Microsoft ditches old Hotmail design; users gripe

Yahoo and Google aren't the only ones whose Web site changes incur the wrath of users who'd rather things stay the way they were.

Microsoft is discontinuing an option to use Hotmail's older "classic" interface, merging it with a newer "full" design into a hybrid the company says is faster to use than both the predecessors. "With our new combined platform, we offer great performance in all markets by putting the best features from both versions in one well-designed platform. Because of these performance improvements it is no longer necessary to offer the classic version," the company said in a statement.

Matt Penttila was among those who was unhappy with the change when he lost his old Hotmail interface earlier this week. (More complaints are lodged at My Digital Life site.)

Hotmail users "can't differentiate between tabs and backgrounds because the background is the same color as the tabs, can't change the size of the columns to the left, can't read anything below 10 folders without scrolling down," Penttila said of the newer design. In addition, "read windows don't allow for scrolling side to side, just up and down, anything with graphics is automatically flagged as safe or unsafe and show gray boxes when the day before they were fine and showed with no problem," he said.

What peeved him most, though, was that he said Microsoft foisted the change on him. "They just did it without any warning or consent," he said.

Microsoft said there was indeed warning. "Hotmail customers were notified of these changes beginning in early September," the company said, before the changes started going live on September 22. "The team sent out e-mails and posted ads in advance, which highlighted the upcoming changes to the Windows Live Hotmail."

Also, Microsoft described the Hotmail overhaul rationale in an October blog post by Dick Craddock, Hotmail's group program manager.

It's hard to change heavily used sites. A 2001 Hotmail revamp triggered complaints, then a 2006 Hotmail redesign caused enough problems that Microsoft reverted to classic mode by default.

Yahoo and Google have struggled with objections to redesigns of the Yahoo front page, the Flickr home page, and the iGoogle customizable start page.

[MosX]

This doesn't suprise me. Users will complain about ANY change, no matter what it is or how much it's designed to help.

[fcg1502]

I've been using hotmail for about 8 years and this is the by far the best design they've had. I can also tell that it is faster. We use the LiveOffice e-mail system in my office and of course our secratary complained about the change when they made it. People will always complain. As she said, "why can't they just leave well enough alone." Well, if it's better, then by all means change it.

[catierocks]

yeah thats wat its lik with me

[squished]

Overall I'm pleased with the changes. It's definitely faster and that's most important. My main complaint is how the font size is unpredictable and usually bigger than I prefer. For instance, in Firefox 3, I'll zoom out on the page (ctrl+wheel downward), then click the Inbox link and the text returns to default size. Also, the left navigation bar could use back color to set it apart. But again, I like the new changes overall. The live theme preview is slick!

[Shoogle2]

People still use Hotmail? Sorry, couldn't resist. :) Seriously though, I agree with MosX... Any changes, even for the better, will generate complaints because people don't like seeing something new.

[bonniesue826]

Yes, people still use hotmail. What email do you use that is so lofty and far above us? A full 11% of all internet traffic at any given time is either hotmail or IM. The new interface is faster, but I am peeved at typing a lengthy email and hitting the "SEND" button, which normally sends the mail to the intended recipient. It not only was never received; I can't even find a copy by searching my email folder. I liked the other better because I am used to it. I will get used to this over time, but overall the Windows Live thing is being pushed on those of us with Microsoft passports. It's hard to tell what is free and what is not. There are new things requiring one to "subscribe" to. Gmail is starting to look more like a realistic alternative for simplicity's sake; The only problem is that Google saves everything and has TMI about all email clients and those of us who prefer the google search engine.

[irperez]

People need to get over it and accept new technology. Fine, complain, but be happy that at least the company is moving forward. I'm sure Microsoft will address alot of the concerns with future fixes and adjustments. But please, to complain so vocally is so rediculous. Get over it and move on.

[catierocks]

yeah thats tru

[geoffgarcia]

The recent Hotmail changes are hit/miss on Firefox 3.1 Beta 1
95% of the time I try to do anything the browser hangs with the yellow "loading..." box displayed in the lower left corner. This forces me to use IE - ugh!!!!
My FF install is free of addons with the exception of YSlow.

In IE 7.0 it works as intended.

As someone that has used Hotmail since 96-97 (and see little reason to jump to gmail - the only competition) this is a big problem for me and one that has me considering a change in provider.

[monkeyfun14]

Have you ever considered that the issue might be that your using a beta browser? And not Hotmail

[timber2005]

Not working in FF 3.1 Beta 1... hhmmm, something about the word "beta" clues me into to the possible cause of your issues. Can you blame MS for only support FF1, 2, and 3.0 at the moment, since tomorrow FF3 Beta 2 could come out and need it's own little tweaks to work?

[catierocks]

yeah thats same wid me

[geoffgarcia]

Being in a beta mode shouldn't cause these types of issues.
Regardless, I'm off beta and it still fails about 15% of the time with the same bug

[Forsaken4Eternity]

Ugly, slow, convoluted, the list keeps going.

Stopped using hotmail in 2001. Junk is the main problem, given that same junk keeps appearing in inbox over and over again, no matter how many times you indicate it is junk. Since gmail launches, been nothing but a happy customer.

[Vegaman_Dan]

If you stopped using Hotmail in 2001, then you're nearly eight years behind to really comment on what the current system offers, right?

I don't use Hotmail at all so I can't really say yay or nay on it.

[MaximeLM]

Sucks, does not work with Google chrome. I don't care how faster it is, if it does not work with chrome, I don't want it.

[rimesparse]

It works perfectly fine with Google Chrome for me. In fact, it's quickest and looks best on Chrome, ironically. It's strange you're having problems.

[brian.lee]

in terms of web mail my preference is

gmail/yahoo mail (tied)
hotmail
.mac (This is utter crap for UI)

[inachu]

Many times changes are bad especially if users are retired and have memory problems then it takes multiple more clicks to do the same things.

[tech_crazy]

The new hotmail sucks.

1)The reply window gets screwed up into a narrow column using Firefox (looks passable with IE).
2)The folders list is now too short and have to scroll
3) Still doesn't offer the ability to select/sort messages based on flags - read/unread etc.
4) Searching through mails is still pitiful.

Other problems persist - spam, unavailability, pre-mature logouts, etc. Overall, no improvements, just eye candy and actually lost a few features. Typical Microsoft.

Had been using Hotmail for more than a decade now (when it was not even Microsoft). Maybe its time to ditch it.

[yipcanjo]

I'm so far very impressed with the speed of the new Hotmail. Very fast, and it makes my Yahoo! Mail (new interface) feel somewhat sluggish. Still, I prefer the interface of the new Yahoo! Mail, and have preferred that look and feel since the Oddpost days -- the folks behind the Yahoo! Mail update.

I've tried GMail on several occasions, but I *just cannot* get used to the interface. It's fast -- I'll grant them that -- but feels almost "toyish" to me, and very unnatural. Just my $.02, of course.

If I weren't happy with my Yahoo! Mail, though, I would probably switch back to the new Hotmail!

[TV James]

People are still using Hotmail?

[oldscarecrow]

People still make pointless posts?

Simply unacceptable. After 11 years using Hotmail everyday, I just had to drop it this week. I didn't see the previous forced update (merely a year ago) as an improvement, but it was somewhat acceptable, or at least didn't deserve the hassle of switching. This time it fully deserves it. Being ugly is one thing, not working is something else. I did many tests of this new site this week, and it only works well with M$IE and Safari. Doesn't work properly under Opera, SeaMonkey nor even Firefox!! So much for Linux users... Yes, I managed to make my new Hotmail work under IE behind WINE, but I definitely could not bear:
1) downgrade to using IE
2) waste 500 MB of RAM to start a WINE+IE everytime I want to check my e-mails

So many people have been trying to convince me to switch to Gmail for so long, but I always resisted... now I finally did and I'm truly happy with it so far. And I'm especially proud to have switched since I realized that Hotmail has blocked POP, IMAP and WebDAV in the past few months to trap their users, fearing the danger of losing too many users to Gmail and Yahoo! Mail (which have both become better than Hotmail). They know they are falling behind, and they didn't choose the way to face the threat.

[JCPayne]

If you don't like it... Switch providers.... Thats all. Nobody forces you to use it.

[musicmate007]

Switch providers...? you then have the bother of informing all your contacts you have changed. Hotmail worked fine in the last format, this one is awfull...'if it aint broke..don't fix it

[amarkj]

Yea why all the complaints? Leave if you don't like it. I logged in today and it looks great and it's faster loading on my system then it was before (Using XP Pro SP3 with IE7).

[chuchucuhi]

oh bah to those people I'd much rather have one simpler faster interface and one that also more full featured if I so choose.

[inachu]

I miss using PINE........... great unix email program.

[El_Mikee]

I like it... What i don´t like is that, now i can´t use it on the iPod touch´s Safari broswer... :-(
I hope someone writes an app for that...

[pwdattempt9099]

My biggest gripe about the new version is the absolute wasted space on the page, such that i am now reduced to a 5.5cm tall text box to type my emails (not everyone has a 20" inch screen on a laptop). And on top of that, sometimes the advertisement on top is not a long thin banner, but rather a chunky almost square ad... thus I was reduced today to a 2cm tall text box to write emails. Overall, because of this, I hate the new design.

[inachu]

thats what most software companies do when they take over things.
Make it slow...... then change hardware then optimize new software to work just for that hardware to make the old desiign incompatible or slower.
This new stuff is just as fast as the old version was when it was still being hosted on linux when hotmail was sold to microsoft. I still wish to add *@microsoftsites to my apam rule but they prevent that. so now I hardly use their service.