• On ZDNet: Why I Will never buy a Mac
December 18, 2008 2:49 PM PST

Yahoo Mail's social upgrade suffers a burp

by Stephen Shankland

Yahoo is proud of new features it began rolling into its online mail service this week, but some users had troubles with the upgrade.

"We found that some people were prevented from accessing the new social features in mail today for a short period of time," spokeswoman Karen Mahon said Thursday. "We have fixed the issue, so people should not have any issues with the new features."

The upgrade adds social features and six applications into Yahoo Mail. (Check our Yahoo Open Strategy gallery for a guided tour of some new features.) For example, people can sort their in-box to show only messages from their contacts, and applications can be used to show all photos in a person's mail archive.

"I have been unable to access my mail since I opened this page to find out what this new application was all about. I am not happy!!!" posted one commenter on Yahoo's announcement. And David Cassel said in an e-mail to CNET News that he also was affected: "Instead of upgrading Yahoo's mail, they broke it!"

Those who've signed up for a new Yahoo profile will get the social features, but only power users were invited to test the applications element, Yahoo said. The applications beta test will be broadened to more people "over the coming months."

Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank.
Recent posts from Webware
URL shortening is hot--but look before you leap
Marc Andreessen launches new venture fund
4chan may be behind attack on Twitter
Firefox 3.5 and the potential of Web typography
Sites that help you lodge complaints
Google App Engine misfires
Microsoft: Bing needs to improve when news breaks
Google finally sued by makers of Finally Fast
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (5 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by Mr. Dee December 18, 2008 5:25 PM PST
I guess the developers who were working on it have either been fired or are working at Microsoft.
Reply to this comment
by Orion Blastar December 18, 2008 5:57 PM PST
I cannot comment or Yahoo which is also partnered with my ISP will have me violate my TOS.
Reply to this comment
by Scaros December 18, 2008 8:17 PM PST
What ever have Yahoo done, I havnt just lost access to my email. I have lost complete access to all things Yahoo, this means Yahoos mail, search, home page, groups everything. I have tried yahoo help and guess what, I cannot even access that. To say it has been a stuff up is putting it lightly...
Reply to this comment
by UrmiRaj December 19, 2008 2:07 AM PST
I've also lost access to my yahoo account, which btw is *not* the first time it has happened (read: no access occurs about every month nowadays). very frustrating indeed
Reply to this comment
by jcrwnka December 21, 2008 2:11 PM PST
why is that you can't ransfer yahoocontacts to google without having microsoft office on your coputer?
Reply to this comment
(5 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

About Webware

Say No to boxed software! The future of applications is online delivery and access. Software is passé. Webware is the new way to get things done.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Webware topics

Making sense of Windows 7 upgrades

faq The basics and the fine print on Microsoft's options for those eyeing the next operating system from Redmond.
• Full Windows 7 coverage

Road Trip 2009: Big Sky Country

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman takes his car full of gadgets to the Rockies and the Great Plains in search of tech, science, nature, and more.
• America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain

advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right