Windows Live Mail (Beta): A light review

goobimama · 08-12-2005, 02:06 AM

Windows Live Mail (Beta)

I had heard about Windows Live some time back and had entered my ID in for an invite. I was quite surprised to find the invite lying in my inbox today.

I promptly accepted the invitations and was presented with the Windows Live Mail Beta Interface.

To give credit to Microsoft, the interface â€˜looksâ€™ neat. The colours are excellent and the buttons are all very pleasing to the eyes. Gmail should learn from this (just hope I donâ€™t get flamed for this)

The first page you are greeted with is the â€œTodayâ€? page much like that in a normal hotmail interface. Now this is kind of bugging as I normally want to get to my mail first. So I click on Mail.

The interface is nice, but a bit cramped up. The messages are shown in a narrow box. This I am comparing to Gmail which gives you a lot of space to navigate through. They have also eaten up some space at the sides with fat banners asking for feedback which most probably will transform into Ads.

The interface is fast, but not as fast as Gmail. I donâ€™t think they load the entire application like that of Gmail.

There are some nifty features like Right-clicking to get a context menu for reply, forward and whatnot. You can also drag and drop your emails into folders or to the thrash.

The compose window is like any other email client, but it is aesthetically pleasing.

Calender is also a useful feature and works like any other simple PM.

Overall, Windows Live seems to be quite nice. If they could get their interface to be a bit faster by preloading the script, it can be a serious contender to Gmailâ€¦

alanpaladka · 08-12-2005, 03:23 AM

Well, I got Invitation Today. I had submitted my email id 10 days ago. It looks very nice. Thanks to Microsoft.

vijay_7287 · 08-12-2005, 11:12 AM

so finally some competition for gmail haaa ...

shwetanshu · 08-12-2005, 11:12 AM

where to submit for invitation???

dr_nvkrishna · 08-12-2005, 11:48 AM

i have submitted 1 month back.but i havenot get invitaTION.is there any eligibility criterion like computer professionals etc.

naveenchandran · 08-12-2005, 11:55 AM

I have got the invitation...

At first I could not sign au ...

It said you
Could not continue because of one of the following resons..

must be 13 years or older

might not be available in your country

Then I tried it after changing from India to US...
Got into it..
found no change in Interface except 2000 MB!

godsownman · 08-12-2005, 12:07 PM

I think this is the link ,

http://www4.imagine-msn.com/minisite...x?locale=en-us

Yes this is the correct link and it makes a difference from which server u apply. Aplly for it from a non Indian location

goobimama · 08-12-2005, 02:20 PM

I just applied from a link from www.live.com. I use my normal sancharnet connection to sign up...

shwetanshu · 08-12-2005, 02:34 PM

ok me signed up also

it_waaznt_me · 08-12-2005, 04:50 PM

Hmm .. I too reviewed it here .. And mind you .. They _do_ listen to Feedback you send .. Now the only thing that I dont like about it is it freezes my browser for a moment ( PIII 800 Mhz what can you expect

) when the page is opened first .. Anyways .. I didnt expect MS to create such nice interface .. I still believe someone else has designed it ..
Anyways .. The name sucks ..

goobimama · 08-12-2005, 05:05 PM

I forgot to mention, it offers only basic funtionality in Firefox but they say that they are still developing functionality for Firefox...

godsownman · 08-12-2005, 05:38 PM

Hey Goobimama,

I meant that the address in the profile location in your HOTMAIL settings. I think you got me wrong.

And I got an invite today just after I posted the link here I opened my hotmail inbox ( I dont open it often due to gmail ) and there it was waiting for me .

I havent used the interface yet as I am tied up presently.

Will see that later in the day , though.

I had one question. It is for all those who have received the invite. what is the country location that you have provided to hotmail , India or ???

Anyway thanks.

goobimama · 08-12-2005, 06:55 PM

Now i remember. I had used that hack to convert my hotmail to 250MB and in that I had entered Florida,USA...

godsownman · 08-12-2005, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by it_waaznt_me

Hmm .. I too reviewed it here .. And mind you .. They _do_ listen to Feedback you send .. Now the only thing that I dont like about it is it freezes my browser for a moment ( PIII 800 Mhz what can you expect

) when the page is opened first .. Anyways .. I didnt expect MS to create such nice interface .. I still believe someone else has designed it ..
Anyways .. The name sucks ..

Hi,

I have just used it for 2 hours today but I havent noticed any such problem as you say. Even I have a PIII with 600MHZ ( yours is better than mine though), but I do not face the problem.

May be a prob on your side .

Regards

it_waaznt_me · 09-12-2005, 12:00 AM

Dunno ... What browser do you use ..?

it_waaznt_me · 09-12-2005, 12:10 AM

Lol... See what I just got ..

alanpaladka · 09-12-2005, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goobimama

Now i remember. I had used that hack to convert my hotmail to 250MB and in that I had entered Florida,USA...

Yes Exactly. My location is still set to Hawaii in Hotmail.

godsownman · 09-12-2005, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by it_waaznt_me

Lol... See what I just got ..

You got another invitation for the same account. Lol,

And by the way I use the IE browser as its not yet completely ready for Opera and Firefox.

Regards

navjotjsingh · 10-12-2005, 12:50 AM

Thank god I also got the invite today.

cyberia.in · 12-12-2005, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naveenchandran

I have got the invitation...

At first I could not sign au ...

It said you
Could not continue because of one of the following resons..

must be 13 years or older

might not be available in your country

Then I tried it after changing from India to US...
Got into it..
found no change in Interface except 2000 MB!

The same happened to me. Any cure ?

QwertyManiac · 12-12-2005, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NC

Then I tried it after changing from India to US...
Got into it..
found no change in Interface except 2000 MB!
Neutral

Its in your Query itself

Try changin ur nationality in hotmail or ur proxy perhaps...

kumarmohit · 12-12-2005, 03:20 PM

If FF is not working correctly wat about us opera users

Just applied for invite tho

naveenchandran · 12-12-2005, 05:45 PM

yes..

I am using opera on linux and could not click on the link...

anyway no probs...
Viewed the source took the link of that button pasted it in address bar and gave a GO!