HotMail is the new AOL

I realized everybody I know and who uses a free email account is on GMail. In fact I actively send them invitations to be on GMail.

I also realized in casual communications that hotmail is looked down upon these days, much like AOL. You know how insulting it is to say - He is an AOL’er
In fact I find that people treat even Yahoo account holders with less disdain than HotMail.

Let’s explore the reasons why Hotmail has become so uncool these days.

Have you wondered why?

I think a lot of it has to do with how restrictive Hotmail has become these days, slow response time and how it force feeds Hotmail users with Microsoft propaganda (err. advertisements) at every opportunity and its strong policies of inactivating accounts.

Microsoft Hotmail comes with probably the lowest storage quota in free email providers with 25MB only for non-US users and 250 MB after one month with God-knows-what-verifications. For a long time it remained on 2 MB while competitors moved to 1 GB.

Microsoft recently launched the latest affront to internet community and email users in particular by forcing usage of Microsoft’s Sender ID protocol to send email to Hotmail users. If you don’t your email will be trashed, plain and simple.

As eloquently put by ComputerWorld:

The technology, developed by the software giant, has had a rough ride with companies questioning the terms and conditions attached to it. Many have pondered out loud whether the company is attempting to control the market by making the technology ubiquitous and then demanding licence fees.

Its decision to include it in Hotmail so that users are given an on-screen alert every time the sender of an email does not use the Sender ID framework will certainly add weight to people’s fears, but at the same time a large number of internet users will be glad that something is being done to tackle an ever-increasing problem.

The suggestion by director of Microsoft’s Technology Care and Safety Group, Craig Spiezle, that email sent by companies that don’t use Sender ID will be put in a junk mail folder or even deleted, will inevitably lead of accusations of abuse.

In other words MSN (which is Microsoft and they own Hotmail) now requires any emails being sent to any hotmail.com address to be compliant with Microsoft’s Sender ID email verification program. If you dare to disobey your email will land in junk mail folder.

The interesting part is that complying with this protocol is not in your hands but in the hands of your ISP.

Also Microsoft may charge for licensing this technology down the road. Most likely Microsoft is hoping that businesses will fork out cash down the road to keep their Hotmail based clients.

This appears to be monopolistic practice. However Microsoft doesn’t own emails or even the free email market. Most people are still on Hotmail because of ignorance or because of the hassle of informing their existing contacts. Both can be easily addressed.

BTW: Recently I noticed that 50 pending invitations quota of GMail doesn’t end. You can possibly continue to give out free accounts without depleting your quota, I think.

If you are looking for a free GMail account, leave me a comment below. What excuse do you have now to stay on Hotmail?