Windows Live Mail: 'Beta' to Wait

Microsoft is putting a new face on Hotmail as the free email service becomes "Windows Live Mail." Tinkering with the beta left me with the same empty feeling you get when trying to eat an entire meal of cheesie puffs.

The highlights are that the Windows Live home page integrates a preview pane on the right hand side of the screen enabling you to get to the urgent email du jour with one click. This opens up the Windows Live Mail page, which features drag and drop moving of emails to folders or trash.

But that's about it for the good news. Embedded links within email messages aren't live, and the checkbox that allows you to dump many emails at a time is gone, so you are forced to drag and drop the spam one go at a time. Also, the skyscraper banner down the right side eats into the real estate too much.

I also looked at Windows Live Mail under Firefox, and Microsoft has yet to add many features, such as access to your contacts, autocomplete of email addresses, or a preview window. However, I actually prefer the "old school" Inbox that is displayed under Firefox.

If the current beta email client is indicative of the "new" Windows Live services from Microsoft, they won't be getting many new customers. It's early, but you know what they say about first impressions...