Hotmail has been the de facto choice for email accounts since… god knows when. While my first email address wasn’t through Hotmail (it was through go.com YEARS ago) many of my friends had an email address through hotmail to use the infamously infused IM client MSN Messenger. It seems as if the goliath of web based email is severely losing traction and losing it fast. With such a strong brand name how could this of possibly happened?

Identity Crisis

I don’t know a single person outside of the tech world who knows what the hell Windows Live IS, and honestly I had no idea for a while there also. It is basically an umbrella name for multiple products and while this is great in theory (you’re creating constant brand recgonition) the way Microsoft went about this was horrid.

When people signed up for a new account via hotmail.com they thought they were getting a hotmail address, rather they were getting a live address which I have first hand experience confused people beyond belief. Redirecting people to a Live web address and simply stating they were signing up for a Live email instead of …

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