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Posted by Steven Bink February 9, 2007 6:50 AM with 5 comment(s)
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Marketing wise the live domain did not very well when it was premiered as new email domain here in the Netherlands. Microsoft decided to keep the Hotmail moniker and now it wil be Windows Live Hotmail.


Just on the heels of another great release for the beta (M9), I’d like to share some interesting news to our loyal users.  When we launch the mail service worldwide, it will be named Windows Live Hotmail. That’s right! And for starters, some of you will begin to see the Windows Live Hotmail brand show up in the beta – first in our Microsoft internal version (dogfood) and eventually in the public version in the coming weeks. 
 
We've had incredible success with the beta so far and learned tons from our millions of users. THANK YOU! We have used your input to make many feature and timing decisions, and now we’re announcing a naming decision based on your feedback! 
 
Here is some background… When we decided to build a new web mail service several years ago, we had two major goals:

  1. Build a faster, simpler and safer mail service for our Hotmail customers 
  2. Create a service powerful enough to meet the needs of a broader set of customers (for instance, did you know our mail is also the mail behind the new Office Live service?)  

To do this, we started from scratch and built a whole new service from the ground up – and we called this Windows Live Mail. As we brought users onboard to this new service and had them kick the tires, we learned quickly that users loved it. We knew we were onto a good thing. We also found that many users were extremely loyal to the Hotmail brand and perceived the beta as an upgrade to Hotmail. In fact, our most loyal users have been very happy with Hotmail for years and while they loved the improvements in the beta, some were a bit confused by name change. 
 
As we prepare to launch the final version of our new web mail service, we recognize the importance of ensuring that our 260+ million existing customers come over to the new service smoothly and without confusion. By adopting the name “Windows Live Hotmail”, we believe we’re bringing together the best of both worlds – new and old. We’re able to offer the great new technology that Windows Live has to offer while also bringing the emotional connection many existing and loyal users have with Hotmail.

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Comments

 

GP007 said:

I wasn't expecting them to just drop the Hotmail name, not after what they paid to get it originally, and like AIM, google, and so forth, everyone knows Hotmail.
February 9, 2007 8:53 AM
 

netsendjoe said:

I wasn't expecting this name change... i thought the change to Live products were designed to be an upgrade AND a replacement for all things MSN and Hotmail, while having more interaction with testers through blogs and forums during the beta.

This also leaves me with a question. What does this mean for Windows Live Mail Desktop? Wouldn't that become Windows Live Hotmail Desktop? And wouldn't we expect something to upgrade and replace MSN Explorer 9.2 with? Much like Windows Live Mail Desktop but with hooks into Internet Explorer 7 for web browsing and buttons to link with other Live services. The reason I say this is because I've had major issues with MSN Explorer throughout the Vista beta, when MSN Explorer 9.1 just didn't want to install or run at throwing DLL exceptions.. and I can't get over how terrible MSN Explorer 9.2 (the one designed to work on Vista, lol) runs on Windows Vista in performance comparison to MSN Explorer 9.1 on XPSP2. 

February 9, 2007 2:45 PM
 

GP007 said:

I think MSN explorer is dead,  they have Live toolbar don't they?  You can just install that on IE7 and get access to all the Live areas,  plus they have integration with Windows Live Messanger also.
February 9, 2007 7:36 PM
 

mtg said:

At least I got my @live.com e-mail address while I could.

 

February 10, 2007 12:35 AM
 

xpclient said:

The emotional connection is still going to break if MS automatically migrates all current Hotmail accounts to Live Mail Hotmail. What they should do is keep Hotmail always alive and allow people to opt-in. Otherwise, bye bye MS. And no the classic mode also doesn't get it properly.
February 10, 2007 9:32 PM

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