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Hotmail development team on Reddit

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Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#31

Post by travisp »

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…

Not that it makes it better, but I'll point out that Yahoo is now deleting inactive email accounts as well.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#32

Post by benologist »

cryptoz wrote: post #11
benologist wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 "plea…

What's a reasonable amount of time to assume a user has left and isn't coming back? Why should they hold data forever when for whatever reason it looks like you've abandoned it?

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#33

Post by Locke1689 »

dstein wrote: post #20

The condescending attitude Microsoft has for users and developers can also be seen in their responses to Reddit's Q&A with the IE9 team: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/dk3s0/the_ie9_te...

Yeah, when I was at Microsoft we were really out to get the users and the developers. Are you fucking serious? I expect it at Reddit but not here.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#34

Post by ergo98 »

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.

Not sure about this. Hotmail accounts are like Facebook connect accounts, and I use mine for xbox live, MSN messenger, among other Microsoft services. Yet I haven't used Hotmail in years, and when I did I'd always get the "we deleted everything so now you're fresh again" setup notice.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#35

Post by Locke1689 »

cryptoz wrote: post #16
GavinB wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pro…

Yup, I think user accounts are recycled. It's got its benefits and its downsides. I think it will be interesting to see 80 years from now. I guess non-recycled usernames will just get more esoteric?

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#36

Post by jey »

Locke1689 wrote: post #33
dstein wrote: post #20

The condescending attitude Microsoft has for users and developers can also be seen in their responses to Reddit's Q&A with the IE9 team: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/dk3s0/the_ie9_te...

Yeah, when I was at Microsoft we were really out to get the users and the developers. Are you fucking serious? I expect it at Reddit but not here.

It's not a conscious decision to be hostile, just an effect of Microsoft's cultural norms and attitudes.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#37

Post by danieldon »

Osmose wrote: post #14
GavinB wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

According to the docs and the developer comments they do get deleted. Presumably using the account with xbox live and other services is what's keeping it active, even if you don't log into hotmail directly.

I've also already experienced both situations. When the @live.com accounts became available I registered my name, never used it, eventually forgot to keep logging in to keep it active and it got deleted. Meanwhile, the account I use for xbox live stayed active even though I hadn't logged in to hotmail in at least 2 years until a couple weeks ago.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#38

Post by ars »

benologist wrote: post #32
cryptoz wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 "plea…

What's a reasonable amount of time to assume a user has left and isn't coming back? Why should they hold data forever when for whatever reason it looks like you've abandoned it?

1 Year.

There are many people who make event specific emails addresses. These events are annual, so they use the email yearly.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#39

Post by Locke1689 »

oogali wrote: post #25
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 dunno what Hotmail is based on, but Microsoft Exchange slows down with the increasing number of items in your inbox, not necessarily message size. Maybe they're using the same message store?

No, it's a lot more complicated than that. Actually, what you're suggesting just doesn't scale.

Re: Hotmail development team on Reddit

#40

Post by rbanffy »

oogali wrote: post #25
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 dunno what Hotmail is based on, but Microsoft Exchange slows down with the increasing number of items in your inbox, not necessarily message size. Maybe they're using the same message store?

A client that uses Exchange has to limit internal mail-boxes to 100 megs. If you want backups, move messages to a .pst and copy it to a network share...

I think that reliance on Exchange is a huge mistake.

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