If you keep up with this blog, you know that the Windows Live Mail team prides itself in listening very closely to our users: We read every comment on this blog; we read every piece of feedback you send us through the feedback links in the product; we even read many of the posts you guys write on your own blogs to find in-depth reviews.
 
Well, we’ve rolled up a lot of your comments into the latest version of Windows Live Mail, M8. From what we’ve heard about M8 from our users, we’re ready to take the next step: We’re happy to announce that we’ve launched Windows Live Mail in the Netherlands! Netherlands users check it out at mail.live.nl.
 
This is a preview that will help us effectively roll out to additional markets in the coming months. With this launch, we’re also introducing the first of many Windows Live domains: @live.nl. This domain is reserved for users in the Netherlands, just as most other Windows Live domains will be reserved for users in their associated countries.
 
Why the Netherlands? Well, the Netherlands is a prime location for the preview because of the local popularity of Hotmail, the very product that Windows Live Mail is a successor to. In fact, one in three people in the Netherlands has a Hotmail account! We will be using this experience to test some new scenarios, like those surrounding Windows Live IDs , as well as to go deeper into customer feedback. We will then incorporate and make improvements based on this feedback before launching in additional markets in the coming months.
 
What This Means For The Netherlands
If you live in the Netherlands, you can now:
 
  • Convert your existing Hotmail ID from the Hotmail experience to the Windows Live Mail experience
    • Your e-mail address will stay the same, but you will start using Windows Live Mail.
    • Your existing mail and contacts will follow you.
  • Create a new Windows Live ID (@live.nl) to use with Windows Live Mail
    • These @live.nl accounts are new accounts, separate from your existing Hotmail account. This means that mail and contacts in your existing Hotmail address will not follow you at this time.
    • However, we’re working hard to support the migration of your existing Hotmail account to an @live.nl account. That’s coming soon!
The Continuing Beta
In the mean time, the bulk of the team is still working on adding features and improving performance for M9. Don’t worry: these improvements will be made available to both beta users outside the Netherlands, as well as to those in the Netherlands.
 
Overall, whether you’re using the beta or the preview launch of Windows Live Mail, it will continue to be the free e-mail service that we’ve built from the ground up with your feedback. It will still allow you to get your mail anytime, anywhere, in the way you want it – via the web, a mobile phone, or a desktop client. And, it will continue to grow in its integration with other Windows Live services like Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Spaces, and Live.com to help you do your thing. As you’ve seen, we’re already having fun with more improvements!
 
Benjamin Poon
Windows Live Mail Program Manager

mail beta

November 9, 2006

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