Windows Live Mail

Did anyone else get an invitation to be part of beta-testing for Windows Live Mail? In the email, Microsoft describes me as a 'Hotmail VIP', which I think is doubtful, seeing as I hardly use my hotmail address anymore. On the other hand, I have had it since 1997, so maybe I should be rewarded for sheer staying power. I think it more likely, however, that Microsoft just sent out thousands upon thousands of invitations, and just put in the part about 'Hotmail VIP' to make people feel special. I think it's unlikely however that an invitation for Live Mail will have quite the same cachet that a gmail invitation had back in the day...

Mostly because, well, on first glance you're not missing out on much if you didn't get an invitation. Sure, your hotmail storage is upped to 2GB, and the interface is impressive. But only in a shiny, rather useless kind of way. There are some nice features - you can drag and drop mail into folders or into the bin, and preview messages before you open them (something I would love in gmail). But the interface is really cramped, particularly on my laptop screen, and there's annoying quirks like an inability to select a whole group of messages at once (you have to click on each one individually while holding the control key).

Of course it's still in beta, and it looks like they're really anxious to get feedback etc. from users. It's certainly a step in the right direction for improving hotmail, which has decidedly languished the last few years. But it's not enough for me to give up my beloved gmail!