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Hotmail development team on Reddit

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Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#11

Post by cryptoz »

benologist wrote: post #7
cryptoz wrote: post #3

I found the much more insulting thing on that thread was the Hotmail developers' insistence that user's emails should be deleted after 270 days of inactivity. This point was brought up many times (well, about the old 30-day or 90-day limits), and all the devs said was "we fixed that! it used to be 30, now it's 270". That is so incredibly insulting. If you go help in an aid program in Africa for a while, you could com…

There's internet, even in Africa! If you completely disconnect in this day and age for 9 months you're probably dead.

That's really not the point, though. Microsoft wrote code that will intentionally delete your email. It doesn't matter how unlikely that is or how bizarre the scenario is, that fact means I'll never use the service or recommend it to anyone. What if there's a bug in that code? Why risk writing code that deletes emails left and right? What's the point?

The Devs said "we’d love your feedback", and when people say "please don't ever delete my email", the response is basically "too bad, you have 270 days". It's insulting.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#12

Post by viraptor »

benologist wrote: post #7
cryptoz wrote: post #3

I found the much more insulting thing on that thread was the Hotmail developers' insistence that user's emails should be deleted after 270 days of inactivity. This point was brought up many times (well, about the old 30-day or 90-day limits), and all the devs said was "we fixed that! it used to be 30, now it's 270". That is so incredibly insulting. If you go help in an aid program in Africa for a while, you could com…

There's internet, even in Africa! If you completely disconnect in this day and age for 9 months you're probably dead.

I'm pretty sure you can in most places that are not extremely remote. However I disagree about the "probably dead" comment. Only so many people are connected every day to check their emails. I know many who think once a month or so - "I haven't checked my email for a while". Not all people feel a need to carry a 3g-enabled phone with them, or do silly stuff like have an instant messanger...

I expect many people to be able to completely ignore their email for a year simply because they have nothing to send and then come back to it. Standard person != tech freak.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#14

Post by Osmose »

GavinB wrote: post #9
cryptoz wrote: post #3

I found the much more insulting thing on that thread was the Hotmail developers' insistence that user's emails should be deleted after 270 days of inactivity. This point was brought up many times (well, about the old 30-day or 90-day limits), and all the devs said was "we fixed that! it used to be 30, now it's 270". That is so incredibly insulting. If you go help in an aid program in Africa for a while, you could com…

I basically agree with you, but I'm guessing that the important thing isn't saving disk space, but freeing up usernames.

Don't you get a Live account when you sign up for Hotmail? Those don't get deleted after 270 days; I've used my Live account (originally a Hotmail account) for Xbox Live and other services without logging into Hotmail for years now.

So I doubt it's for usernames.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#15

Post by larrik »

steverb wrote: post #2

The poster is not questioning the need for open standards, they are questioning the user's need to have that particular standard implemented in hotmail. Which is not necessarily a bad thing to do IMO.

I agree that the headline is a bit over the top.

When I saw that they mentioned ActiveSync, all I could think of was "I'd have to plug my phone into my computer to get email???" I didn't know that's what they call their push service now.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#16

Post by cryptoz »

GavinB wrote: post #9
cryptoz wrote: post #3

I found the much more insulting thing on that thread was the Hotmail developers' insistence that user's emails should be deleted after 270 days of inactivity. This point was brought up many times (well, about the old 30-day or 90-day limits), and all the devs said was "we fixed that! it used to be 30, now it's 270". That is so incredibly insulting. If you go help in an aid program in Africa for a while, you could com…

I basically agree with you, but I'm guessing that the important thing isn't saving disk space, but freeing up usernames.

> but freeing up usernames.

WHAT?! They do that? That's SO dangerous, and perhaps what made me lose a domain name three years ago! I registered a domain in 2001 with my hotmail account, and noticed in 2006 that the registration had changed to another person in Ontaio, Canada. My only guess as to how they did that (after much investigation) was that they must have accessed my hotmail account, which was dormant for probably three years (but was the account I used with my registrar). I couldn't figure out how they got into my email, and I eventually gave up the fight and got a new domain name. Now I'm waiting out the expiration on the first one, hoping I can get it back.

Do they ACTUALLY recycle usernames? Is THAT how I lost my domain name?! Someone just registered my old hotmail account back, and then probably "lost password" to the account? Fuck that makes me so mad. There's no way MS does this...does anyone know?

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#17

Post by viraptor »

cshenoy wrote: post #10

From the Hotmail team: "Really quickly, want to address the IMAP questions that have come up. We haven't implemented imap since based on the user feedback and usage data, there isn't a large enough need when you look at the other protocols we provide. for mobile - we believe activesync is the best story. it gives you mail, calendar, and contacts. there is big adoption of the protocol here with android, iphone, and wi…

User base which knows better will never become their user base, until their strategy changes. This also creates their market view.

Now, which one is the chicken and which one is the egg?

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#18

Post by eitland »

GavinB wrote: post #9
cryptoz wrote: post #3

I found the much more insulting thing on that thread was the Hotmail developers' insistence that user's emails should be deleted after 270 days of inactivity. This point was brought up many times (well, about the old 30-day or 90-day limits), and all the devs said was "we fixed that! it used to be 30, now it's 270". That is so incredibly insulting. If you go help in an aid program in Africa for a while, you could com…

I basically agree with you, but I'm guessing that the important thing isn't saving disk space, but freeing up usernames.

Wrong. My first username (that I'm pretty sure no one else has taken) was blocked for inactivity 10 years ago and never became available again.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#19

Post by larrik »

cshenoy wrote: post #10

From the Hotmail team: "Really quickly, want to address the IMAP questions that have come up. We haven't implemented imap since based on the user feedback and usage data, there isn't a large enough need when you look at the other protocols we provide. for mobile - we believe activesync is the best story. it gives you mail, calendar, and contacts. there is big adoption of the protocol here with android, iphone, and wi…

As a consultant, I ran into a LOT of people who preferred POP3 on their phones and non-main devices. They just wanted to have as little email on their phone as possible (which also gives you decent security if the phone is lost).

Combine this with the fact that Outlook is just terrible with IMAP, and I didn't find too many regular users who liked it.

Personally, I wouldn't use anything else, of course.

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