Microsoft has revamped its Hotmail browser-based email service in time for Office 2010 and the official introduction of online versions of Office applications.
The company may be trailing Google with its integration of Google Docs and Gmail, but consumers should be familiar enough with Office programs to want to give the new integrated service a try.
Windows Live Hotmail is still the world’s largest web-based email service, according to Microsoft, with more than 360m active accounts and 8bn messages sent a day.
The new version means an Office Word, Excel or Powerpoint document received as an attachment can be instantly viewed in high fidelity in the browser, due to the integration of Hotmail, SkyDrive and Office Web Apps.
With a click, the document can also be edited in the browser on web apps or in the native Office application installed on the PC.
The new Hotmail also smartens up socially, in a similar revamp to Yahoo’s webmail service.
A Highlights screen on login reveals if you have email from friends, social network updates, shipments, appointments and birthday reminders.
Microsoft says social networking invites and alerts currently take up 15 – 30 per cent of users’ Inboxes and more than 1.5bn photos a month are sent and received on Hotmail.
Quick Views and one-click filters can show just emails from contacts or from social networks or emails containing photos. Hotmail also taps into the unified contact list under Windows Live that takes in Hotmail, social networks and Messenger IM contacts.
Improved junk mail filters and spam detection should also prove a useful addition.
The new Hotmail’s introduction has no hard launch date yet, Microsoft says it will begin to rollout in mid-Summer to users worldwide.
