A few days ago, we told you about how Windows Live Hotmail was created. Today, we’ll respond to some of the top issues we’ve heard about from our customers.

1. Why did you move me from MSN to Windows Live Hotmail when nothing was wrong?

Unfortunately, MSN Hotmail did not allow us to address significant customer needs, such as support for certain languages and accessibility for folks with different visual and motor disabilities. We also got complaints from many customers about MSN Hotmail being too hard to use. We spent a long time building a new version of Hotmail that the majority of our customers like better, and we want to focus our engineering team’s efforts on the new system. It is a bit of a change, but Windows Live Hotmail has a lot of the same functionality as MSN Hotmail. Before we started working on Windows Live Hotmail, we used to update MSN Hotmail a lot, so it would change, too. If you liked MSN Hotmail, you may prefer the classic version of Windows Live Hotmail. Make sure you’re using it by going to Options (or Options --> More options from the full version). Look at the first option on the page to see if you’re currently using the full or classic version.

2. Windows Live Hotmail pages take too long to load, especially when I’m using a slow internet connection.

Thanks for reporting this, and this is a high priority for us to fix. If you have a slower Internet connection, you may do better by switching to the classic version of Windows Live Hotmail, which loads about as fast as MSN  Hotmail did. The full version is fast once it’s fully loaded, but you do have to download a good chunk of JavaScript at the beginning, and this may be tough for folks who have slow internet connections or live far from our data centers. Make sure you’re using the classic version by going to Options (or Options --> More options from the full version). Look at the first option on the page to see if you’re in the full or classic version.

3. When I don’t use Internet Explorer, Windows Live Hotmail doesn’t work very well, especially in Safari.

We added support for browsers other than Internet Explorer (IE) in 2005, and the non-IE browser we support best is Firefox 1.5+. It’s available for practically every operating system out there, so if you can’t use IE or don’t like it, try Firefox because it works well with a wide range of websites. We currently do not support the full version for Safari due to technical limitations, though we continue to monitor the issue. Safari users can use the classic version of Hotmail for now, and we are monitoring whether future versions of Safari will support all of our technical needs.

As far as I know, there are only four features that IE supports but Firefox doesn’t. Firefox users get Firefox’s built-in spell check while IE users get a spell check that stores its dictionary on Hotmail’s servers. Firefox users can’t resize the columns in the full version. The special photo upload tool is an ActiveX control and works only in IE, but non-IE users can attach photos just like any other file. Only IE users can see their friends’ Messenger presence.

4. I don't want an e-mail program that looks like Outlook; the interface of the new Hotmail is too complicated.

The classic version of Windows Live Hotmail looks and acts very similar to MSN Hotmail. If you preferred that simpler interface, make sure you’re using the classic version by going to Options (or Options --> More options from the full version). Look at the first option on the page to see if you’re in the full or classic version.

5. Why can I do certain stuff in the Full version that I can't do in the Classic version?

The full version uses AJAX, which is a more advanced technology that provides you with a lot of rich and snappy interactions, such as loading the next message in your inbox without reloading the whole page. Some features, such as the reading pane, wouldn’t work well if the whole webpage had to reload, so they are available in the full version only.

6. I've lost everything in my inbox.

We’re very sad whenever we hear this from a customer, because we know how important your e-mail data is. Our support team has done a lot of investigation into these issues, and nearly every case is due to account expiration.

Free Hotmail accounts expire if you haven’t logged into Hotmail for a certain number of days, which is a standard practice for web-based mail accounts because many users use an account for a little while, and then never use it again. MSN Hotmail accounts expire after 60 days, and Windows Live Hotmail accounts expire after 120 days. Advances in our data center have allowed us to extend our expiration times, which used to be 30 days.

If you believe your e-mail was deleted in error, please contact the Hotmail Support Team directly. We are not able to offer effective support through blogs. You can submit your problem through this web form. There are great, real-life people there who can help you. They are the same folks who bring you the E-mail Support Space.

Thanks for your patience and feedback so far. The best way to give us feedback is not on this blog, it’s via this feedback site.

- Ellie Powers, program manager, Windows Live Hotmail

P.S. This blog entry has also been published on the Windows Live Wire. You’ll find lots more info about Windows Live over there.

Updated 3/7/2008 with new email support link.