I have been working for Hotmail for 8 years and currently am a program manager in the Windows Live Mail Platform group. During my time here, I have seen Hotmail transform into a major global communication service. I take a particular pride in the fact that during that time we have probably delivered over a trillion emails connecting people.

For years while talking to my friends, family and acquaintances about Hotmail, I’ve been frequently asked: - “when will you guys give more storage” or “I forgot to login and my account got “killed” – can you help?”  Yeah … those were the days of 2MB storage limits that in now days is the size of one wedding photo.

I’m happy to say now is quite an exciting time for Hotmail. The great news is that we have upgraded all Hotmail accounts regardless of the market and account age to 1GB of space.  That means a new account created after the change will get 1GB instantly - no more small accounts at the initial sign on and probation for 30 days account feature.

This update is part of our initiative in transitioning our web e-mail service into a next-generation communication service - Windows Live Mail, which is in beta now. As we build out your e-mail service to get ready for this change, we are making big improvements to areas like storage. 

We’re also making another change for our loyal Hotmail users who have been with us for 2 years or more. Right now, you need to log in once every 30 days to maintain your account -- we’re now extending that log-in grace period to 60 days. So, if you’re planning a really long vacation (somewhere w/ no internet connection), you don’t have to worry about your Hotmail account being closed when you return. We’ll continue to make additional improvements and updates to ensure a smooth transition to the next-generation web e-mail for our current 260+ million Hotmail active accounts.

Something you can look forward to as we move forward is that Windows Live Mail has a bunch of cool features and a great new design. But the improvements I am most excited about are that once you migrate to the new service, we will double your allowances to 2GB and 120 days for free accounts and 4GB and no account expiration for premium accounts. 

To find out more about all the benefits of Windows Live Mail and product updates, check out Ben’s post and to sign up for the beta and start using now, go to ideas.live.com.