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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."

33 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 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.

    8. 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.
    9. Re:WAR! by Svennig · · Score: 5, Funny

      You wont bare it? Thank god for that!

  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/

  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. 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...
  5. 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. :)

  6. 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.
  7. 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
  8. Easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... upgrade your girlfriend.

  9. 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.

  10. 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
  11. 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 ...

  12. 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
  13. No problem. by cablepokerface · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  14. 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 . . .

  15. 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
  16. 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...

  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.

  20. 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