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New Hotmail Integrates Office Features

Posted by StoneLion on from the you-can-dress-it-up dept.

angry tapir writes "Microsoft is set to begin rolling out the latest enhancements to its Hotmail (warning: interstitial ad) web mail service, with an aim to reduce clutter and make it easier to send photos and handle Office documents. Microsoft is making a Web-based version of Office available from within Hotmail's Web interface that allows use of Microsoft document formats such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote."

22 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Hotmail? by netsavior · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought they went out of business in the mid 1990s, haven't heard of them since.

    1. Re:Hotmail? by DarkKnightRadick · · Score: 3, Informative

      They didn't go out of business, Microsoft bought them and that was post-'97 (I think it was around '99). I had a pre-MS account but have since closed that one. I still have one hotmail address (I used to have three), though.

      --
      "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
    2. Re:Hotmail? by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're thinking of http://hotmale.com/

  2. Wannabee fools. by unity100 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    where were they up until google did it ? they realized to do this just now ? all they are doing is 'me too' for a long while now.

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    Read radical news here
    1. Re:Wannabee fools. by zkp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, some of the features sound pretty useful to me. The claimed improvement (we will have to see, but it seems plausible) is that they do a better job integrating real office documents.

      From a security standpoint, I have often wanted to be able to generate something like a one time password when logging in through a public computer.

    2. Re:Wannabee fools. by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Microsoft has been 'me too' since early days. Microsoft's strategy has been to let some other company prove there is a market for a particular function then write a competing product and gradually improve it (and modify the OS so that the competitor doesn't run as well) until they take over the market (see: Excel, Word, Internet Explorer...to name a few). It doesn't always work (see MS Money).

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
  3. Open Document by Elektroschock · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I usually use Linux and I want to avoid lock-in. Microsoft Office supports the OpenDocument format, so how about these Microsoft services? And with OpenDocument I mean the Oasis format, not OpenXML (which I don't trust to be suffiently interoperable).

  4. It looks like you're using hotmail... by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would you like me to interconnect every program Microsoft has to offer to your account so that way you can be tied to us forever?

    Yes/No

    It looks like you've said "No". Are you sure?

    Yes/No

    I'm sorry, but it appears you keep clicking on "No". I believe you meant to click "Yes."

    Is this correct?

    Yes/Yes

    Ok, great! Downloading files....12567 of 9,324,456,765 Bytes downloaded.

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  5. Losing by Jaysyn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Heh. Once again we have MS playing catch-up to Google. I thought Hotmail was turned into Windows Live or something like that anyhow.

    --
    There is a war going on for your mind.
    1. Re:Losing by Jaysyn · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just leave Microsoft alone!

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    2. Re:Losing by FuckingNickName · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, that's just a mixture between your and Google's incompetence. If you put it in quotes, nearer 383,000. If you browse to the last page of results, about 199.

    3. Re:Losing by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't see Google with an on-premise deployment option - how is that 'catch up'? (And no, I don't mean the desktop versions of Office, Microsoft has an on-premise version of its Office Web Apps so you don't have to trust your data to third party servers)

  6. sigh... by AlexiaDeath · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They are several years late. Again. And Google gives me a lot more formats, all of the OO ones for example and an online PDF reader, best thing since sliced bread. And it does this without the need for closed clumsiy plugins like MS-s silverlight.

    1. Re:sigh... by dward90 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      While it's true that Google supports more file types, it shouldn't be unreasonable to assume that Hotmail's integration with MS Office will be substantially more seamless.

      Google Docs is still pretty atrocious at handling any formatting quirks of Office file types, and given that MS Office is still the most popular suite to format things in (for better or worse), Hotmail could have a strong selling point above Google in this regard.

      *Disclosure* I use Google Docs almost exclusively for my academic and personal needs.

      --
      My other sig is clever.
    2. Re:sigh... by AlexiaDeath · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nice, yes. But not enough to cause mass move over from Google.

  7. Re:Spam? by Jazz-Masta · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why would I want to open all my spam in Office?

    Because all the best email viruses have word and excel macros built in...you can't open those in Google Docs.

  8. Late, yes... by Benfea · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...but I'm betting this will be a heck of a lot more robust than Google Docs. Competition is a good thing.

    1. Re:Late, yes... by jslater25 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Don't forget that Hotmail (or is it Windows Live or Windows Hotmail Live or Windows Live Mail? I can never remember!) STILL doesn't support IMAP. So while Microsoft is busy trying to integrate most Microsoft Office products (Outlook integration requires an annual fee along with additional software), they continue to lag behind the competition in other areas.

  9. Re:ActiveX? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to Wikipedia: Supported web browsers include Internet Explorer 7 and later, Mozilla Firefox 3.5 and later and Safari 4. In another thread, I just criticised the Microsoft web apps for requiring Silverlight, but I just read that according to Wikipedia it was: optional and its availability will only "enhance the user experience, resulting in sharper images and improved rendering."

    I should have read TFA.

  10. One thing, OneNote by xtracto · · Score: 2, Interesting

    IFF, Microsoft offers the OneNote program online (for free) and manages to integrate it in a sensible way to Hotmail, I might be sold.

    Currently I am using Google Notebook (I was lucky to get an account before they closed the subscriptions) to organize my life. I have really tried to use other online alternatives (like Zoho) but they just do not feel right.

    On the other hand, the times when I have used OneNote, it has *really* impressed me. That is a really good program.

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  11. Re:ActiveX? by rampagea1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    To use Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta, your computer must meet one of the following requirements: 1) Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 running on Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista. You can download Internet Explorer from the Internet Explorer page. 2) Mozilla Firefox running on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. You can download Firefox from the Firefox download page. 3) Safari 3 and 4 on Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. No support for Linux... just Mac or Windows :(

  12. Re:ActiveX? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

    Live Workspace is an old thing, and is not the same as Office Web Apps / SkyDrive.

    Now, I haven't found any place that'd list system requirements (and specifically browser/OS) for Office as exposed on SkyDrive, but it is reasonable to assume that they will be the same as for Office Web Apps in SharePoint 2010 - after all, it's supposed to be the same code. And for those, Firefox on Linux is explicitly supported. No Opera on the list, though - a pity.