AllThingsD » Windows Live Hotmail

Revamped Yahoo Mail Peels Off Beta Stamp

Ina Fried — Tue, 24 May 2011 04:00:57 +0000

Yahoo announced late on Monday that it is ready with a final version of its updated mail software in an effort to regain momentum in the free Webmail arena, where it competes with Google and Microsoft.

In addition to offering speed improvements, the company is adding new features, such as the ability to respond to a Facebook message directly from within an email or see updates from Twitter. Some new features, such as the ability to view photo slideshows and YouTube videos from within an email are already part of rival services, such as Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail.

The revamped mail program, which has been in the works for about a year, also integrates instant messaging and text messages more deeply, archiving conversations by default. A built-in tool from YouSendIt is included for sending large files, with additional services built in for other tasks, such as tracking purchases or unsubscribing from bulk email. On the instant messaging front, users can now converse via Facebook Chat from within Yahoo Mail.

“Yahoo’s vision for online communications brings together all the tools that people use to connect–email, chat, SMS, and social updates–and makes it easier for them to share content and engage in conversations with the people that matter most to them,” Yahoo Chief Product Officer Blake Irving said in a statement.

Yahoo has been beta testing the new mail program since October. The company did a major overhaul of the mail service back in 2007.

Despite remaining the top email provider in the U.S. with close to 90 million accounts, Yahoo has been losing ground in recent years, dropping 7 percent in the U.S. and 1 percent globally over the last 12 months, according to ComScore.

On the mobile side, Yahoo said it is making a new version of its software available to Nokia. The Finnish cell phone maker signed a deal last year to have their email and chat features “powered by Yahoo.”

Microsoft Takes Another Stab at Selling Its Own Ads–By Getting Someone Else to Do It

Peter Kafka — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:00:53 +0000

It’s about time! Or, more accurately, “real time”: It’s taken Microsoft several years to get its head around the idea, but the company is finally going to start selling its ad space via a “real-time bidding” exchange, just as Google does.

The difference: Instead of running the exchange itself, as Google does, Redmond is going to outsource the work.

In February, ad tech start-up AppNexus will begin selling Microsoft’s “non-premium” display ads via its own exchange. And Microsoft will essentially pull the plug on AdECN, the exchange it bought in 2007 but only began testing a year ago.

If you’re not remotely interested in advertising technology, here’s the takeaway: Lots of smart people predict that display advertising will be moving to “real time bidding,” which allows buyers and sellers to set the price of a single ad impression in milliseconds.

That efficiency makes plenty of sense from a buyer’s perspective, but it will inevitably chip away at publishers’ pricing power–which is one reason big sellers like Microsoft haven’t embraced it yet.

Microsoft sort of announced the move last October, when it participated in a $50 million investment in AppNexus. Microsoft and AppNexus have been deliberately playing down the move, for reasons I can’t quite fathom–it’s not as if players like Google haven’t picked up on it.

(And that Microsoft-AppNexus connection may or may not have had something to do with a falling-out between AppNexus and Google last year.)

In any case, it’s now formalized: Microsoft will throw all of its unsold inventory into an exchange that AppNexus will power, starting with ad space on Windows Live Hotmail. Then it will add in all of the inventory on MSN properties, and eventually ads from third-party publishers that Microsoft is working with, like Viacom.

Which doesn’t mean Google will be quaking in its boots.

At the start, AppNexus figures it will be moving more than 10 billion ad impressions a month through the exchange, which sounds like a lot. And it is! But Google’s AdX is many times larger–it’s a safe bet that it’s doing more than one billion impressions a day, and likely much more.

Still, Google’s giant lead isn’t necessarily insurmountable. For starters, the universe of display advertising is much more fragmented than search. So no matter how much inventory AdX picks up, there’s always going to be lots of ad space that Google doesn’t get its hands on.

And because Google’s so big, there’s a very deliberate effort by lots of buyers and sellers to make sure they have other options. So underdog Microsoft–I can’t get over how odd it is to type that–will get at least a look-see for quite some time.

Google Buzz Isn't Exactly Humming Along

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:18 +0000

These days, it’s near impossible to use a computer without running into a social network. Web sites encourage people to “tweet” links to their articles via Twitter; photo-sharing sites nudge users to post albums on Facebook; and aggregators like TweetDeck display content from several social networks in a digestible way. Last week, Google Buzz joined this trend by integrating social networking into something people use every day: email.

[ See post to watch video ]

Google Buzz (google.com/buzz) is built into Gmail, Google’s email program, as an opt-in social network that provides people with a place for sharing status updates, Twitter tweets, photos, videos, Web links and blog posts with a network of friends. I’ve been testing Google Buzz, and I like the way it displays shared photos in full-screen view and nestles into Gmail, which I use every day. But right now, Buzz still falls flat.

One of the biggest problems with Buzz is that it’s late to the social-networking party. People have had years to get comfortable with networks like Facebook and Twitter, and old habits are hard to kick. Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) already incorporate social networking into their Web email in Windows Live Hotmail and the Yahoo Mail, respectively. Windows Live Hotmail lets users create networks of friends and connects with up to 69 other networks, including Facebook and Twitter. Yahoo also builds networks with your connections, and integrates content into email from sites like Twitter, Flickr and Picasa.

Google (GOOG) tried to catch up with existing social networks by using a proprietary algorithm to create networks of people with whom users communicate most in Gmail and in Google Chat, the company’s instant messaging program. In other words, the people you emailed the most via Gmail or chatted with the most on Google Chat automatically became the people you followed in your social network.

But Google took a lot of heat for these pre-made networks because people didn’t know where the names came from or who some of the people were. Even worse, these networks were made public by default so every Buzz user could see everyone else’s closest contacts.

Google Buzz encourages social networking for Gmail users, but is it too late to join the fray?

This is a problem because many of us treat email differently than we treat our social networks. We communicate via email in private conversations—often with people who we don’t necessarily want looking at our personal photos or other information. If I exchange several emails over an extended period of time with my plumber about fixing a sink, it doesn’t mean I want him in my social network. Likewise if a parent regularly emails with a teacher about a child’s progress.

In the past several days, Google has apologized for its presumption that you would absolutely want to add the people you email into your social network online. The company has changed settings in Buzz to ameliorate this and several other issues. A network is now suggested rather than predetermined so users can clearly select whom they follow by checking boxes beside names and photos, nixing the plumber and keeping a best friend. Likewise, a very clear box now lets people opt to share these names publicly or not.

So how does the rest of Buzz work? All Gmail users will find a Buzz icon in the top left area of the Gmail site and must opt in to use Buzz. A tiny link at the bottom of every page can always turn it off altogether. Buzz is a separate screen and isn’t fully weaved into Gmail’s inbox, though notifications are sent to the Inbox in three instances: if someone comments on your post; if you comment on a post and then someone else makes an additional comment; and if someone directs a Buzz at you, such as starting a post with @Katie Boehret.

Buzz doesn’t yet have a way to completely stop notifications from coming to an inbox, but you can opt to stop receiving inbox notifications every time someone else comments about a post. (Go to “More Actions” within the email and select “Mute.”)

Google Buzz uses ideas from Facebook, like the ability to “like” a post. It also integrates with other Google properties including Blogger, Google Reader, Picasa and YouTube. Rather than using a system of friends like Facebook, Buzz takes a page from Twitter’s playbook by organizing friends into followers: people a user follows and people who follow the user. If you don’t want someone following you, just block them.

I spoke to Facebook about Buzz, asking specifically if the company would consider integrating with Google’s new program. A spokeswoman noted Facebook’s position as an open platform and said the company is always delighted to be working with new partners that want to integrate Facebook Connect in ways that help people connect with their “real” friends.

Buzz pulls in Twitter updates, or tweets, from people who have connected their Twitter and Buzz accounts. But the Twitter feed is only one way—coming into Buzz—so people can’t respond to or direct message back to Twitter. They can just leave a comment about the tweet on Buzz—a comment that is never displayed on Twitter. A Google representative said the company is working on more two-way integration in the future.

As for photo sharing, Buzz lets users integrate with Google-owned Picasa or Yahoo-owned Flickr so they can share on Buzz whatever photos are publicly shared within those services. Images show up in Buzz and, when selected, they take up the full browser screen—an eye-catching feature. But though users can browse Picasa albums from Buzz to select photos, they can’t share whole albums to Buzz right now.

Buzz is usable on the go with Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and Google’s Android phones. By default, it uses someone’s current location whenever posts are made on Buzz. But this can be turned off, albeit in a clumsy way: Currently, people must tap an “x” beside their location to remove this location information from a post. Later this week, this language will be made clearer with a bolded explanation on each screen before a post is sent of how to remove locations. If someone opts not to use location in one post, this setting sticks for subsequent posts—except when Buzz is accessed through a voice program.

Google Buzz got off to a rough start and still has a lot of catching up to do. Though it could be a convenience for people whose social contacts all already exist in Gmail, it could also saddle them—and their friends—with yet another social network to check every day. For now, my social-networking friends are sticking to Facebook and Twitter, making the buzz on Buzz almost inaudible.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg.

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Kara Visits Zimbra!

Kara Swisher — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:45:11 +0000

When BoomTown broke the news that Yahoo was paying $350 million for open-source email and calendaring company Zimbra back in September, it was clear it was not a middling move on the part of the Internet giant, which too often can act like a mouse when it comes to acquisitions.

In fact, the innovative Zimbra and employees, like its lively CEO and founder Satish Dharmaraj, are just the kind of new blood Yahoo needs as it tries to reinvigorate itself.

With the purchase, which was a bit pricey (but well worth it), Yahoo finally got the weapons it needed to go head-to-head with Google in the battle to offer fast-forward kinds of Web-based mail services to a wider range of customers from big ISPs to small businesses to universities.

Let’s be clear, Yahoo Mail has remained the bigger provider of Web email to general consumers. But most agree that it allowed Google’s Gmail to suck up all the oxygen in the room with more flashy features like threading of conversations, while not serving up a strong response in an arena Yahoo has pioneered quickly enough.

While its latest version of Yahoo Mail got strong reviews, such as this one from Walt Mossberg, Zimbra vaunts its effort at differentiation from the hyped Google offering forward more quickly.

More importantly, it has really strengthened Yahoo’s ability to make online email act more like a computer program than a Web page, which has been the main focus of late of Yahoo, Google and Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail.

The Zimbra acquisition takes it up a notch with a plethora of potential new features, such as easier-to-use calendaring and all sorts of nifty features via a widgety “Zimlet” system.

In addition, since Zimbra is designed with flexible and open Ajax programming tools, it makes it easy for third-party developers to make many other applications that jack innovation from the outside, making the communications platform the center of the Web experience with video, search and other tools.

Making online email sexy was not the greatest thing to have to sell to investors, but Zimbra did get backing from high-profile VCs like Benchmark Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Accel Partners. The start-up’s clients include Comcast, many ISPs and a number of colleges. The Wall Street Journal’s Robert A. Guth wrote about the company last year.

Now that the acquisition by Yahoo has taken place, Zimbra will continue to operate somewhat independently, although moving operations to Yahoo this month under the communications unit headed by Yahoo Senior Vice President Brad “Peanut Butter Manifesto” Garlinghouse.

Here’s my video interview with Zimbra’s Dharmaraj, which took place yesterday at its soon to be abandoned HQ in San Mateo:

[ See post to watch video ]

And here is my video interview with Garlinghouse back when news of the acquisition broke:

New Dates Added for Steve Ballmer 'Wild and Crazy CEO' Tour

John Paczkowski — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:40:42 +0000

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is on a roll.

Last week he dismissed Facebook as another GeoCities. Now he’s gone and branded Google as Big Brother.

“Our Windows Live Hotmail, in and of itself, doesn’t generate much ad revenue,” Ballmer told an audience at the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program in the United Kingdom. “So we’ve had to put, essentially, a whole portal around it because the traffic around it is very valuable but it’s not very easily monetized in the context of mail. Google’s had the same experience, even though they read your mail and we don’t. That’s just a factual statement, not even to be pejorative. The theory was if we read your mail, if somebody read your mail, they would know what to talk to you about. It’s not working out as brilliantly as the concept was laid out.”

New Dates Added for Steve Ballmer 'Wild and Crazy CEO' Tour

John Paczkowski — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:40:42 +0000

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is on a roll.

Last week he dismissed Facebook as another GeoCities. Now he’s gone and branded Google as Big Brother.

No, Windows Live Mail is on first, Windows Live Hotmail is on second …

John Paczkowski — Mon, 07 May 2007 19:24:08 +0000

We're Calling the Next Version 'Windows Live Mail Hotmail Mail for Windows'

John Paczkowski — Mon, 07 May 2007 13:47:47 +0000

Thank God, discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo have cooled off, because an integration of the two companies’ online services would have been a branding nightmare. Just look at Hotmail. Microsoft finally brought its reworking of the popular hosted email offering out of beta and into full release today.
But instead of retaining the service’s original name, or versioning it, Microsoft rebranded it as one of its “Live” services. And so we have Windows Live Hotmail. Which wouldn’t be so bad if Microsoft hadn’t previously renamed Hotmail “Windows Live Mail” and “MSN Hotmail” before that. Back in February, Microsoft–in an attempt to mitigate confusion over the service’s name change–said that Windows Live Mail was being renamed Windows Live Hotmail. “As we prepare to launch the final version of our new Web mail service, we recognize the importance of ensuring that our 260+ million existing customers come over to the new service smoothly and without confusion,” Richard Sim, Windows Live Hotmail senior product manager, wrote at the time. “By adopting the name ‘Windows Live Hotmail,’ we believe we’re bringing together the best of both worlds–new and old. We’re able to offer the great new technology that Windows Live has to offer while also bringing the emotional connection many existing and loyal users have with Hotmail.”

And hey–don’t forget brand confusion. Because Microsoft’s Windows Live set of products also includes a desktop email client–Windows Live Mail Desktop–and it’s got a new name, too: Windows Live Mail. Apparently Microsoft Live has exceptionally high brand recall … in its own Marketing and Development division.

We're Calling the Next Version 'Windows Live Mail Hotmail Mail for Windows'

John Paczkowski — Mon, 07 May 2007 13:47:47 +0000