LiveSide - News blog : Mail Desktop

More on the free Outlook Connector beta and other e-mail FAQs

Matthew — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:21:00 GMT

As of September 27, 2004, all new Windows Live Hotmail accounts, including Office Live and Custom Domains don't have HTTP [WebDAV] support through Outlook and Outlook Express. In fact, for those users who haven't upgraded to Windows Vista, the new version of Outlook Express [Windows Mail] doesn't even have HTTP support for premium or old accounts. It's quite confusing, but thankfully Windows Live Mail is in beta and should relieve some of that confusion.

For business users and those who still prefer Outlook, Outlook Connector is now free for all Windows Live Hotmail accounts. People ask me why they would want connector if they already have HTTP accounts and there are a few reasons:

The beta version now also synchronizes with more folders, including Drafts. In fact, the new folder list will include: Deleted Items, Drafts, Inbox, Junk E-mail, Outbox, Sent Items, [and if using 2007] Search Folders. WebDAV only synchronizes Deleted Items, Inbox, Junk E-mail, and Sent Items.
Contacts! Although Outlook Express supported synchronization through Windows Address Book, that is now gone in Vista. Note--For those who only want to export in contacts in a spreadsheet without using Outlook can go through Windows Live Hotmail.
Only for Premium accounts: Calendar. Unfortunately Microsoft has perhaps added more confusion by withdrawing this feature from free accounts, but on the other hand they still have to give a reason for Premium accounts to pay. Thankfully the majority of features with Outlook Connector are free, but think of it this way: there's Outlook Connector Standard and Outlook Connector Premium. The calendar feature is also quite nice, it will even download shared calendars from Windows Live Calendar. There is also a free Office Online Internet Calendar Publishing Service for free accounts.

If Calendar sync is needed, an MSN Premium, Hotmail Plus, or a paid Office Live subscription would be required. Interestingly enough, Outlook Live [MOOL] disappeared months ago, apparently after the decision to make Outlook Connector free. MOOL had the promise of giving a 1-year lease on Outlook, with any updates to Outlook included in the subscription [i.e. from 2003 to 2007].

Users who try to add a free account should be prompted to upgrade to the beta. In addition, the new Outlook Connector is listed as a supplement attached to the license of Outlook, which seems to indicate that all support would go through Office.

As Chris said, there is more information and screenshots on the Office Online site, however the shots don't have the Outlook Connector menu or toolbar. You would think Microsoft would not want to add to the confusion? For a demo of the connector, see the MOOL online demo [a lot of the features are the same]. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know!

@Matthew

Windows Live Mail goes into beta

Chris — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:48:00 GMT

After a long wait since the last build of Windows Live Mail desktop beta, the new free email client from Microsoft Windows Live Mail has launched into beta. Designed to succeed Outlook Express on Windows XP and Windows Mail on Windows Vista, it replaces Windows Live Mail desktop as Microsoft's in-development free email client.

So what are the main changes?

Updated UI - Windows Live Mail adopts the new Windows Live "Wave 2" UI with Aero support if you are running Windows Vista. If you are not using Aero or are using Windows XP, you get the non-glass UI. Weirdly though, of the two UIs it is the non-glass one that more closely matches the Messenger 8.5 beta glass UI (no product name or orb in the glass UI and the standard Windows border cannot be hidden).
No forced signin - Users can choose to add a Windows Live ID to the application for sign-in however this is optional. Some advanced features such as Photo Email and Windows Live Contacts cannot be used unless you are signed in to the application. (Tools - Options - Connection to enable/disable this feature)
No advertising - ActiveSearch contextual ads continue to be tested for US users but can be disabled
Improved performance and stability - always nice :)

Screenshots (Click to enlarge)

Overall its a nice update from the last Windows Live Mail desktop beta build, performance is much better and there are less freezes when you use the application. However if you are thinking about trying the RSS reader again and have anymore than a handful of feeds, let me save you the trouble.

Windows Live Mail beta homepage
Windows Live Mail download

Previous Posts:
More info on Windows Live Mail (the desktop client)
Windows Live Mail: details about the new beta announced

Windows Live Messenger, Mail and Writer betas - signup now

Chris — Mon, 28 May 2007 05:12:00 GMT

A new beta program for "Messenger, Mail, and Writer" was just added to Microsoft Connect suggesting that these three programs will be releasing into beta soon. While some information is already available, those who want to contribute something to the development of Windows Live products are encouraged to sign up.

Here's a summary of what you could be seeing:

Windows Live Messenger 8.5 - A First Look
More info on Windows Live Mail (the desktop client)
New Windows Live Writer Screenshot

Windows Live beta signup

More info on Windows Live Mail (the desktop client)

Chris — Tue, 08 May 2007 03:30:00 GMT

In case you missed it during the Windows Live Hotmail announcement, the press release contained a brief sentence relating to the Windows Live desktop email client, now just called Windows Live Mail - "Windows Live Mail, a free consumer e-mail client that will be the successor to Outlook Express and Windows Mail on Windows Vista".

Nothing is ever simple with Windows Live, and the latest naming / product change to Windows Live Mail is another fine example. Why you would ever reuse a name that was used by a different yet similar product for the previous 15 months we're not quite so sure. Here's an attempt to try and address some of the confusion that's already showing. Our questions and the responses we got back are below.

Q: Will Windows Live Mail overwrite Windows Mail on Windows Vista? How about Outlook Express on XP SP2?
A: Windows Live Mail will not overwrite or remove Windows Mail or Outlook Express. Instead, it will be the successor and superset of the existing free clients, changing the entry points (so things like shortcuts replaced).

Q: What does this mean for Windows Mail support in Windows Vista SP1 and beyond?
A: Windows Mail and Outlook Express will continue to be supported as they are today (including bug fixes) while at the same time new innovation and future investment are made to Windows Live Mail.

Q: Will Windows Live Mail have ads?
A: While there won't be graphical ads, we will continue to test Active Search in the US, but users will have the option to disable it/turn it off and on.

As a Hotmail Plus subscriber I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of ads in Windows Live Mail. While its definitely good for the user, the latest financial figures show that MSN/Windows Live is struggling to break even. With Windows Live Mail potentially putting the user experience over monetisation, it'll be interesting to see how this is reflected in other desktop applications such as Windows Live Messenger. Messenger has always displayed ads to premium subscribers, this move will give them renewed pressure to change this policy.

The new Windows Live Mail (client) support blog is available at http://wlmailclient.spaces.live.com/ and they have helpfully quantifed the timeframe until the next beta build - the end of May. Here's a sneak peek at part of the new wave 2 UI we're expecting to see (remember details can change). A more complete feature list is under discussion here.

Windows Live Hotmail launches; "Windows Live Mail" to succeed Outlook Express and Windows Mail

Kip Kniskern — Mon, 07 May 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Microsoft just announced that Windows Live Hotmail is launching globally in 36 languages, double the number of languages offered by its predecessor MSN Hotmail. You can read the press release here.

I talked to Paul Major, Director of Windows Live Hotmail, on Friday to clarify some of the details of the announcement (unfortunately had a few technical problems with the recording, so we'll work off my notes :) )

Here are the details:

First, what this announcement means is that new Hotmail accounts (and no they won't have @live.com addresses yet. What Omar Shahine told us in our interview still holds true, and the first order of business is still the transition) will be created as Windows Live Hotmail accounts. Existing accounts will be able to migrate over to the new service, but that ability to switch over will continue to be rolled out over the next days and weeks, as it has been already.
Current MSN Hotmail users will be encouraged to make the switch in the coming months, and Major said that the transition should be largely complete by November of this year.
Two new features are being announced:

first, within a few weeks the Outlook Connector for MSN beta will be made available free to all Windows Live Hotmail users. This means free access to Hotmail accounts will be available from Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007. I asked Paul Major what that means for Hotmail Plus, the paid premium service that was necessary previously to utilitize the Connector. He said that Hotmail Plus is not going away, and that there are plans for added premium services in the works.
next, and as we reported at LiveSide, a new beta to be known as Windows Live Mail will be made available "in the coming weeks" and will be the successor to both Outlook Express and Windows Mail in Vista as Microsoft's free desktop email client. Major said that anyone using the Windows Live Mail desktop beta will be familiar with "Windows Live Mail", but how much this new beta will be different from current builds of WLMd remains to be seen. Major said that in the future Windows Live Mail will be the only supported free email client, and all development work going forward will only be on Windows Live Mail.

(So, what was Windows Live Mail is now Windows Live Hotmail, and Windows Live Mail desktop is now Windows Live Mail, and Outlook Express and Windows Mail (in Vista) are being phased out. Wonder if there's a Live Maps Collections for the name changes??)

In addition, Windows Live Hotmail continues to improve the mobile experience. Using Windows Live Hotmail for mobile (http://mobile.live.com) WL Hotmail is accessible on a web enabled phone or pda, and Windows Live for Windows Mobile, shipping with Windows Mobile 6 will provide an even better Windows Live Hotmail online and offline experience.

The future of Windows Live Mail desktop

Chris — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 07:03:00 GMT

There hasn't been much news on Windows Live Mail desktop since 2006, with a minor update being released in February. With most Windows Live watchers expecting a v1 release at the beginning of the year, many are wondering what is happening to the product. Dare Obasanjo even joked at a rename to Outlook Express Live.

It seems to be that Microsoft is rethinking its mail client strategy, with the belief that two distinct free mail clients for Windows Vista (Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail desktop) is not the way to move forward. Instead, Mail desktop will evolve to become an enhanced Windows Mail client, which when installed will replace Vista's Windows Mail. For those familiar with Mail desktop there will not be a huge change however for those using Windows Mail they will benefit from the integration of Live services.

While the name and details of the new product are unconfirmed, hopefully we should soon see a beta of Windows Live Mail for Vista.

Windows Live @ CES

Chris — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:32:00 GMT

As lots of technology bloggers are going to CES, we thought we’d level the playing field a bit for those who aren’t. With journalists from the big press organisations in attendance, CES provides the perfect opportunity for Windows Live to raise brand awareness by securing column inches for upcoming products. Here are the ones we’ve heard they’ll be seeing, with releases coming soon:

OneCare 1.5
Messenger 8.1
Mail & Mail Desktop
Soapbox
Mobile Messenger "G2" client

Windows Live Search also has a presence at the exhibition (they are offering free swag if you visit their booth), unfortunately as Mary Jo Foley posted recently, Live Drive appears to be staying out of sight for the time being.

So what about some new stuff? At CES 2006 Harrison picked up the chatter on Microsoft Gadget integration with Spaces and this time around the Spaces team has set up a CES Space. We’ll have to wait and see whether Bill demoes anything from Windows Live; Soapbox and G2 are the most likely, though ex-Live product Windows Search 4 is no stranger to exec demos.

You can watch the keynote through the Microsoft CES site.

Windows Live Mail Plus to offer 4GB storage

Chris — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:06:00 GMT

As more Windows Live services launch out of beta in the next few months, one of the unanswered questions still remains around premium subscribers. Some good news for Hotmail Plus users comes in the form of Windows Live Mail Plus, which is currently only marketed in Holland.

Features:

4GB inboxes from Spring 2007 *New*
Attachments upto 20MB
No advertisements (across several Windows Live services, including Mail, Mail desktop and Spaces)
Microsoft Outlook access
No disabling of your account due to inactivity
Yearly cost remains at €19.99, expected £14.99 and $19.99 when launched in other regions

While the addition of 4GB storage may seem like overkill for email, Gmail is currently on ~2.8GB, it makes more sense if you can share it between services. While Live Drive is not yet released, this would seem like an appropriate place for it to integrate with Windows Live.

Windows Live Mail desktop: New Build 8.0.1223

Kip Kniskern — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:14:00 GMT

Although there doesn't seem to be any official announcement as of yet, a new build of WLMd is available. Sign up at ideas.live.com if you haven't tried out the public beta, or if you're signed up you can download it here.

And while it's been out for a few days, this might be a good time to mention that you can provide feedback or submit bugs on WLMd through Microsoft Connect. This is a new feature for public betas, previously access to Connect was limited to "managed beta" testers.

Read more about filing bugs on the WLMd blog.

Interview with the Windows Live Mail desktop team

Harrison Hoffman — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 09:03:00 GMT

I got a chance to talk with the Windows Live Mail desktop team earlier this week and ask them a few questions about this week's refresh. So, I won't hold this up any longer, let's jump right into it!

LiveSide: Black

Windows Live Mail desktop Team: Red

First off, who are you all and what do you do?

Gail Giacobbe – Lead Program Manager for Windows Live Mail desktop

Cory Toedebusch – Product Manager for Windows Live Mail desktop

Tanja Fournier – Customer Connection Program Manager

What's new in this release?

We worked hard to both refine the current features and add new ones in reaction to user feedback. In light of that, we’ve fixed over 1,000 known issues, added Blog button to easily post emails to your Windows Live Space, improved our virus scanning capabilities, added some personalization features like folder colors, enabled Photo mail in POP accounts, built-in contact merge capabilities to catch duplicate import of contacts, enabled Automatic Update so users can be sure they have the latest build, and made some performance improvements. We believe users will have an improved experience over our last build.

The new build contains a "Blog to Spaces" button. Will this simply take you to your space or load Windows Live Writer if you have it installed?

Blog to Spaces loads the email contents into the Windows Live Spaces blog editor. It does not load Windows Live Writer.

Currently, in Messenger, the Mail button forces WLMD to open. Will you be able to configure this differently?

This is a great suggestion! At this time, there is no way to configure this differently, but feel free to send feature suggestions like this to the WLMd team through our link on http://feedback.live.com. We are always interested in hearing what our customers have to say.

Is Active Search different to Google's approach with AdSense in Gmail? If so, how?

Active Search is different from Google’s approach with Adsense. Active Search was conceived from the start as more than an advertising medium. The goal was to bridge the two foremost activities on the internet – email and the web in a way that is controlled by the user and respects their privacy. Active Search brings you the content on the web based on content in your email, effortlessly. We make it really easy to consume this content and to find out more information about interesting content in your email.

1. Search based on our suggestions: just click on any of the extracted keywords (transparently displayed and hyperlinked) to change the search results (and ads)

2. Issue your own searches: scratch that itch without leaving your mail client. If you need to see more information, ‘more results’ takes you there fast in a full browser window.

3. User choice: customers can opt out of Active Search at any time.

We’ve tried hard to put the user at the center of the Active Search experience in a way that Google has not found necessary to do.

How will end users know that their privacy is not being compromised when Active Search scans for keywords in their emails?

We’re very sensitive to any user trust issues in the development of our products. In the case of Active Search we have built in protections for our customers:

1. Attachments are not scanned at all. Neither are email headers.

2. We do not extract numeric data that can be used to identify you, like social security #s.

3. We do not store or record extracted keywords, we simply issue searches based on them through a standard API

4. No personally identifiable information from your login to WLMD is shared as part of Active Search operation.

5. When you turn Active Search OFF based on your user choice, it’s truly off. No extraction is done anymore.

Understanding that users deserved validation of these statements, we engaged an external auditor (Jefferson Wells) to verify the claims. You can find their audit report here: http://www.jeffersonwells.com/Client_Audit_Reports/ActiveSearch_Privacy_Assessment.pdf

Will WL Mail Desktop be getting a Today page like its online counterpart?

We are always looking at ways to improve the customer experience; however, there are currently no immediate plans to add a Today page to Windows Live Mail desktop.

Now that everyone can access their Hotmail or Windows Live Mail account on their computer, what's the benefit for Premium subscribers beyond no ads? Hotmail Plus does the same thing for a fraction of the price.

WLMd is focused on offering email and communication services. MSN Premium offers a host of additional features beyond email, including MSN Encarta Plus, MSN Money Plus, Firewall and Virus Guard, MSN Member Center, and dedicated technical support. For a full list of features and descriptions, please go to the MSN Premium page here.

Here's the question of the day: Is it WLMD or WLMC? We have heard that the real name of Windows Live Mail Desktop is Windows Live Mail Center. In the past, your team has sort of backed down from actually commenting on the name change. What will the name be? Just for a point of reference, the fact that the actual download link is http://g.live.com/1rebeta/WLMC_EN

This is the million dollar question! The product name is Windows Live Mail desktop.

So, the naming debate has been settled for good. The official name is Windows Live Mail desktop with a lowercase "d". I hope that you enjoyed getting a little look into Microsoft's take on this release in the interview.

Also, if you have any suggestions or requests for interviews that you would like to hear or read, feel free to drop us a note at our Feedback email. We are always looking for feedback on how we can improve our audio and text interviews to make them more interesting for you, so don't be hesitant, let us know what you think!

Windows Live Mail Desktop refresh available!

Chris — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 01:51:00 GMT

Yes, the week has only just begun and already we have a new beta build to play with. The latest beta refresh of Mail Desktop (Build 1034) includes:

Virus scanning of attachments
Photo Emails can be sent via POP accounts
RSS syncing - the ability to sync all your RSS feeds at once
Autoupdate - now you can opt-in during setup to receive update notifications through Automatic Updates
Contact Import improvements – any suspected duplicate contacts are identified and can be merged into one
Performance improvements, especially around signin
Over 1000 issues fixed!

Download now (15.5MB)

This build appears to have much improved Vista support (it now logs on), something which will undoubtably please the legions of Vista testers out there. If you have Automatic Updates disabled before you install this build, you will want to disable it again via the Control Panel once you have completed the installation

We have a QnA with the team to hopefully be posted shortly :)

Update:Tanja from the Mail Desktop team has more information on the update.

To see the screenshots (and to join the discussion!): ...(read more)

Windows Live Mail Desktop gets new UI

Chris — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 07:10:00 GMT

As the Windows Live Mail Desktop Team inches closer to the next beta stage, they've decided to reveal plans for changing the UI in the new email application. Windows Live Mail Desktop will adopt the same UI coming with the new Messenger Beta Refresh...(read more)

Windows Live Mail Desktop gets back on track

Harrison Hoffman — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 01:04:00 GMT

I will be the first one to admit it, I was having some serious doubts about the future of Windows Live Mail Desktop , that is until the latest build was released to the public. Prior to the recent build, WLMD was fairly unusable due to performance issues...(read more)

Minor feed update

Chris — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 23:27:00 GMT

We've just added a few details to the LiveSide rss feed . The username of the staff member who posted the article is now shown, and their email address is included as well. So for those of you lucky enough to be using the new Windows Live Mail Desktop...(read more)

Mail Desktop is Windows Mail "Live"

Chris — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 22:03:00 GMT

One of the most common concerns I saw raised after the announcement of Windows Live Desktop Mail was that Microsoft now had too many new email clients coming out and that this was bad news for users . (Vista's Windows Mail, Outlook 2007 (as part of...(read more)