my credibility). It works pretty well though I have to say, though occasionally multiple accounts confuse it. I keep my Hotmail empty, and immediately move email to my regular inbox (because the quota is still very low)

      It catches most of the junk mail, though I've found that if you get some spam to your Hotmail Inbox it's better to go to the webmail page, and report it as junk mail rather than just deleting it. If you don't report it they continue to let in the same type of email again and again.

  3. I'm holding out... by mellonhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    Until they come out with a free service that includes the installation of a server with a terabyte of storage in my basement.

  4. Great! by BluRBD!E · · Score: 4, Funny

    No I can save ALL of my spam... instead of the daily gigabytes worth.

  5. Next big thing. by Defender2000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So storage space is no longer the big attraction, since everybody can get lots.

    I bet the next big thing will be from whoever reaches the 700mb attachment limit ;)

    --
    ...I'll procrastinate tomorrow...
  6. That's strange by Guitarzan · · Score: 5, Informative

    They haven't even upped the normal 2 meg ones yet...

    Not that I'm really bothered by it, it's just always fun to see huge claims. :)

    1. Re:That's strange by eclectro · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They say that they are going to increase the limit on the 2 meg accounts "by the end of the summer", which gives them roughly a month until the first day of fall before I can call them a liar.

      I suspect they are dragging their feet to squeeze all the upgrade money they can from the 2 meg accounts.

      Also, I'm sure that there will be major strings attached, like having to sign in to your account every three weeks or lose it.

      Alternatively, they may be dragging their feet because there are serious technical issues at hand, like with everybody letting their accounts fill with spam, which means they have will actually have to deliver tera/petabytes of storage.

      The only thing I use my hotmail account for is for when people get really pushy for an email, I give them my hotmail address.

      But I agree with an earlier poster, I don't need 2 gigs. Just deliver on 15 megs.

      --
      Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
  7. Unlimited by neilmoore67 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some of the storage space figures being bandied around are so outlandish that it wouldn't surprise me if someone trumps them all by offering free unlimited storage space (perhaps they already have).

    They can always boot people from the service if they use too much space anyway. :-)

    --
    You've probably noticed that people's noses get bigger as they get older. That's because old people are huge liars.
  8. GMX offers 1GB free and 8GB for paying customers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Webinterface, POP3/SMTP, server-side filtering and forwarding included.

  9. Good business by pubjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft paid, what, $400 million for Hotmail. Then they must have paid quite a bit to port the back end to Windows. Now they are going to have increase the hardware of the back end considerably to compete with Gmail. And it's a free service.

    Is that good business?

    1. Re:Good business by CdBee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They're probably terrified that Google Gmail will become a universal sign-in system to compete with MSN Passport - which, after all, is the real business reason to get people onto Hotmail.

      Microsoft wants to control Online Identity services and Instant Messaging. Google has the ability to be a significant threat to that if they decide to enter the market. (I'm hoping they will)

      --
      I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
    2. Re:Good business by eclectro · · Score: 3, Funny

      They're probably terrified that Google Gmail will become a universal sign-in system to compete with MSN Passport - which, after all, is the real business reason to get people onto Hotmail

      Agreed. Also there is all that "life is better with the butterfly" crap that they have to try and justify.

      --
      Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
    3. Re:Good business by Jade+E.+2 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Microsoft paid, what, $400 million for Hotmail. Then they must have paid quite a bit to port the back end to Windows.
      I was under the impression that Hotmail still used IIS web servers talking to the original Solaris backend. That was way back when they had only had it for a year or two though... Could be different now.

      OK, googled it, found these: In 1998, the attempt to migrate to NT apparently failed. And in 2002, they appear to have tried again.

      Anybody know if it worked?

    4. Re:Good business by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      it was freebsd actually

  10. I'll believe it when I see it by pedestrian+crossing · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So far, it seems like it is all rumors.

    First we heard that they were going to up to 250MB. Hasn't happened yet. Now 2GB. I'm not holding my breath.

    If Hotmail would actually filter spam, and do something about the headache-inducing interface, -that- would be an improvement. Thank goodness for gotmail!

    --
    A house divided against itself cannot stand.
    1. Re:I'll believe it when I see it by RogueProtoKol · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Of course there's a reduction in spam, it's a brand new account!

  11. Gmail will still be better by Jeff85 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ahh the wonders of competition.

    But Hotmail still lacks all the great features of Gmail such as labels, conversations, and keyboard shortcuts. Hotmail won't be nearly as good as Gmail is.

    --
    Fetch Text URL - Firefox Extension
    1. Re:Gmail will still be better by jobe999 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree. Hotmail is going to be cluttered with ads. Microsoft needs to learn that simplicity = success.

  12. Easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... upgrade your girlfriend.

  13. ...so? by startled · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The coolest thing about gmail is the software itself, not the storage. It's excellent. I wish we had it at work-- no more searching for that e-mail someone sent you 6 months ago that you're sure you put in the "coding" folder-- or was it "scripting", or "ai", or "todo"? You could always use that global e-mail search function that only takes about 20 minutes. But hey, you're too busy slogging through tons of other e-mail you just got, because your filters suck.

    I don't see why I'd WANT to keep 2 gigs on my hotmail account, unless they make it as full-featured and easy to use as gmail.

    1. Re:...so? by R.Caley · · Score: 5, Funny
      no more searching for that e-mail someone sent you 6 months ago that you're sure you put in the "coding" folder-- or was it "scripting", or "ai", or "todo"?

      Gee guys, whatever happened to grep?

      --
      _O_
      .|<       The named which can be named is not the true named
  14. Email! The next kazaa! by Moocowsia · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well now with all the spam going around we can start using free email accounts as our next p2p app. Yay!

    --
    Moo!
  15. Couple a megachips... by lilmikey1982 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ehh, I dunno. I call BS on that. I know that Microsoft will eventually have to increase the limit of space given, but I somehow doubt that a company that was charging money for a tiny bit of space is all of a sudden going to just give out 2 GB for free. Do we know who the contributor was? Also... in the article it says that Microsoft won't bother us with graphic ads. Again, BS. I see more ads on Hotmail than I do on some pr0n sites. I highly doubt they'll just drop them.

  16. now it comes to the point - by teemu.s · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whos more evil? The Devil whos heading towards World OS Domination or the Devil who wants to provide you personalized ads by reading your mail ...

  17. Size matters, but it's not everything by Jugalator · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In my opinion, 1 GB is already so much that other features matter when I decide what mail service to use. It's not like a 10 GB mail service is 5x better than a 2 GB one. And it's not like this change would make Hotmail twice as good as Gmail.

    I'm not saying this just because I like Gmail, since I *would* consider another service if Gmail just offered 20 MB while another offered 1 GB. It's just that these storage spaces are no longer an issue for me at 1 GB.

    More like the opposite -- risking having so much mail and suddenly something bad happens to the online service.

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    1. Re:Size matters, but it's not everything by PatrickThomson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly... Most consumers focus on the one feature that drives the market and is pushed out of proportion to real usefulness, to adopt a "bigger than yours" approach (Case in point: celerons. if AMD came out with a chip that ran at 4 GHz but was shit everywhere else, and found a major supplier, they'd dominate the market overnight).

      Gmail took the two-pronged approach to rope people in initially with the large space, but got them completely astounded by the awesome interface.

      --
      I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
  18. Not Free by peterpi · · Score: 4, Informative

    This applies only to the Hotmail Plus service, which is not free.

    1. Re:Not Free by GoofyBoy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Paid Hotmail = 2 gigs (now)
      Free Hotmail = 250 Megs (in fall)

      http://news.com.com/Hotmail+to+offer+250MB+of+free +storage/2100-1032_3-5245523.html?tag=nl

      --
      The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
  19. Blurb wrong... by Cyno01 · · Score: 4, Informative

    They are increasing their limit for the free subscribers, but to 250MB. Hotmail plus or whatever, which is like $10 a year, gets the 2GB bump.

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  20. The "free" accounts do NOT get 2GB! by LinuxKnight · · Score: 5, Informative

    RTFA... misleading /. headings strike again...

    Reading the deeper linked article from the top linked article, which is: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17949/ It does not specifically mention the "free" snotmail account gets 2GB.

    Reading M$N's page about it, http://www.imagine-msn.com/hotmail/en-us/ it looks like the M$N Plus accounts will get 2GB, which means the ones you pay $19.95/mo for. This is NOT the free snotmail account getting 2GB. These will get 250MB. Not GB, MB.

    Jeez the /. editors need to do a little more fact checking eh? But /. editors actually RTFA??? Naaaahhhhh.

    Google is still ahead in the actual FREE email storage space war. 100MB for Yahoo, 250MB for M$N. ... so, anyone got gmail beta invites? ;)

    --
    -----------
    LinuxKnight
  21. No problem. by cablepokerface · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since you are posting on /. your girlfriend problem must be hypothetical.

  22. Missing the point by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is it just me or does this just show that Microsoft is missing the point. Yes, it's nice that they will offer 2GB, but honestly, who cares whether you have 1GB or whether you have 2GB? The real advantage is Gmail's interface. Furthermore, Google said Gmail would have 1GB mailboxes and it did. Microsoft said weeks ago that they would increase the mailbox size to 250MB and now has upped that to 2GB. Guess what though, all mailboxes are still 2MB!! 1,000 real MB is more useful than 1,998 phantom megs.

  23. A note from Microsoft. by iamdrscience · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Hotmail Users,

    I.O.U. 1,998 Megabytes.

    Sincerely,
    William H. Gates

    1. Re:A note from Microsoft. by SEE · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cheapskate. You could at least have made the IOU for 2,046 megabytes . . .

  24. 2GB doesn't solve Hotmail's problems by TheFairElf · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hotmail is possibly the worst of the major email providers right now. Which other email provider occasionally gives you the message "service unavailable, try again later"? I started moving away from hotmail after the time I desperately needed to get to an email and it would continuously give me this message. My other peeve with Hotmail is that the junk mail folder counts towards the measly 2MB, so most of the time my mailbox is overflowing. Even if they give 2GB of space (when they do give it), I'm still moving away from them. Yahoo and GMail are definitely better alternatives.

  25. MS/Hotmail missing the point. by digital+photo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think adding more space is missing the point.

    Improving the user interface, fulfilling promisses to the userbase, and making the process of web-email more straightforward should be their focus. Not supersizing their accounts.

    Taking a look at the hotmail site, I am reminded of college bulletin boards where advertisements and flyers are stapled to the wall haphazardly, each trying to grab your attention when all you really wanted to find was that note your friend left you on the board.

    Google's Gmail is the information frontdesk at a five star hotel where you walk by, ask if you have any messages, and get on with your life.

    If MS/Hotmail is just throwing space/money at the problem, then they are missing the point entirely and will just be wasting money. Not that that's stopped them before or that that seems to matter to them much.

    --

    Winged Power Photography
  26. Microsoft miss the point by delomelas · · Score: 3, Informative

    But Microsoft have of course completely missed the point - it sure is nice to have a lot of storage space, but where GMail really wins is in ease of use and speediness of the site...

  27. Charset support by erikdalen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hotmail is unusable anyway as long as it only supports receiving mails in ISO-8859-1. It silently ignores the charset defined in the mail headers.

    2gb is nice though. But I already have a real mail server with ~10GB storage :)

    --
    Erik Dalén
  28. The "free" accounts do NOT get 250MB! by pedestrian+crossing · · Score: 4, Informative

    I just logged into my Hotmail account directly (I rarely do this any more, thanks to this), and found that my mail limit was upped from a paltry 1MB to a whopping 2MB!

    Seems like there is a kind of "reverse FUD" thing going on here...

    --
    A house divided against itself cannot stand.
  29. Free German service has better than that... by killbill! · · Score: 5, Informative

    GMX, a German ISP and free e-mail service, is offering 1GB for free. Bump that to 5GB for 3 EUR/month or 10GB for 5 EUR/month.

    However the fun doesn't end here, as they also offer automatic POP/IMAP e-mail retrieval, custom filters for automatic redirection, SMS/MMS alerts, up to 15 aliases...

    Oh, and did I mention you can use your capacity as an iDisk-like network disk and share your files with other GMX members? I think they even have a Windows plug-in to mount your storage account as a network drive in the Explorer.

    Alas, AFAIK it's in German only. I for one, welcome our new German overlords...

  30. Do It Yourself... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Linux/BSD server connected to your broadband link.

    2. Dynamic DNS service on your IP address from your ISP.

    3. Procmail & fetchmail grabbing mail from the ISP mail server.

    4. Strong firewall rules & SSH-only access with public & private keys.

    5. Carry around your private key with Putty on a USB memory stick and / or a floppy disk.

    I have 160GB of storage and can get to my email form just about any PC in the world. Plus I haven't got to worry about "yet another email account".

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
    1. Re:Do It Yourself... by stud9920 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Let's sum it up :

      * turning my TV on and off for such a short time significantly shortens the MTBF of the components, and is therefore environmentally nefast.
      * I do use low wattage bulbs, for the reason that I have a low amount of current available, so if I wat to see something, I have to use mini-TLs; plus they're cheaper on the long run.
      * I do not have a microwave oven because it's far to easy to heat junk food with one.

  31. Yahoo silent player by vivekg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does anyone noticed that prices reduced for Yahoo biz mail http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/bzinfo/prod/bemail/ compare_mail_packages.php and Yahoo web hosting http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/bzinfo/prod/wh/comp are.php, which includes tons of space ($11.99 pm == 25 EMAIL ID [ 2 GB each], 2 GB hosting space, and other stuff). Wow they are ahead of every one
    Many services now crossing 1 gig mark, (http://fearside.org/~vivekgite/gmail-watch/ look right side Bigger the better - MailBox); EAST or WEST gmail is best of free email, but for "Small Business" yahoo rocks.

    --
    The important thing is not to stop questioning --Albert Einstein.
  32. It will be in the next version, then delayed by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Informative
    Welcome to MS marketing my friend. MS always does this. Don't switch, don't buy something else, don't go to the competitor. We will have it all in the next version and MORE!!! Then the next version comes close to release and most of it will have been delayed into the next version.

    The older people will remember MS promising the sky to stop people from adopting OS/2 and the younger can look to Longhorn. Not even close to release yet and it is already being stripped and things MS promised to be in XP but really where in Longhorn are now definitly going to be in "who cares". WinFS anyone? How long has MS been promising a better filesystem?

    This little announcement grabbed MS a few headlines. None of the media will be coming back to MS in a few weeks and ask them why they haven't delivered. Journalists ain't even smart enough to question goverments on breaking campaign promises. Far easier to copy paste the next press release.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  33. Not for free.... by kg4czo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just checked my pam ridden hotmail account that I've had since before M$ bought it and they're actually offering 250MB to freeloaders. The 2GB is for paying customers.

    Yay! 250MB of SPAM to delete every day! :P

  34. Thank you Google! by uberchicken · · Score: 4, Funny

    I love it. Google pilot a big-box email beta system, and we all get 2Gb Hotmail.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, Google of Sherwood.

  35. Re:Regular e-mail by dn15 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    " I have all the backup e-mail storage space I want on my own Personal Computer. How many people honestly need instant access to an old e-mail from two years ago from anywhere on the web?"

    Quite true in many cases, but there are good reasons for using webmail (combined with IMAP, if possible!) It is great to have consistent layout of saved mailboxes available on multiple computers, for example. It's also nice to have saved messages available when out of town, if you don't use a laptop. Finally, your address stays the same if you switch ISPs, and even keeps working if you don't have any internet service for a while.

    That said, I would not use a web-only mail service myself. I'm just saying there are uses for it. Personally I have my own domain name, set up with IMAP and SquirrelMail pointed at it -- all the advantages of webmail without the annoyances.

  36. Microsoft FUD as usual by stu72 · · Score: 3, Interesting


    This is the second time that Microsoft has made grandiose announcements about how much space they will give away for free, but nothing has really changed - Yahoo stepped up to the plate immediately and gave everyone 100 MB.

    Let's look at that more closely; Yahoo said they were going to give everyone 100 MB, then they did it. Microsoft has promised always promised the moon but we're all still waiting.

    Why put up with it? Try out Yahoo mail - it's really really good, and it's really really 100 MB. Right now. Not tomorrow, or "soon", now.

    Why does anyone, let along /.'rs, put up with it?

  37. Of course! by Ilgaz · · Score: 3, Funny

    They got DoubleSpace installed on Hotmail servers! They just lack a bit conventional memory, thats all...

    Phear MS technology you Google!

  38. Re:Billy made a comment like yours some time ago. by plumby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seems unlikely. I'm guessing their business case for Hotmail is at least partly based on advertising revenue, and this is usually largely dependent on number of (independently verified) page hits, so the more you use them, the more demand they get for (and the more they can charge for) advertising space.

  39. Cost of disk space vs. cost of engineering & m by otisg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Precisely. You can think about it like this:

    Disk space is cheap. When you give users 2GB of disk space, they don't really use it all up. The disk space is not pre-allocated and immediately consumed. Thus, 2GB is really more about users' perception of Hotmail's offering, and this positive perception comes at a low price (again: disk space is cheap)

    On the other hand, it costs a lot to pay a few dozen developers to add valuable, innovative new features, such as GMail's labels.
    It also costs a lot of money to market Hotmail, to evangelize and to hype it, which is what people are doing with/for GMail for 'free'.

    In conclusion, it's easy and not that expensive to just throw 'we offer 2GB' on the site, but it is expensive to add features and market the service.

    --
    Simpy
  40. Ebay's telephone numbers by Alien54 · · Score: 4, Informative
    I don't know I did a search on google for ebay telephone numbers, and found this:

    Ebay's telephone numbers

    Ebay Phone Numbers:

    (408) 558-7400
    (408) 558-7401
    1-800-322-9266
    1-888-749-3229
    1-408-37 6-6554 FAX

    Spokesperson: Kevin Pursglove, 408-558-7458
    Hours: 7:30AM - 5:30PM PT M-F

    Employee's Extension: press 1
    Dial by name directory: press 0
    Customer Service: press 2
    Operator: press 3

    May be dated, obsolete, your milage may vary, you have been warned.

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"