Hotmail to offer 250MB of free storage

Microsoft said Wednesday that it will boost storage limits in its Hotmail Web e-mail service, a move intended to counter similar steps taken by rivals Google and Yahoo.

The upgrade will increase Hotmail's free e-mail storage limits from 2 megabytes to 250MB and its paid e-mail service, which costs $19.95 a year, from 10MB to 2 gigabytes. The changes will begin in early July.

"With these new offers, storage will not be an issue for MSN Hotmail customers," Blake Irving, corporate vice president of communication services for MSN, said in a statement.

The storage follows similar announcements from Google and Yahoo. The storage boost started when Google announced in April that it plans to launch a new e-mail service called Gmail that will give people 1GB of storage for free. The service has attracted some controversy, because it will serve advertisements based on keywords found in the text of peoples' e-mail messages.

Indeed, Google's initial steps into storage increases countered the industry's trend to charge extra for more memory. Over the past few years, Yahoo and Hotmail have both taken steps to decrease memory in hopes of convincing free users to become paying subscribers.

Earlier this month, Yahoo launched its own upgrade to 100MB for free users and 2GB for its paid users. The company said the changes would make e-mail storage a "nonissue."

"We'll remain focused on what e-mailers want and need, and people can expect to see a number of new enhancements to Yahoo Mail in the coming months," Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako said in response to the Microsoft announcement.

Ask Jeeves also plans to grant its e-mail subscribers more storage room. Earlier this year, the search company acquired Interactive Search Holdings, including My Way, The Excite Network and iWon.com, which all serve Web surfers with free e-mail. Ask Jeeves plans to give each of the sites' e-mail subscribers 125MB of free storage, up from an allottment of 3MB to 6MB previously.

Separately, Microsoft said it will offer free antivirus software to scan e-mails before they appear in a user's in-box.

CNET News.com's Stefanie Olsen contributed to this report.

Gmail craze

Gmail is what started it all. Thanks Gmail. We all owe it to you.<br /><br />I guess sending out 5 invites over 1 day made Hotmail scared. I knew this day was coming. I was just talking about it this afternoon too. Now that they are making it 250MB they are still in the game, since it's hard to switch email accounts (emails, contacts).<br /><br />IMO, 100MB is even more than most people can ever use, not to mention 250MB or Gmail's 1GB.

[hadaso]

Gmail is not about storage: It's a different approach to email!

Gmail is not about storage: It's a different approach to email! A lot of storage is a side effect.<br /><br />Gmail is focused on using indexed search to locate email in the old email archive. All these other services that are now adding storage still require that the user create lots of folders and remember in what folder a particular message was filed two years ago...<br /><br />Gmail replaced folders by labels and full indexed search of email text. Gmail replaced handling of single messages by handling of complete "conversations". Gmail created a super-responsive webmail interface. Gmail doesn't fill the screen with banner ads. Most of the time there are no ads, and if there are, they are on the part of the screen I have to scroll to to see the ads.<br /><br />The 1GB storage quota in Gmail is only a consequence of the way Gmail is to be used: If the user is not to be bothered by organizing email, then email is not deleted. If the user is not constantly making decisions about what to keep and what to delete, then old email accumulates. Instead of having the user read old email to make it fit in a small mailbox, or deleting new email all the time, Gmail provides space to keep all that email.<br /><br />The fact that the other services are now increasing their quotas to look competitive is understandable. But what would really be interesting is the way other services and makers of email clients will respond to the challenge of freeing the user from having to invest a lot of time in managing her email store.

Gmail craze

Gmail is what started it all. Thanks Gmail. We all owe it to you.<br /><br />I guess sending out 5 invites over 1 day made Hotmail scared. I knew this day was coming. I was just talking about it this afternoon too. Now that they are making it 250MB they are still in the game, since it's hard to switch email accounts (emails, contacts).<br /><br />IMO, 100MB is even more than most people can ever use, not to mention 250MB or Gmail's 1GB.

[hadaso]

Gmail is not about storage: It's a different approach to email!

Gmail is not about storage: It's a different approach to email! A lot of storage is a side effect.<br /><br />Gmail is focused on using indexed search to locate email in the old email archive. All these other services that are now adding storage still require that the user create lots of folders and remember in what folder a particular message was filed two years ago...<br /><br />Gmail replaced folders by labels and full indexed search of email text. Gmail replaced handling of single messages by handling of complete "conversations". Gmail created a super-responsive webmail interface. Gmail doesn't fill the screen with banner ads. Most of the time there are no ads, and if there are, they are on the part of the screen I have to scroll to to see the ads.<br /><br />The 1GB storage quota in Gmail is only a consequence of the way Gmail is to be used: If the user is not to be bothered by organizing email, then email is not deleted. If the user is not constantly making decisions about what to keep and what to delete, then old email accumulates. Instead of having the user read old email to make it fit in a small mailbox, or deleting new email all the time, Gmail provides space to keep all that email.<br /><br />The fact that the other services are now increasing their quotas to look competitive is understandable. But what would really be interesting is the way other services and makers of email clients will respond to the challenge of freeing the user from having to invest a lot of time in managing her email store.

Hotmail Grows Cold Despite 2GB E-mail Storage

Now that storage space is becoming a nonissue across the board, Hotmail may be "in the game", but Yahoo! Mail Plus offers much more besides 2GB of storage.<br /><br />What Internet users are really getting sick of are banner ads. Yahoo! Mail Plus has NO banner ads, and no text ads. Will Hotmail follow up with no banner advertising with their 2GB of storage, or will they continue to waste browser window realestate with bulky banners?<br /><br />Then there's the calendar feature. I get one with Yahoo! I don't get one with Hotmail - at least not anymore. Oh, sure, there's still a button in my Hotmail that reads "Calendar", but I have to by a MSN software subscription if I want that calendar button to really do anything.<br /><br />Here is the reall bugger: Have you ever clicked on a hyperlink inside the message of your Hotmail? Sure it opens up a new browser window, but you also get a frameset at the top that reads, "You are visiting a site outside of Hotmail. To return to Hotmail..." I HATE IT!<br />With Yahoo!, you don't get that when you click on a link from a mail message.<br /><br />Regarding switching to a new email account, I would gladly print off my 63 contacts from Hotmail and move over to Yahoo! Mail Plus if it means NO banner ads, etc. Well, actually, I have.<br /><br />After I easily warmed up to Yahoo! Mail Plus, Hotmail has grown COLD. One could say that Hotmail is still "in the game". But, the same could be said for George w. Bush.

Synchronise w/ OE. Bad Customer Care.

I hate yahoo due to 2 reasons:<br />1. No httpmail or imap synchronisation w/ OE.<br />2. Pathetic customer care. I have asked yahoo abt. httpmail/imap and they dont care to reply.

Totally agree

Yup i totally agree with what he says. I have a free hotmail account and what i notice is that the amount of spam mail the hotmail users recieve is humungous in comparison to yahoo. Hotmail isn't really user friendly where as yahoo is. When i sign into Yahoo, i know exactly where to go, whereas in hotmail, i have no clue where the hek i'm supposed to go. The hotmail website looks like a whole bunch of blue rectangles put together.

Hotmail Grows Cold Despite 2GB E-mail Storage

Now that storage space is becoming a nonissue across the board, Hotmail may be "in the game", but Yahoo! Mail Plus offers much more besides 2GB of storage.<br /><br />What Internet users are really getting sick of are banner ads. Yahoo! Mail Plus has NO banner ads, and no text ads. Will Hotmail follow up with no banner advertising with their 2GB of storage, or will they continue to waste browser window realestate with bulky banners?<br /><br />Then there's the calendar feature. I get one with Yahoo! I don't get one with Hotmail - at least not anymore. Oh, sure, there's still a button in my Hotmail that reads "Calendar", but I have to by a MSN software subscription if I want that calendar button to really do anything.<br /><br />Here is the reall bugger: Have you ever clicked on a hyperlink inside the message of your Hotmail? Sure it opens up a new browser window, but you also get a frameset at the top that reads, "You are visiting a site outside of Hotmail. To return to Hotmail..." I HATE IT!<br />With Yahoo!, you don't get that when you click on a link from a mail message.<br /><br />Regarding switching to a new email account, I would gladly print off my 63 contacts from Hotmail and move over to Yahoo! Mail Plus if it means NO banner ads, etc. Well, actually, I have.<br /><br />After I easily warmed up to Yahoo! Mail Plus, Hotmail has grown COLD. One could say that Hotmail is still "in the game". But, the same could be said for George w. Bush.

Synchronise w/ OE. Bad Customer Care.

I hate yahoo due to 2 reasons:<br />1. No httpmail or imap synchronisation w/ OE.<br />2. Pathetic customer care. I have asked yahoo abt. httpmail/imap and they dont care to reply.

Totally agree

Yup i totally agree with what he says. I have a free hotmail account and what i notice is that the amount of spam mail the hotmail users recieve is humungous in comparison to yahoo. Hotmail isn't really user friendly where as yahoo is. When i sign into Yahoo, i know exactly where to go, whereas in hotmail, i have no clue where the hek i'm supposed to go. The hotmail website looks like a whole bunch of blue rectangles put together.

[bobtheman22]

once again MS a follower...

...instead of a leader!

[bobtheman22]

once again MS a follower...

...instead of a leader!

[lysglimt]

Shift in the email industry

Yahoo has clearly stated that they want to make storage space a non-issue. By offering 2 GB they have achieved just that.<br />Several other email services are now responding, to Gmails 1 Gb offer. Hotmail.com is offering 250 MB, runbox.com is offering 1 GB.<br /><br />What is more important is that email will increasingly be stored online. Before long beople will abandon Outlook and other client based email programs and start using only the browser. This agin is the first step to true client server computing.<br />In this issue email leads the way to the future.<br /><br />Hans J Lysglimt<br />www.lysglimt.com

[Not Bugged]

But...

Sure, it is much more usefull to have all your email where it can be accessed from everywhere. But with those poor Americans getting the Patriot act, hackers everywhere, and greedy advertising agencies, the question is:<br /><br />Do you trust all your email on a webserver which you have never seen?<br /><br />Personaly, I use GMail, although not for much. I only keep my Hotmail account for Messenger, but I like to use my ISP email account for email. After all, it's all stored on my computer. It's much harder for snoops to get to it here than on a server in some distant land.

[lysglimt]

Shift in the email industry

Yahoo has clearly stated that they want to make storage space a non-issue. By offering 2 GB they have achieved just that.<br />Several other email services are now responding, to Gmails 1 Gb offer. Hotmail.com is offering 250 MB, runbox.com is offering 1 GB.<br /><br />What is more important is that email will increasingly be stored online. Before long beople will abandon Outlook and other client based email programs and start using only the browser. This agin is the first step to true client server computing.<br />In this issue email leads the way to the future.<br /><br />Hans J Lysglimt<br />www.lysglimt.com

[Not Bugged]

But...

Sure, it is much more usefull to have all your email where it can be accessed from everywhere. But with those poor Americans getting the Patriot act, hackers everywhere, and greedy advertising agencies, the question is:<br /><br />Do you trust all your email on a webserver which you have never seen?<br /><br />Personaly, I use GMail, although not for much. I only keep my Hotmail account for Messenger, but I like to use my ISP email account for email. After all, it's all stored on my computer. It's much harder for snoops to get to it here than on a server in some distant land.

[nobrainr]

Google --> change Hotmail pls!

What I really like about Gmail is the interface. It's clean and sleek without annoying ads everywhere. I find Hotmail kinda distracting... Personals about some girl I don't know appear on the right and ringing noises come from a flash banner on top. Hope Hotmail can do something about that! Go Gmail!

[nobrainr]

Google --> change Hotmail pls!

What I really like about Gmail is the interface. It's clean and sleek without annoying ads everywhere. I find Hotmail kinda distracting... Personals about some girl I don't know appear on the right and ringing noises come from a flash banner on top. Hope Hotmail can do something about that! Go Gmail!

Hmm

Ive been a hotmail user forever now. I tried yahoo once..but it looks like something a 10 yr old planned. Hotmail has always been better maintained. I (personally) am happy that the storage has been upped. <br /><br />I have heard things about G-mail..but I dont wanna mess with moving my many contacts and notifying people my email changed..ect. So i'll just stick with hotmail until they decide to make it Pay-to-use.

Hmm

Ive been a hotmail user forever now. I tried yahoo once..but it looks like something a 10 yr old planned. Hotmail has always been better maintained. I (personally) am happy that the storage has been upped. <br /><br />I have heard things about G-mail..but I dont wanna mess with moving my many contacts and notifying people my email changed..ect. So i'll just stick with hotmail until they decide to make it Pay-to-use.

[PCCRomeo]

Gmail & Hotmail Better Than Yahoo!...

I think Yahoo when compared to Hotmail and Gmail sucks. I had a Yahoo account for over 2 years, and then one day I tried signing into my Yahoo Mail account and I got an error message stating: "Temporary Problem Accessing Your Account, Try Back Soon...". Well I did and I still got the same message. Then after 2 weeks I contacted Yahoo Support. They told me there could be a problem with my browser, but that wasn't it because I tried 3 different browsers and even tried another computer and I got the same message. They also told me that they could not find a problem in their system, and that they would investigate the issue further and notify me when they fixed it. Soo, a month went by and I got no response. When I tried contacting them again they just told me the same thing. After I noticed that they weren't going to do a thing to fix my account I decided to close my Yahoo account all together and stick with my Hotmail account and my new Gmail account.<br /><br />*****If you want to delete your Yahoo account go to: <a class="jive-link-external" href="https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user" target="_newWindow">https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user</a>

[PCCRomeo]

Gmail & Hotmail Better Than Yahoo!...

I think Yahoo when compared to Hotmail and Gmail sucks. I had a Yahoo account for over 2 years, and then one day I tried signing into my Yahoo Mail account and I got an error message stating: "Temporary Problem Accessing Your Account, Try Back Soon...". Well I did and I still got the same message. Then after 2 weeks I contacted Yahoo Support. They told me there could be a problem with my browser, but that wasn't it because I tried 3 different browsers and even tried another computer and I got the same message. They also told me that they could not find a problem in their system, and that they would investigate the issue further and notify me when they fixed it. Soo, a month went by and I got no response. When I tried contacting them again they just told me the same thing. After I noticed that they weren't going to do a thing to fix my account I decided to close my Yahoo account all together and stick with my Hotmail account and my new Gmail account.<br /><br />*****If you want to delete your Yahoo account go to: <a class="jive-link-external" href="https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user" target="_newWindow">https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user</a>

Is Hotmail slow in implementing the enlargement of email storage?

It seems that news about Hotmail increasing its email storage, in respond to the similar act by its competitors, e.g. Yahoo and Google, has been released for long.<br /><br />However, the implementation is yet to be seen.<br />Or, only selective users are benefited from this upgarding for the time being?<br /><br />While Yahoo has already increased its email storage for its existing users, Hotmail's remaining 2MB storage is getting annoying, tempting user to abandon it for its inefficiency.<br /><br />What are you thurdening so loud that I can't hear you?

Is Hotmail slow in implementing the enlargement of email storage?

It seems that news about Hotmail increasing its email storage, in respond to the similar act by its competitors, e.g. Yahoo and Google, has been released for long.<br /><br />However, the implementation is yet to be seen.<br />Or, only selective users are benefited from this upgarding for the time being?<br /><br />While Yahoo has already increased its email storage for its existing users, Hotmail's remaining 2MB storage is getting annoying, tempting user to abandon it for its inefficiency.<br /><br />What are you thurdening so loud that I can't hear you?

All Hype, no Hustle

I must admit, Microsoft was brilliant in timing the announcement of their storage upgrade. In June, Gmail was about to draw a global spotlight. Offering unprecedented storage (2 GB), the exclusiveness of the invite-only beta program and the nostalgia for the good old days of the late 90's as Google positioned itself for an IPO.<br /><br />Microsoft and Yahoo! needed to made a swift and decisive move: they needed to make Gmail a non-issue. On a platform that 2 GB is much more than users will ever need, they told subscribers they could keep their existing Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts but their inboxes would soon explode to 250 MB (Microsoft) or 100 MB (Yahoo!).<br /><br />I must admit, I fell for this hook, line and sinker. I just needed to hold on so Microsoft could get that precious disk space to me and so my adoption to Gmail was slow. After all, I didn't want to put my friends and family through another one of my email address changes if I didn't have to. I decided to hold on for a few weeks and wait for Microsoft to save me and my Hotmail account with the promised storage.<br /><br />Yahoo! made good on their promise, within a week or two, my Yahoo! inbox became a cavernous 100 MB. I rarely use my Yahoo! account, so I didn't realize the benefit of the increased storage, but I was excited and encouraged that my hotmail account would soon blossom as well.<br /><br />That was June, it's almost October and Microsoft still hasn't released it's upgrade. I'm holding on to my Hotmail account by a thread, deleting selected email messages to keep below the feared 2 MB line. It's getting to the point where I'm afraid to check my Hotmail account because I know I'll just have to delete more precious correspondence. Gmail has taken over as my email address of choice. <br /><br />Hotmail has lost me to Gmail. Have they lost you? Want a Gmail invite?

All Hype, no Hustle

I must admit, Microsoft was brilliant in timing the announcement of their storage upgrade. In June, Gmail was about to draw a global spotlight. Offering unprecedented storage (2 GB), the exclusiveness of the invite-only beta program and the nostalgia for the good old days of the late 90's as Google positioned itself for an IPO.<br /><br />Microsoft and Yahoo! needed to made a swift and decisive move: they needed to make Gmail a non-issue. On a platform that 2 GB is much more than users will ever need, they told subscribers they could keep their existing Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts but their inboxes would soon explode to 250 MB (Microsoft) or 100 MB (Yahoo!).<br /><br />I must admit, I fell for this hook, line and sinker. I just needed to hold on so Microsoft could get that precious disk space to me and so my adoption to Gmail was slow. After all, I didn't want to put my friends and family through another one of my email address changes if I didn't have to. I decided to hold on for a few weeks and wait for Microsoft to save me and my Hotmail account with the promised storage.<br /><br />Yahoo! made good on their promise, within a week or two, my Yahoo! inbox became a cavernous 100 MB. I rarely use my Yahoo! account, so I didn't realize the benefit of the increased storage, but I was excited and encouraged that my hotmail account would soon blossom as well.<br /><br />That was June, it's almost October and Microsoft still hasn't released it's upgrade. I'm holding on to my Hotmail account by a thread, deleting selected email messages to keep below the feared 2 MB line. It's getting to the point where I'm afraid to check my Hotmail account because I know I'll just have to delete more precious correspondence. Gmail has taken over as my email address of choice. <br /><br />Hotmail has lost me to Gmail. Have they lost you? Want a Gmail invite?

Bad Buisness, Hotmail still no good

They release news that this was supposed to take place 5 months ago and NOTHING.<br /><br />2MB is NOTHING. They really need to hurry up and get this done.

[cmacb]

Or CNet needs to do the right thing...

And issue a retraction. A little embarrasment goes a long way toward Microsoft keeping it's many promises.

Bad Buisness, Hotmail still no good

They release news that this was supposed to take place 5 months ago and NOTHING.<br /><br />2MB is NOTHING. They really need to hurry up and get this done.

[cmacb]

Or CNet needs to do the right thing...

And issue a retraction. A little embarrasment goes a long way toward Microsoft keeping it's many promises.