Microsoft on Monday made a series of updates to its Windows Live Hotmail service, chief among those being an increase in the size of its inboxes. Standard users now get 5GB of storage, while paid MSN Premium and Hotmail Plus accounts now get 10GB of storage.
The move follows Yahoo's decision to offer its mail customers unlimited storage. Google's Gmail currently touts 2.89GB worth of free storage for its accounts. Apple also recently upped its .Mac storage limit to 10GB, split between mail and file storage.
In addition, Microsoft said Windows Live Hotmail is also adding the ability to accept and decline meeting requests from Outlook accounts, as well as a tool for eliminating duplicate contacts and an easier way to switch to Hotmail from other mail services.
Responding to complaints from users and gripes in the blogosphere, Microsoft is also bringing back the option to choose to see one's inbox, rather than a Today page of MSN News, upon login.
"We already did a ton of work to get the basics ready to get out of beta, so now we've been able to add some more of the extras that our more advanced users have been asking for," program manager Ellie Powers-Boyle said in a blog posting. "We're continuing to collect feedback and using it to guide which areas of the product to improve next."
The company promised more changes in the coming months.
After more than two years of overhauling its free Web e-mail service, Microsoft plans on Monday to drop the "beta" term from its Windows Live Hotmail service, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.
Microsoft has already dropped the beta tag in a few places, including the Netherlands where the service launched in final form back in November. The company also decided back in February not to completely drop the Hotmail name. Until then, Microsoft had been testing the product under the Windows Live Mail name.
Throughout the testing process, Microsoft has been adapting the product to make it more comfortable for its existing base of Hotmail users, including adding a classic mode that more closely resembles the existing MSN Hotmail service.
Earlier this week, Microsoft sent notes to testers thanking them for taking part in the beta program and saying that Windows Live Hotmail was "ready to launch." The company is not expected to make available Live.com addresses immediately at launch, however, a move that some enthusiasts have been hoping would happen.
Microsoft's move to take Windows Live Hotmail out of beta on Monday was reported earlier on Thursday by IDG News Service.
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