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Summary: Microsoft has created a lot of confusion with how it names its mail products. Add the transition from MSN to Windows Live branding and it gets worse.
You're confused? You and the rest of the world. And no, with another case brilliant naming, all four of those things are all quite different. I wish Microsoft would have learned from the mess that resulted from all the different names for something called messenger or the two unrelated email programs with the word Outlook in their name, but no. Here we are. Again. • Windows Mail is a mail program that's included with Windows Vista. It replaces Outlook Express which came with previous versions of Windows, and it has a pretty similar feature set. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that it really is Outlook Express but with another name and a few tweaks for Vista. I know of no way to get Windows Mail other than by installing Vista. Windows Live Mail is another, different, mail program. This one is still in Beta at this writing. Windows Live Mail confuses me for several reasons: it's also a replacement for Outlook Express, it's slightly more full featured than Windows Mail, and it's a free download that also works on Windows XP. Basically it does more than Windows Mail, above, so why does Windows Mail exist at all? I'm certainly at a loss to explain it. Anyway, as I said it is the replacement for Outlook Express. In fact, so much so that you can no longer even find an official download of Outlook Express (which was in the Internet Explorer download), but you can most certainly download Windows Live Mail. "... to purposely end up with such a confusing mess of
product names ... well, it's really unfortunate and leads to a lot of
confusion."
Windows Live Hotmail is unrelated to anything I've talked about so far. Windows Live Hotmail is Microsoft's free web-based email service. Visit http://mail.live.com and what you're really visiting is Windows Live Hotmail. It's designed to be accessed via the web, meaning no program is used or needed, and you can access it from any machine on the internet using just a web browser. And I'd be remiss if I didn't point out my concerns about relying on free email services. MSN Hotmail is nothing more, or less, than the previous version of Windows Live Hotmail. The confusion exists because the transition from MSN Hotmail to Windows Live Hotmail was done slowly over time. That means that for a while both were available at the same time. The upgrade from MSN Hotmail to Windows Live Hotmail appears to be mandatory (there's no going back), and at this writing I believe it's complete. • Those are the names. Unfortunately there are more issues beyond the naming that add to the confusion:
It's frustrating. I know naming products is difficult, I've been there. But to purposely end up with such a confusing mess of product names ... well, it's really unfortunate and leads to a lot of confusion. Related:
• Recent Comments
And there was a time when what is now called Windows Live Hotmail was called simply Windows Live Mail, but then they decided to rename Windows Live Mail (beta) to Windows Live Hotmail (beta). Now the service is out of beta, and the current Windows Live Mail is not the same as what they originally used the name for! Posted by: Eli Coten at December 22, 2007 10:13 AMI guess we are lucky that Microsoft hasn't tried to trademark the term "email". :-) Posted by: Elliot at December 23, 2007 02:29 AMTo split hairs even further Windows Live Hotmail is called exactly that on the log in page but when you arrive at your inbox page it says simply Windows Live. THanks for this article. I though I was in early stages of Alheimers. LOL don Posted by: don at December 24, 2007 05:24 PMI installed Windows XP sp2 and IE7. My Outlook Express ceased working so I took your suggestion and installed Windows Live Mail and Messenger to replace the Outlook Express. Looked great until I tried to send an email. It defaults to my hotmail address and won't allow me to send mail from my shawmail address. However, both hotmail and shawmail appear on the page and both are accepting incoming emails. Do you know how I can send shawmail from windows live mail? Thanks for your assistance....you are a great resource! Posted by: Lesley at January 7, 2008 05:17 PMhello, I was also at a confusing stand point on whether to use Mail of Live Mail as a default. In the end I decided to use live mail for some of the same reasons listed above. More options and etc. Posted by: Viront at March 20, 2008 11:05 AMWindows mail is sometime supported by antivirus (ex bitdender), but windows live mail (like windows live messenger) is not (except for the antivirus features offered within it by microsoft). This sucks big time. Posted by: Bob at March 29, 2008 02:49 PMWell, I tried windows live mail and it is good. But I prefer not use such mail programs as over a period of time I end up carrying a lot of unwanted mails. If you have easy Internet access, it is better to use hotmail/yahoo mail directly. I do not agree with Leo's worries of free email. They are free, get very less spam, are constantly improving as competition heats up. The theoretical possibility that they might freeze your account or something is highly improbable. Posted by: Jaykrishnan at June 12, 2008 03:09 PM-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- You don't see what I see. A constant stream of people having I used to believe as you do. Then I started getting Leo
iD8DBQFIUp4zCMEe9B/8oqERAuFbAJ9WKo9xSBAeyMpmKVmd9OyAXZ3gKACcCfZu how do you eliminate one or the other? shouldn't you just have one? i'm confused. Posted by: Shelley at June 22, 2008 07:20 PMPost a comment on "What's the difference between Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and MSN Hotmail?":
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