Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/08/12/hotmail_fixes_coming_to_a_browser_near_you_soon/
Microsoft: Hotmail fix coming soon to a browser near you
Hopes to wipe out upgrade gripes, just don't mention Chrome
Posted in Software, 12th August 2010 14:19 GMT
Microsoft is telling pissed-off Hotmail punters to be patient while it tries to fix the various glitches found in the recently upgraded service.
As we were first to report earlier this week, solutions offered by needled Microsoft support staff in the Hotmail forums included a novel suggestion that the company’s webmail might actually work better in Google’s Chrome browser.
The interwebs got a little bit exercised about that particular workaround, and as a result Microsoft has now plastered its troubled Hotmail forum with a yellow banner that reads:
“For customers experiencing issues with the new version of Hotmail, we are actively working to resolve the problems that have been reported.”
Microsoft said that its dev wonks were trying to solve all the cockups found in the new version of Hotmail, and added that those fixes “should be site wide by next week”.
In the meantime, it has once again listed several workaround options for its users, this time making zero mention of that pesky browser upstart, Chrome.
Some users have grumbled that they can’t see or compose emails since Microsoft upgraded the service. A temporary fix is to switch off the High Contrast display mode in Windows, Redmond reiterated.
It also pointed out – again – that older browsers, such as Safari 3 and Firefox 2.5, would cause Hotmail to stumble a bit, so an upgrade was probably the answer.
Others have griped about Hotmail spitting out scripting errors.
“The Windows Live team has identified a bug that is causing this issue. It seems to stem from running Messenger on the web in combination with a few other variables,” said Microsoft.
“They are working on releasing a fix as soon as possible, but until then, a good workaround is to try signing out of Messenger on the web (click your name in the upper-right of the page, and then click ‘Sign out of Messenger’ in the menu).”
That’s right POP3 fans – multi-tasking in Microsoft’s cloudy land can be troublesome.
Microsoft made a huge song-and-dance about its major Hotmail upgrade with its perplexing “New Busy” ad campaign to convince more people to sign up to a mail system which these days lags massively behind Google’s Gmail.
The fact that it was so vocal about “Wave 4” of Hotmail meant expectations were rightly high for the makeover. Sadly for many Hotmail users, the New Busy is apparently all about wasting precious time waiting for a message to actually load. ®