Today, we are going to take a look at the first half of 2010, that is, from January to June.

• January 2010
  • Details and first photos about Messenger Wave 4 emerge.
  • You can now connect SkyDrive to Windows Explorer — using CloudStorageExplorer.
  • Hotmail Wave 4 will add Conversation view for messages.
• February 2010
  • The cloud system Windows Azure launches officially.
  • The social network Facebook launches its new home page layout.
  • Windows Live ID has an outage, causing that customers cannot sign in anywhere.
  • The Windows Live Messenger extension Messenger Plus! becomes silent at Yuna Software, its new owner, but eventually the silence is broken and we can move on to new pastures.
  • The Chinese website cnbeta.com discovers the design of Windows Live Writer 2011.
• March 2010
  • Google acquires the online image editor startup company Picnik.
  • The IT trade fair CeBIT 2010 takes place in Hanover, Germany.
  • The release roadmap for Windows Live Wave 4 surfaces.

• April 2010
  • Live.com changes to be Windows Live Home.
  • Office 2010 reaches RTM status, its development is finished.
  • Chris Jones talks about the future of Windows Live.
• May 2010
  • The search engine Google overhauls its interface.
  • Angus Logan showcases the Windows Live Messenger App for Apples iPhone smartphone.
  • mynetx.net takes an in-depth look at the new features in Hotmail Wave 4.
  • Messenger 2011 retires the existing “View webcam” feature and instead relies on Video calls, which are easier to maintain. Users’ reactions are overly negative and loud.
  • The complete feature list of Windows Live 2011 is published. Remarkable new features include Messenger’s Facebook Chat module as well as Photo Fuse and facial recognition in Photo Gallery.
  • On May 31, Windows Live Events is closing.
• June 2010
  • Office 2010 and Office Web Apps are released to the public. Office Web Apps allow to edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations right in your web browser.
  • The Windows Live Wave 4 public beta launches in 7 languages.

What was your personal highlight in the first half of 2010? I am curious to know!

Ye Gu, Group Program Manager, Windows Live mobile services, explains:

On June 21st, we released the Windows Live Messenger app for iPhone. Since then, the Messenger app has reached #1 in the iTunes app marketplace at some point in time in over 50 countries, and we’ve had nearly 7 million downloads worldwide. Thank you for the great support you’ve given us!

For example, you can now resort your contact list, like sorting it by online/offline contacts, by Favorites or by status. More new features include:

• Support for iOS 4
• Facebook Chat integration
• Friends List Filters
• Blocking/unblocking contacts
• Faster sign-in
• 31 languages supported

Still missing: feature-complete iPad support. It is unknown when this will get added.

Set up Exchange ActiveSync in iPhone

1. On your SpringBoard, tap Settings.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap the Microsoft Exchange logo.

4. Fill the fields as follows:
   • E-mail: <Your Windows Live ID = Hotmail address>
   • Domain: (leave this field blank)
   • User name: <Your Windows Live ID = Hotmail address>
   • Password: <Your Windows Live password>
   • Description: (doesn’t matter; my suggestion: enter your Windows Live ID or the word “Hotmail”)
   • Use SSL: I = enable
5. Tap the Next button.
6. iPhone might ask you whether you want to trust the certificate. If so, confirm this.
7. An additional Server field appears. Enter m.hotmail.com.

8. Finally, choose to synchronize all three items: Mail, Contacts and Calendar.
9. Each time, iPhone asks you whether to delete or keep your existing iPhone contacts. Choose your answer carefully, based on your personal needs.

Done! Now press the Home button to return to your SpringBoard, then tap the Mail icon in the dock. When you receive new mail, your iPhone will vibrate. You can always check the number of unread mail in your inbox in a red balloon appearing on the Mail icon.

Being asked whether he doesn’t consider it unfair for customers not to support Flash contents on iPhone and iPad, he declared that Apple is not a company with unlimited resources. To have success, you have “to bet the right technological horse”. That is why Apple chooses technologies that have a future.

Jobs noted that Apple had been the first company to dump the floppy disk. Later, they were among the first ones adopting the USB interface. “Sometimes when we get rid of things, people call us crazy. But sometimes you just have to pick the things that are going to be the right horse to ride forward. And Flash has had its day, but HTML5 is starting to emerge. The video looks better and it works better and you don’t need a plug-in to run it. And while 75 percent of the video on the Web may be available in Flash, a lot of it is available in HTML5 as well,” the Apple CEO explained.

“We didn’t set out to have a war over Flash. We made a technical decision.” Jobs explained that it was Adobe who made an arguing topic out of it, when they had a problem with the iPad. Apple is getting tired that Adobe is talking bad about them. That’s why Steve Jobs noted his ‘Thoughts on Flash’ and published them.

Finally, Steve got asked what he is replying to people wishing Flash support on the iPad. “We’re just trying to make great products. We don’t think Flash makes a great product, so we’re leaving it out. Instead, we’re going to focus on technologies that are in ascendancy. If we succeed, people will buy them and if we don’t they won’t. And, so far, I have to say, people seem to be liking the iPad. We are selling an iPad every 3 seconds.”

Angus Logan, Senior Technical Product Manager for the Windows Live Plattform, showcased Windows Live Messenger for the iPhone last week at The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam. Obviously, the software is making use of the features and possibilities of the Apple Platform and thus integrates seamlessly.

Among other features, Angus showed how to chat with your friends, how to change your status and display picture—including being able to create new display pictures directly on the device—, sharing photos with other users of Windows Live Messenger, and making use of Messenger’s social networking features.

ReMail founder Gabor Cselle returns to Google where he once worked as intern.  Later he had been development leader at Xobni, offering search and social features for Microsoft’s e-mail client Outlook, and finally founded Remail to develop a new mobile e-mail client.

For a while, his software has been available for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch.  It downloads all e-mails in a mailbox to the mobile end device and thus makes the mail searchable.  That doesn’t only work much faster than searching mails on servers, but also saves money, according to reMail, pointing to the data transfer costing otherwise.

With being taken over by Google however, reMail disappeared from the market and is not available in Apple’s App Store anymore.  Google had been taking the same steps with products developed by other companies taken over.

Existing customers can continue to use reMail, Support is available until the end of March 2010.  As recompensation, all users of the software will get all paid features for free.

Remail founder Gabor Cselle is going to work as Product Manager for Google Mail.

Adobe told the San Francisco Chronicle that over 7 million downloads in vain were registered in December 2009 by iPhone and iPod touch owners.  In June 2009, it had only been some 3 million download tries.

Users probably try downloading the plug-in after visiting web sites that require Flash to display certain contents.  Trying to download the Flash plug-in from Adobe.com fails however. Adobe displays a clear message on these devices and says it’s Apple’s fault:

Apple restricts use of technologies required by products like Flash Player.  Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod touch.

In the meantime, Adobe is developing the Flash technology for further platforms.  For example, it will get introduced for Google’s operating system Android as well as for Palm Pre.  According to Strategy Analytics analysts, 53% of all smartphones will support Flash by 2012.

Several users have reported Bing’s voice function to crash on an iPhone 3GS and new 32/64Gb iPod touch models.  Furthermore, the application cannot be installed on an iPod touch (1G) without microphone, while the voice search is only one of the features and not necessary.

Bing on iPhone looks very similar to the search engine’s website—inclusive the changing background photo.  The image search displays results on a 4*5 images grid.  Bing can also read the user’s location on iPhones and iPods touch, either by GPS or known wi-fi spots.

Update: The Bing for Mobile team is working on an update for the Bing App for iPhone.  Justin Jed, Group Product Manager for Bing Mobile Search, announced:

We’ve identified that the issue relates to the region the phone is set to. We’re working on a fix for this right now, and we’ll update the app in the next few days. People will get the update automatically – you won’t have to update or reinstall the app. If you are encountering this issue you can temporarily work around it by going to Settings > General > International and change your Region Format to “United States.”

The Bing team also works on support for iPod 1G.  However, there won’t be any support for international markets in the near future.

The key features of the Bing application are:

• Daily image from Bing.com
• Voice search
• “Locate Me” feature
• Add pushpins and save locations
• Show multiple locations on a single map

Get the Bing App for iPhone and iPod touch for free.

The release of the Windows Live Messenger iPhone App is currently scheduled to take place alongside with Windows Live Wave 4—that is, spring 2010.

Stay tuned for more information about Windows Live Wave 4 soon.

Invisible additional info

Whether Word, Excel or PowerPoint—the innocent icons don’t tell what is inside them. Normally it is documents like texts. And they contain much additional info. That can be comments, but also revision notes. However, there is surely information which is not suitable for the public.

Awkward potential

In business it is truly important to be careful. When several collaborators work on a document, send it back and forth via e-mail and make corrections, such a document can contain inflammable matters. The problem: when you hide the comments and annotations, they are no longer visible at first sight. And that is exactly what is dangerous. Because, when you send such a document to a customer, for example via mail, resourceful users can make the data visible again anytime. And that’s what can get awkward.

Remove personal data

But private computer users should know, too, that their documents contain a massive amount of data, data that might not be suitable for everybody. That can be data like a counter how often a document was edited—and by whom it was edited last. People who save the texts, spreadsheets or presentations normally and distribute them, is likely to distribute their indiscreet data as well. But: you can change that. The latest Office version can remove all personal data.

Useful feature in Office 2007

Office 2007 has a really useful feature, called “Inspect document”. The feature checks whether there is any hidden information. If yes, these data can be removed from the document with a single click. Only after having done this, you should send the document to other people via e-mail. Older Office and Word versions cannot do this, sadly.

Free tool

However, Microsoft offers a free tool to remove hidden data in Office documents. “Office Add-in: Remove Hidden Data” is the name of this useful extension. Once installed, it can “clean” any document with a single click. Important thing, you should really take a closer look at this, especially when distributing documents, sending them via mail or publishing them on the Web.

Indiscreet photos

Photos can be really indiscreet as well. Not only concerning the motive, that is sure. When you take photos with your digital camera nowadays, you have to be aware that there is a massive amount of data hidden in the photos, data that we normally don’t see. For example, let’s take a photo that I just took of a nice espresso machine. Looks great—and nobody knows what I used to take the photo. Nobody? As if! The photo contains many hidden data. And you can make these data visible. And behold: The photo has been taken with an iPhone. Even the used aperture, time and date date hidden within the photo.

EXIF data

This information hidden in the photo are also known as EXIF data. They can be extraordinarily useful, for instance for hobby photographers, as they can find out easily what aperture and exposure time they used to take a photo. If colleagues extract these data from a photo, that could get uncomfortable. For example, when you are discovered to be skiving off work because your colleagues found a party photo being taken just while you were ill.

JPG & PNG Stripper

Generally, it is very easy to make these EXIF data visible, for example in Windows: Just select the photo and click on details in Windows Explorer, and info like creation time, aperture, exposure time, camera type and much more are shown. The Mac can show these data easily as well. If you want to remove your data from your photos, for example because you want to publish the photos on the Web, you can remove the additional data from the photos. Just use special programs like JPG stripper, and you’re done. The photos are retained. Only the additional data are removed from the photos. If you don’t want everybody to see the additional info, you should always do this. In any case, it is more discreet.

More information

• Office Add-in: Remove Hidden Data
• JPG & PNG Stripper for Windows
• Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF)

• Invia e-mail con allegati di dimensione superiore a 25 MB (invece di 10 MB).
• Web mail: funzione Calendario e Note combinato.
• Aggiungi gli allegati trascinandoli direttamente dal tuo desktop al sito.
• Le immagini nelle mail vengono mostrate con un’anteprima, sono ridimensionabili e possono essere ruotate.
• Ordinare la tua posta in arrivo a seconda dell’importanza dei contatti.
• Yahoo! Messenger ora supporta le video chiamate a schermo pieno.
• Aggiornamento automatico dati profilo.
• iPhone ha la funzione Push per controllare i nuovi messaggi.

Suona comune per noi utenti di Windows Live? Hmmhm…

mynetx: Please tell me a bit about yourself. Is your life directly or indirectly involved with Windows Live?

Kip: I’ve been writing for LiveSide for almost 3 ½ years, since it started in Jan. 2006. Before that I was a beta tester for MSN and Microsoft products, was an original “MSN Butterfly”, and a 3 time MVP for MSN and Windows Live.

I use Windows Live products daily, mostly mail and messenger, and of course Windows Live Writer.

mynetx: Do you think the Windows Live team cares for their users’ demands? Why?

Kip: I think they are as responsive as you can be when your customer base is in the hundreds of millions of users. In some respects that many users makes it more difficult to make changes, as they affect so many people in so many different ways. I do think that Windows Live could do more to be a more agile team. Both the structure of Microsoft and the sheer numbers of users contribute to… make it very difficult to react quickly to market trends.

mynetx: Like a big vehicle is slow in turning around, unlike a small car?

Kip: yes exactly. Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President for Windows and Windows Live Engineering, is often said to “make the trains run on time”. Problem is, when everyone has cars and has already left, waiting for the next train, even if it is on schedule, might not matter.

mynetx: Though I think that Microsoft has had its big awakening sometime 2 years ago.

Suddenly Internet Explorer development was “restarted”, and the overall Corporate Identity was renewed, and I think this has also had consequences on Windows Live.

Kip: Yes. Ray Ozzie is working hard to change the culture, but Windows Live is still to slow to react sometimes. That being said, I use Windows Live products every day, and generally like them a lot.

mynetx: If Microsoft took over Facebook, would you be using it then?

Kip: I don’t see why not. I have no problem using Microsoft products.

mynetx: How do you think Yahoo!’s future would have been affected, if the Big Deal would have happened last summer?

Kip: If anything, Yahoo! had an even worse culture for quick reaction than did Microsoft. I think the combined market share would have shaken up the market a bit, but just getting the two companies to work together as one would have been a monumental task, and I think it would have caused a lot of problems.

The new CEO at Yahoo!, Carol Bartz, is working to change their culture too.

mynetx: Within the next five years, where could you picture Windows Live?

Kip: Windows Live is going to benefit from its relationship to Windows 7. But in 5 years I doubt that there will be so much emphasis on which platform you use: are you in the MSFT camp, the Apple camp, the Google camp, etc. Within 5 years the barriers to communicating with some one because you don’t have the same Messenger client should be gone.

mynetx: How?

Kip: Mobile will be much more prevalent; smartphones, data access on phones, etc. Just like now how ridiculous it would be if a Nokia phone couldn’t call an iPhone, it will be much easier to communicate between devices than it is now.

mynetx: Please provide two positive and negative comments about any outstanding Windows Live product.

Kip: Windows Live Mail is a great product, I think. I currently have 9 email accounts loaded, including non-Hotmail accounts and even a Gmail account. It loads them all quickly, presents them handsomely, and handles calendar, contacts, and newsgroups. I struggled before with trying to get Outlook to handle multiple Hotmail accounts (although the new Outlook Connector is better), but now I don’t worry about it.

As for a negative, while I understand the thinking behind Windows Live Essentials, I think tying the updates of all the Windows Live products together was a big mistake. In the last Messenger upgrade, in order to fix a small but somewhat important bug, users had to go through the whole Essentials installer “experience”. It sucked, and it’s stopping some Windows Live products from getting updates they need because of having to update everything at once.

mynetx: Do you run Windows Live Messenger 24/7? Do you have some kind of a routine with Messenger and the other parts of Windows Live?

Kip: Messenger is on when my computer is on, yes. I have the main messenger window open all the time, positioned as a right hand sidebar (where the Vista sidebar would be, which is the first thing I turn off when I set up a computer). Messenger auto loads when the computer is turned on.

mynetx: You don’t like Sidebar?

Kip: no

mynetx: Use your fantasy: how do you think Messenger will look like within the next five years? What new features could it present?

Kip: Well hopefully a much better interface for multiple conversations (tabs!). Also I would like to see the user interface around contacts improve: a better interface than a contact list that you have to scroll down to find someone, click on it, open a window to start a conversation, etc. And you should be able to start conversations with people not in your contact list, in some public areas… similar to what you can do in Twitter now, or even in the new Messenger web toolkit.

I expect that Messenger in general will get to be more phone-like, and phones will get to be more Messenger-like.

mynetx: Comparing these ideas with Messenger’s current features, which of these might be added in the next release, Wave 4?

Kip: I think we’ll see some improvements in Contacts. Somehow I doubt we’ll see tabs, although I could be wrong. Msgr users have been calling for tabs for years without success. Mostly I think you’ll see Messenger and the other Windows Live desktop apps continue to work toward sharing a common interface, and to share common parts.

mynetx: Why is the Windows Live team just ignoring the loud shout for tabs that tons of Messenger users shout since years?

Kip: I wish I knew, but I don’t.

mynetx: Are you satisfied with the Windows Live services that are provided to you?

Kip: Yes. I use multiple Live ID accounts (to separate the work I do on LiveSide from my personal stuff), and it is very easy to manage now. We use Custom Domains for our LiveSide accounts, and it’s great. I really like Windows Live Mail, and Live Writer. Of course I think there could be improvements, but overall I’m happy.

mynetx: What is your favorite feature in Messenger?

Kip: I will tell you about one feature I really miss, and that is the Live Maps activity. It was very useful to be able to share maps, to plan meetings etc. MSN China has recently re-released a version of it in China, so hopefully we’ll see it again.

mynetx: What was your first impression of Live Mesh? Could it be a new diverse method of file sharing among peers, or could it improve the current system at hand?

Kip: I use Live Mesh daily also. I think you will see Live Mesh integrated into Windows Live, and the plan is to introduce some of that in Wave 4. Could Live Mesh become a sort of torrent? I don’t know about that, I think that architecturally maybe it could, but I doubt that Microsoft would allow it to be used as a free form file share.

mynetx: Do you wish Messenger would have a feature that a third-party IM software already has? Besides tabs, that is.

Kip: I don’t use other clients much if at all, so I’m not one to comment.

mynetx: However, as Messenger user, I’m sure you’ve got a good tip that not everybody might know about yet.

Kip: Lol, to me Messenger is like the phone, I don’t think about it much, I just use it. I sure hope photo sharing is improved in Wave 4 though, I find the new way to share photos very cumbersome.

mynetx: And finally, are you working on any project related to Windows Live currently?

Kip: Well we are hoping to be able to integrate the Messenger toolkit into LiveSide. I am not a developer, but we have someone working on it for his site (also Community Server), and we will be working together to see if we can make it happen. Unfortunately Community Server is kind of complicated, and we want the experience for our readers to be a good one, so it’s going kind of slow at the moment.

mynetx: Who works at LiveSide?

Kip: LiveSide is run by myself, Chris Overd, and Harrison Hoffman. We get regular contributions from Sunshine (Cornelia Koopmans), and have a few other contributors as well.

mynetx: LiveSide is a very good news source when you want to be on top of the latest developments and Windows Live news. I want to thank you and the other contributors for the great amount of time, knowledge and research that you put into the site each day, regardless of vacations, making LiveSide what it is today—a must-read!

Is it the same fun for you people running the site as it is for us reading it?

Kip: Yes we have a lot of fun with it

mynetx: I hope the site will continue to do its best to inform us about anything interesting in the Windows Live world. Great that you took your time to discuss “Windows Live and You” with me!

Kip: Happy to do it!

mynetx: Nice that you got some minutes to talk about Windows Live and You. To get started, please describe yourself and your connection with Windows Live, in one sentence.

Dane: My name is Dane N. (sometimes referred to as Dane Smith), and I’ve been part of the Messenger Community since Messenger Plus! 2 Alpha in 2002.

mynetx: Quite a long time… Tell me a bit about your history.

Dane: In 2002 I applied to test Messenger Plus! 2 Alpha. Over the years, I’ve become obsessed with everything to do with (what was then) MSN Messenger (and now) Windows Live Messenger. The Microsoft Messaging Platform has always been my #1 Instant Messaging Service due to its ease of use and integration better than any other client into Windows. Over the years, I developed sometimes strange hobbies such as collecting new computer worms and viruses and submitting them to antivirus companies as well as working on the team of 2 startup webhosting companies and eventually starting my own, Technology Pulse. Today, I still test Messenger Plus! Live and market a product aimed to keep users in touch with contacts called WLMStatus Premium.

mynetx: So you are a Messenger tester?

Dane: Yes. I’ve been testing Messenger products for Microsoft since Version 6.0.

mynetx: Interesting. What has your experience with the testing platform Microsoft Connect, as well as getting in touch with the Windows Live team and the other beta testers, been like, up to now?

Dane: Well, back in the day we used a communication platform for testing called Beta Place. I liked this site because it wasn’t overly crowded and had just what you needed in order to test. Microsoft Connect is nice, but I think it keeps you a bit “too connected” with users and the voting system is never really used that much from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem like an effective platform for me. The Windows Live Team has always been easy for me to get in contact with, I have a few of them on my own personal contact list and as a Windows Live Butterfly, if I need to get in touch with someone I don’t have contact info for, I can get that information very easily. My contact list also contains mostly other Messenger Testers.

mynetx: Butterfly. Could you explain this term?

Dane: Yes. A Windows Live Butterfly is somebody who excels and goes above and beyond while testing Microsoft Windows Live products. Anyone who is recognized as a butterfly consistently provides valuable feedback to Microsoft and traditionally helps non-techie users with problems with their Windows Live Products. Windows Live Butterflies automatically gain acceptance into new Windows Live Beta Programs upon request, no application required, because as a butterfly our work is proven to be effective and useful.

mynetx: So it’s a great job you’re doing in testing Windows Live products. Is it still interesting for you, after all the time?

Dane: I’m glad you asked that. After all these years and versions, it is still interesting because even with minor releases, you see your work being put into the resulting Microsoft Products, even if its something as small as a bug fix or typo fix. Knowing that you’re contributing to making a great product even better is what makes it rewarding and fun.

mynetx: When you are going that far beyond an average Messenger user of nowadays, let’s talk about your personal habits. What part does Messenger play in your daily computer and web routine?

Dane: Messenger plays a big role in my life, online and off. You see, it’s such an important aspect of my communication that I have mobile versions of Messenger on my Apple iPhone 3G and am logged in (even if in Appear Offline status) for more than 12 hours a day usually. Right when I log onto a computer, Messenger is the first thing I check for. I sign in and catch up on messages before going anywhere else online. And when I’m done checking with the program itself, I scour the common technology news sites looking for more messenger related news.

mynetx: Hmm. “Addicted.” Sounds reasonable?

Dane: Yes. Without a doubt, it’s very important to me.

mynetx: What is your favorite feature in Messenger?

Dane: Out of the latest iterations, my favorite feature would have to be by far the Nudge function. I always hate when I’m asking someone an important question and they aren’t looking, its nice to nudge them and get that answer quicker.

mynetx: Like ringing a literal bell in front of the phone microphone?

Dane: Yes Sir. It never fails.

mynetx: . Unless people ignore nudges deliberately, lol. — However.

And what do you like most in Windows Live at all?

Dane: I only really rely upon two windows live products. Windows Live Messenger (of course), and Windows Live Hotmail Plus.

mynetx: What is the different between Hotmail and Hotmail Plus?

Dane: These days, not much. 10 GB of Mail Storage, No Account Expiration, No advertisements and File attachments up to 20 MB.

I originally purchased it for POP3, which is now part of the free hotmail.

mynetx: True—Good coup with Wave 3. Liked it?

Dane: Wave 3 is amazing. Another fine performance from the Windows Live Team.

mynetx: When Messenger is one of the two Windows Live products you rely on, I’m sure you’ve got a breaking tip for an “aha” effect. Give me a tip you consider precious.

Dane: I don’t really have a tip as much as a suggestion. Never use Windows Live Messenger without its proper counterpart, Messenger Plus! Live.

mynetx: Why?

Dane: In my opinion, Windows Live Messenger is naked without Messenger Plus! Live cause the immense amount of useful features the Messenger Plus! Live software offers. My favorite features added by the Plus! Live software but not built into Messenger include Tabbed Conversations, Quick Text Recall, and Boss Protect Mode.

mynetx: Talking about Messenger features—what is the thing you’d love most to be added to Messenger?

Dane: Native Tabbed Chatting.

mynetx: Do you think this feature will be added in Windows Live Wave 4?

Dane: I do not. I feel like this is a feature Microsoft doesn’t want to touch as of yet.

mynetx: But why?

Dane: It would require another interface adjustment, rather large, and I don’t think Wave 4 will change the interface massively this time around to prevent confusion from users.

mynetx: And finally, what’s the Live-related project you’re currently working on?

Dane: I’m continuing my work on WLMStatus Premium, which uses Messenger Plus! Live and Windows Live Messenger to deliver status information in image form to users’ websites. I’m also working on another project, but I cannot discuss that at this time.

mynetx: Any hint? (A)

Dane: Haha, nope, sorry

mynetx: Fine, then. Anyways, I found it great that you took your time to discuss your relation to Windows Live. Windows Live and You—what would your subtitle for this interview be?

Dane: “From The Beginning.” And Thank you for interviewing me.

Hotmail unterstützt POP und SMTP schon seit einiger Zeit für Hotmail Plus-Nutzer, doch die Nachfrage nach einer allgemeinen Verfügbarkeit von Hotmail-POP-Zugriff war hoch, besonders mit GMail im Hintergrund, das all dies kostenlos anbietet.

Ist es schon für mich verfügbar?

POP mit Hotmail ist noch nicht auf der ganzen Welt verfügbar. Das Windows Live-Team schreibt:

Wir freuen uns anzukündigen, dass die POP3-Technologie nun für Hotmail-Nutzer in Großbritannien, Kanada, Australien, Frankreich, Japan, Spanien, Deutschland, Italien und in den Niederlanden verfügbar ist. Falls du dein Land oder deine Region nicht in dieser Liste siehst, nicht traurig sein, wir machen POP3 in weiteren Teilen der Welt später dieses Jahr verfügbar.

Wie aktiviere ich POP-Zugriff auf Hotmail in meinem E-Mail-Programm?

Das hängt von deinem E-Mail-Programm ab. Ich zeige dir das Beispiel von Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, aber andere Programme sind ähnlich.

1. Klicke auf „Extras“, „Kontoeinstellungen…“.
2. Auf dem Tab „E-Mail“ klicke auf „Neu…“.
3. Wenn du nach „E-Mail-Dienst auswählen“ gefragt wirst, wähle „Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP oder HTTP“, und klicke auf „Weiter“.
4. Aktiviere das Kontrollkästchen „Servereinstellungen oder zusätzliche Servertypen manuell konfigurieren“, und klicke auf „Weiter“.
5. Wähle jetzt „Internet-E-Mail“ und klicke auf „Weiter“.
6. Im Bereich „Benutzerinformationen“ gib deinen Namen und deine Hotmail-Adresse ein.
7. Im Bereich „Serverinformationen“ wähle „POP3“ als „Kontotyp“, gib „pop3.live.com“ als „Posteingangsserver“ und „smtp.live.com“ als „Postausgangsserver“ an.
8. „Anmeldeinformationen“ sind deine Hotmail-Adresse (inklusive @live.de oder @hotmail.de), zusammen mit deinem Kennwort.
9. Nun klicke auf die Schaltfäche „Weitere Einstellungen“, und wechsle zum Tab „Postausgangsserver“.
10. Aktiviere das Kontrollkästchen „Der Postausgangsserver (SMTP) erfordert Authentifizierung“.
11. Auf dem Tab „Erweitert“ bei „Posteingangsserver (POP3)“ aktiviere das Kontrollkästchen „Server erfordert eine verschlüsselte Verbindung (SSL)“.
12. Bei „Postausgangsserver (SMTP)“, öffne die Auswahlliste „Verwenden Sie den folgenden verschlüsselten Verbindungstyp“, und wähle „TLS“.
13. Nun klicke auf „OK“, „Weiter“ und „Fertig stellen“. Du bist fertig!

Seid sicher dass ich euch benachrichtigen werde, sobald POP über Hotmail überall verfügbar ist, auch in den USA.