Redmond (WA) - For the first time, Microsoft has passed Google in the race for free e-mail capacity, lifting its storage limit for Windows Live Hotmail to 5 GB.

The new capacity will be more than double the previous amount of storage offered by Hotmail.  When Windows Live Hotmail launched earlier this year, it offered users two gigabytes of e-mail space.

Gmail, which has literally been increasing user e-mail storage every day for over a year, currently offers around 2.8 GB of free storage.

When Gmail debuted in 2004 with one gigabyte of free storage, Microsoft's free Hotmail service only offered two megabytes, a meager 0.2% of Google's then-unheard-of storage space.

Intense competition forced Microsoft to step up its game and continue increasing e-mail capacity.  In May, it launched a re-branded version of its service titled "Windows Live Hotmail", with two gigabytes of free storage.  It was the first major response to Gmail's dwarfing level of capacity.  However, many legacy users found their entire account deleted by not switching over to the new Hotmail in time.

Microsoft also offers connectivity between Hotmail and its other applications like Outlook, and an enhanced e-mail security applet for users to see immediately if any messages post a serious risk to their computer.

Both Google and Microsoft offer premium online storage servers as well.  Google Account users can sign up for a variety of storage plans, beginning at $20/year for 6 GB, while Microsoft offers 10 GB for around $15/year.

yahoo is umlimited...

Aug 14, 2007 15:11     

yahoo is umlimited
HanZ report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

no brainer!

Aug 14, 2007 15:51     

guess im going with google's premium, cause i don't thinks microsoft would like it too much if i started storing cracked OS's of their on their servers....
qwertyjuan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Yahoo mail offers infinite storage capacity, so the...

Aug 14, 2007 16:33     

Yahoo mail offers infinite storage capacity, so the 2.8 GB of gmail and this new 5GB of hotmail doesn't impress me at all.
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deleted accounts

Aug 14, 2007 16:35     

I still haven't switch to windows live hotmail and my account is still function just fine. I don't see why Microsoft would delete peoples accounts if they didn't switch. After all by not switching they don't have to provide any of the new features and they wouldn't have to up there storage. So that just doesn't make sense.
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Deleted Accounts

Aug 14, 2007 17:51     

The ONLY time I never heard of Microsoft deleting accounts if they have been inactive for 90 days. I've been using Hotmail for years and I used to have two other accounts which got deleted due to lack of use. No biggie for me and makes sense for Microsoft to keep their database from becoming a huge bloatware. Darkk
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Switching....

Aug 14, 2007 19:08     

I think I am switching from Google. What used to be a great company, with outstanding moral guidance, has been corrupted by the man. Google seems to be more and more vindictive, like a school child. I don't trust them anymore.
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upload file

Aug 14, 2007 21:42     

I am still stuck with yahoo mail. its gave me 10mb upload file and unlimited storage space.
khmerISP report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Yeah. Yahoo don't even have a mailbox counter.

Aug 15, 2007 00:37     

As for the upload limit, maybe they ought to do something about it.. ;)
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Unlimited Yahoo Email Accounts

Aug 15, 2007 02:09     

I use Yahoo email. I didn't know they had unlimited space until today. It doesn't really matter though. I only use Yahoo email to sign up for forums and such. My Yahoo email account is really a repository for junk emails of which this account gets thousands. Yahoo email could improve on their junk mail detection. A lof junk emailers like to forward date their emails by years, if not decades. It should be easy to detect them. I constantly mark these as junk yet Yahoo keeps placing them in my Inbox. Why doesn't Yahoo place them in my Bulk folder?

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Nice

Aug 15, 2007 04:51     

Oh! That is a great news.
S. M. Mehdi Akram report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Bob

Aug 15, 2007 08:47     

Google is still the best since it threads everything for you. It is also the easiest and fastest to use.
Bob report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Still interesting?

Aug 16, 2007 07:21     

Is storage limit really still important to web based email services? Klas from MyWebDesktop.net
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monster

Aug 17, 2007 06:28     

its only a matter of time until google becomes as bad as and maybe even worse than MS on at least two levels. 1. they are becoming monopolistic 2. they are snooping into your personal life. just read recent google articles. they are tracking your every move and to make matters worse they are now in bed with Dell. they've added google software to dell computers that (from what i've read) you CANNOT uninstall except for a rebuild. AOL did the same thing a few years ago and they got their pants sued off. they went from America online to America OFFLINE.

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dell and google

Aug 22, 2007 01:48     

...well, I don't know about a total rebuild or any super malignant google software, but I work with Dells every day at our repair shop and I find it pretty easy just to say "I don't accept your EULA" and then it makes itself go away :)
Zach report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Why?

Sep 07, 2007 13:02     

Why so much space? Is this a ploy to get eveyone's private information online? Big Brother?
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