More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail

This process is repeated in every milestone, from M2 through M10.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – UI for M2 (Dec. 2004)

A designer prototype of the first user interface for the MSN Hotmail beta. Microsoft started internal ‘dogfood’ testing with this UI.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – M3 (April 2005)

This is code running on a test cluster. Milestone 3 (M3) included clientlike functionality such as right-click and drag-and-drop as well as tweaks to the safety bar.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Full M4 (Nov. 2005)

M4 added top feature requests such as spell check and top usability issues like the safety bar.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Classic/Downlevel M4 (Nov. 2005)

This was the first draft of the classic version, which was HTML-only. It was shipped to users early and was not fully functional.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Full-Version M5 (Feb. 2006)

M5 added the ‘choose your own color’ option and put reading pane configuration on the in-box, moves designed to let users feel in control of their mail experience.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Classic/Downlevel M5 (Feb. 2006)

The second milestone for the classic version included more basic functionality.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Full-Version M6 (May 2006)

M6 for the full version included policy changes such as 120-day expiration, the removal of the skyscraper ad and support for Firefox 1.5+.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Classic Version M6 (May 2006)

The classic version continued to get basic functionality, such as contacts and signatures.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Full-Version M7 (July 2006)

M7 of the full version featured the new Windows Live look, search keywords and a tool to help new users configure their accounts.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Classic Version M7 (July 2006)

M7 of the classic version was another milestone toward making this a fully functional product.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Full-Version M8 (Oct. 2006)

M8 of the full version included performance improvements and responses to user expectations, such as the back button. The ability to send mail from any e-mail address was also added.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Classic Version M8 (Oct. 2006)

By M8, the classic version included nearly all basic functionality, though it looked quite different from the full version.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Full-Version M9 (Feb. 2007)

With M9, the full version included more feature requests, as well as many performance enhancements.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Classic Version M9 (Feb. 2007)

With M9, the classic version got the Windows Live look and feel, so that it looks much more like the full version.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Classic Version M10 (April 2007)

The classic version is the default, though new users can choose which version they want, and now supports spell check and right-to-left languages.

More Than Two Years in the Making: Windows Live Hotmail – Full-Version M10 (April 2007)

M10 brought a link to switch quickly to classic, many performance improvements and more safety-bar usability tweaks.