I’ve had many email accounts over the years – mainly for testing and comparison purposes; research et al. But Hotmail has always been my homebase. I’ve had my account for years, it’s where everyone I know has always been able to get in touch. I’ve moved jobs, countries and countless homes but that account has stood by me. Until recently.
Since I’ve started Backspace Consulting and been working from home I’ve had to rely completely on Hotmail for my email. And you know what, it really isn’t up to the job. Simple things like automatically saving to drafts is a feature it is sorely lacking. Blank white screens appear when I click “send”. Most of the time the service can’t even reach the server! I’ve had tens of emails just disappear from my sent mail folder and this is really not good enough even for casual emailing, never mind keeping in contact with business partners and potential clients.
Having recently worked on an upgrade to the webmail client of a South African ISP I can say with authority that I know it is no mean feat to get something that works and looks good at the same time. But if a little ISP at the tip of Africa can make something that works, and works well (though continuous improvement is my mantra), then how can Microsoft let this one go? They’ve handed the webmail market to GMail on a platter.
I, for one, like things that come on platters, so guess where I’ve gone to stay in touch with colleagues and friends? Do I even have to say it?
