Communication in the Information Age requires regular access to information, and that usually means internet e-mail. Server based solutions like POP3 are often not portable enough to permit regular access, so many connected types elect webmail solutions such as Microsoft Hotmail or Yahoo mail. Access to your webmail account requires only a browser and can be accessed from home, work, Gateway Country, the public library, a webcafe, or a sleazy tea den in Kathmandu. Best of all, webmail accounts are nearly free. The only cost is viewing the ads supplied by the provider. This type of solution was extremely popular for a while in the late 90s when nearly everyone offered a free webmail account. I even had one at backpacker.com for a while.

In the beginning, hotmail (a clever anacronym for HTML) was simple, clean and efficient. Microsoft had everything to give and asked for little in return. They allowed plenty of space and the ads were unobtrusive. As time went by however, the allowable space began to shrink and the user interface got progressively worse. It's the typical Microsoft pattern. What Microsoft product has not followed that same pattern? Here is a randomly ordered like of my reasons for giving up on hotmail and switching to underdog Yahoo mail.

• Like most Microsoft products, Hotmail has become bloated with "features" that I don't want. Bill should rename it Fatmail. The junk mail filter is nice, but it is hidden behind too many slow refreshing pages to be effective. Hotmail Home is nice, but I want HTML mail, not a portal page. When I sign into my e-mail account, I want to decide what I see next and it isn't MSN-lite. I like the free-form way the hotmail address book handles groups, but getting to them is five clicks from the sign-in page.
• You only get 2 Mb of storage space. Yeah sure, 2 Mb is a lot for daily messages, but try storing months worth of e-mail or messages with even modest attachments. Yahoo offers 6 Mb with their free webmail accounts.
• What is .NET and why does Microsoft want to know everything I do? Internet security is a bigger issue every day and hotmail has proven its weaknesses in this arena. Why should I trust Bill with my entire computer by signing into .NET for everything I do?
• Hotmail allows messages no larger than 1 Mb including attachments. That means photos or other image files must be sent only a couple at a time. Sorry relatives on the east coast, baby photos will have to arrive in small groups. Yahoo allows unlimited message sizes.
• Hotmail took a big step toward obsolesence when Microsoft reconfigured the post-send page. Now, under the guise of confirming the send to address, they subject you to another ad after you click send. You can't even delete the old message from the post-send ad page. Your only choice is to return to the inbox page and delete the message manually or navigate to the next message. What were your people thinking Bill?
• I'm a Palm user and when I'm on the road or away from my laptop, the only way to access my e-mail is from my Palm (currently a Samsung i300). Since hotmail does not allow POP3 access to their server, the only option is to use a Palm Webclipping Application called ThinAir. For those of you familiar with the Palm PQA environment, the best webclipping apps are small and fast. ThinAir is neither. The interface is big and clumsy, the access is slow, and worst of all, the text entry area is only three lines. On the other hand, Yahoo's mail PQA is small (1 K on my Palm compared to 214 K for ThinAir), fast and simple.
• Hotmail discontinued POP3 access. This means that you can no longer combine other server based e-mail accounts into your hotmail inbox using Post Office Protocol (POP3). Too much server overhead, huh Bill? Yahoo offers not only free POP3 access to other accounts, but also free mail forwarding.

That's all I can think of for now. So please update your address book and replace my vresor@hotmail.com address with vresor@yahoo.com. See you online. Thanks.

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