Microsoft insists Hotmail redesign hasn't left users out in the cold
Put up and shut up
Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything
Microsoft has told The Register that its Hotmail email service is running “normally” today and that the firm is working “to remedy the minor issues faced by some of our users”.
MS has also apparently deleted over 1,500 comments from its Windows Live blog since we told a perplexed company spokesman about the grumbles being posted on its site yesterday.
Many unhappy Hotmail users have complained about the new interface introduced by Microsoft a few weeks ago, and by late Tuesday afternoon nearly 2,000 people had left angry comments about what some have described as a “pathetic” revamp to the free email service.
As of this morning there are only 341 comments on the blog. Microsoft gave us this canned statement about the redesign cockup:
"We're actively investigating the issues noted by our customers and are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as rapidly as possible.
"We appreciate the feedback from our customers to move the product forward. We continually look for ways to give our users a great experience and hope they will find value in the new features we've released".
Redmond, which claims to have over 280 million Hotmail customers, insisted that, despite the complaints, the launch is “going well”.
It also characteristically refused to reveal how many people had been affected by the problems we have reported with the new interface that include distorted views and missing folders in Hotmail.
On the redesign itself Microsoft told us:
“Every time we improve a product, it takes customers some time to adjust to the changes. We believe that customers will be happy with the improvements in Hotmail once they become accustomed to the new look.”
But there's still plenty of people who disagree.
"These are NOT solutions to the many problems I have with 'New Coke Hotmail'. I am not downloading new software just to get Hotmail working again. I want it to work again on my web browser, like it did for the past ten years before you started messing with it," wrote Hotmail user Tim01.
"Bring back Classic, or make it so that everything that worked about Classic still works (ie it fully supports every browser that Classic did, you can open emails in their own windows again, no Java involved, etc)." ®
COMMENTS
MS has the best (worst) PR ever
Haha, I love it how they downplay severe bugs as being simply "the pains of migration to the new system". Yeah, um, a bug is a bug, and it's YOUR fault, jackasses. Just admit you fail at programming.
I don't use the online interface
I stopped using Hotmail online last summer. I access it from MS Outlook and have a consistent experience no matter what MS does. That's how I use Hotmail.
As for the new interface, I prefer the old one, but Outlook works for me. I don't need to worry about what MS does or doesn't do with Hotmail.
Bullsh*t
A pal of mine lost his Hotmail account because the "improved" system (*not* chosen by him) let him think he'd logged in when he hadn't --> a few weeks later --> expired,
That's "out in the cold" in his book (and mine).
Meanwhile I, as a Yahoo! User!, still experience not entirely irrational fear every time I see threats of my lot merging with this shower ...
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