Mashed08 – Are You Going?

Time for a rant, sorry not about Mashed08...

What is happening exactly with Hotmail? I haven't seen any new features in over a year (even after the recent update, if it can be called that) and it still looks like an unfinished product.

Badly sized and pointless adverts in the bottom left, no check mail button in classic mode, other pointless Live services shoved in my face at every opportunity, a badly coded page e.g. the unneeded horizontal scroll bar on every message on full version, limited to only 25 messages per page on classic, overzealous security features hindering my ability to view messages, STILL no calendar, STILL no chat, STILL adverts in my signature, STILL no rss, STILL the messenger client is forced upon my computer, STILL no complete functionality on other browsers and STILL no full pop access like Gmail

Isn't "if you can't beat what your competitors are doing, then at least match them" the first lesson of "how to run a business"? What have the Hotmail team been doing for the past year?

I don't know if you guys use a client like WLM or Windows Mail for your emailing but you might want to check back in with the web-based Hotmail, it's stagnant and becoming a larger and larger disappointment with every passing month.