Slashdot Mirror
Preview of New MSN Hotmail
An anonymous reader writes "Here is a Preview of a new MSN Hotmail system, using AJAX. Currently in Beta testing." Most interesting is how the user interface more closely resembles a traditional local application. It's definitely a big step in that direction.
I suppose you could make the argument that if in the future software becomes more web-based, it's important to establish as much brand support as possible, because most people will follow the logos they feel more comfortable with.
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
..... How tied is this to IE, or by some miracle will it behave exactly the same under other browsers (Firefox, Opera, etc.)?
The article doesn't seem to give any insight on this.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Wow, I have no idea where he pulled the "huge improvement over GMail" from. This HotMailEx just seems to be GMail with an annoying entry portal page that keeps you from your mail.
Unless he was talking about how great it is to have a right click menu. Wow, yeah, that's big.
John
I have a Gmail account and use it on occassion when I don't want to use my normal POP3 account. I like some things about Gmail and don't like others. Frankly, I think the comments people post about how Gmail, Yahoo mail, etc are kind of pointless, since people will just use whatever interface they prefer. I'll stick with Gmail since I use webmail so infrequently it makes no sense to change to something else right now.
Based on the screenshots, it looks like MS has done some pretty cool stuff with this interface. I didn't spend time reading the article, but it seems like some of the features would be hard to implement perfectly across many different browsers (drag-drop support, right-click support). However, if people want to use Firefox or Opera, they have Gmail as an option for web mail.
MS isn't forcing this service on anybody, and I'm not sure if there's any way they could. So, it's a good thing then. It's got some interesting features that the other webmail services don't have, and as such it's fostering competition. Slashdotters like to talk about having choices... well, this is just one more choice to choose from.
If you don't like it, don't use it.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
In light of the previous thread about annoying adverts, I particularly like the feature where you can't actually see the body of the email because there are too many adverts on the page (eg see http://www.winsupersite.com/images/reviews/mail_be ta_preview_05.jpg)
The world has changed and we all have become metal men.
Want to make a good webmail ?
then :
- no ads every two pixels
- having servers not slow as hell
- having the possibility to send attachements not seen at virus everytime !!
- stop sending your fucking newsletter that I don't want to see !! (or make it blockable !!)
- more space ?
This next-generation kahuna interface makes extensive use of CSS, something IE totally sucks at. I would be interested to hear what the developers have to say about using CSS and these other technologies in IE and compared to Firefox. Pretty much every major web development house I know of develops on Firefox first, then hacks in the crap needed to make it run on IE. MS's team would obviously do it in reverse. I'd love to hear their comments on browser standards and IE 7's compliance with the standards that make this type of web application possible.
And how long will it take for MSN to change those 'Mail Beta Tip #x' graphics into obnoxious flash ads? My guess: one week after it exits beta.
Edit | Preferences | Web Features, click on the Javascript Advanced button, and tick "Disable or replace context menus".
Firefox has this feature, it's just disabled by default because it's almost universally used to disable right clicking on pages by people scared that their visitors might save images from their website.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Dunno but their Start page is quite cool, something like Netvibes but (IMHO) better. Who knows... maybe someday they will offer that service instead of the terrible MSN home page.
BTW, where are all the ads? One of the (many) reasons for me to stop using Hotmail was the animated ads and banners. I would expect those from a porn site but not from my email account. I am sure those will be there when the service goes open.
Oh! and on a sligthly OT note, I guess I wont move to Hotmail again... as in my University (somewhere in UK) the IT people blocked the hotmail URL because it was very dangerous hahahaah nice and lovely.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
"On the other hand, it's still early in Kahuna's development, and I don't recommend that anyone switch their production email account over to this service quite yet"
Hahaha, yeah right, if I have ANY alternatives to the HORRIBLE webmail interface that hotmail is right now, I'll take it, even if it's worse. You know why? Cause it can't get any worse, it can only wrap around and become better.
Seriously, listen to what your saying. Most people are novice user's. They do not know how to untar a file, they do not know what a binary is, or how to compile. they need to learn these things. not everyone has the luxury of being born back in the 70's and growing up while computers evolved beside them.
I dont mean to be rude, but expecting everyone to be of the same skill in operating a computer is moronic. Also, treating everyone the same is best for microsoft. they have to assume the worst about a user when they give them an operating system: that they barely know how to type, just bought it from dell, and have an AOL connection. if you have a high level of skill with a computer, then you should have the competancy to customise your copy of windows as you see fit.
It was bad enough when they started putting IE inside Outlook windows. Now they've managed to put Outlook inside IE. Fantastic...
"Oh, and also, a Microsoft coder bit my sister once..."
Look on the bright side, at least she'll live forever!
"Derp de derp."