It originates from Hotmail, originally founded by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia and launched in 1996. It was one of the first free webmail services. Hotmail was acquired in 1997 by Microsoft. HOTMAIL.CM is a mistyping of hotmail.com

The current version was officially announced on November 1, 2005 as an update to Microsoft's existing MSNHotmail.com service. After a period of beta testing, it was officially released to new and existing users in The Netherlands on November 9, 2006 as a pilot market. The world wide release was on May 7, 2007, and roll-out to all existing users was completed in October 2007.

It features 5 GB of storage, patented security measures, Ajax technology, and integration with Windows Live Messenger, Spaces, Calendar and Contacts. It has over 260 million users worldwide and is available in 35 different languages.

Like other major webmail services, Hotmail uses Ajax programming techniques and supports the most popular internet browsers (Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox). Some of its features include keyboard controls giving the ability to navigate around the page without using the mouse, advanced message search including structured query syntax such as "from:ebay", message filters, folder-based organization of messages, auto-completion of contact addresses when composing, contact grouping, importing and exporting of contacts as CSV files, rich text formatting, rich text signatures, spam filtering and virus scanning, support for multiple addresses, and different language versions. POP3 access, although not directly available through Hotmail, can be accessed via Windows Live Mail, and Microsoft Outlook with Outlook Connector.

Users can choose from two different versions of Hotmail. The "Classic" version keeps the interface and layout based on MSN Hotmail, while still benefitting from the speed of Ajax technology. The "Full" version employs a more advanced user interface styled on that of Microsoft Outlook, with a reading pane and drag-and-drop capability. All other features are available in both versions.

MSNHotmail.com

MSNHotmail was part of the MSN brand of services before the new version was released with the Windows Live branding. The old MSN Hotmail interface was accessible by only users who signed up for Hotmail accounts before the Windows Live Hotmail release date and had not chosen to update to the new Windows Live Hotmail. Users are now forced to upgrade to the new version.

Microsoft's spam filter is known to discard legitimate emails without warning the receiving user. These emails are acknowledged to the sending user as having been successfully delivered, however they will not appear on the receiver's inbox or junk mail-folder. Mainly affecting small websites' registration procedures, this issue has prompted some sites to ban Microsoft emails altogether.

Hotmail is often criticized for allowing only paying subscribers to access WebDAV, which allows e-mails to be downloaded locally via a desktop application such as Microsoft Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird (With the WebMail Extension). Hotmail was originally available with WebDAV to all, but the service has been revoked from new free users since 2004. If your Hotmail account is older than 2004, it is still possible for you to access your Hotmail account outside of an internet browser for free with the above-mentioned programs using WebDAV.

If you have a newer account you will have to pay for a premium subscription unless you have Microsoft Office Outlook Connector which is available for free, but only to those who have purchased Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007. One may access e-mail messages and contacts in any Hotmail account using Microsoft Office Outlook Connector for free, though access of calendar, tasks and notes requires a premium subscription in addition to the original cost of the Outlook product.

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