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53 Comments
- commiecat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25@Svo - Did you read the part about how he went on to sell it to Microsoft for $400M? Prior to the sale, it was the best (and only, AFAIK) web-based email site around. RTFA.
I signed up in like '96 and have had my Hotmail account since - and it still doesn't suck that bad if you know how to use filters. I certainly don't see Digg posts saying "Hotmail down?" like I do with "GMail down?".
Anyways, I wish him well. Hotmail was started on FreeBSD and continued to operated on the BSD platform for quite a while even after MS bought it. For that he gets my Digg. :)
-commiecat - SvobodaIT, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19I did read that part, I am just being a moron. My bad.
- Jams, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Check out the old Hotmail: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://hotmail.com
- rodball, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I'm not sure what the article has to say about blogging, if anything:
"Blogeverywhere’s toolbar will download unread e-mail messages and store them in a local cache while a first message is being read."
So what has that got to do with blogging? How are blogs his "neglected stepchild?" - dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Just what we need... another toolbar. Mr. Bhatia, I'm going to give you this advice: You did well. Get out now, while you still can.
- thussy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Hotmail is definitely slower than GMail. That's not debateable. It also holds no real useful features. Gmail is great, because it's fast, great storage capabilities, and a great search function. Also the spam filter works way better in my Gmail. But hence that is not the point, the point is Hotmail was an amazing system when it first came out as it offered free email in a time where very few places did, and was feature rich for the time.
This guy has a proven track record of success, so lets see what he comes up with. Doesn't sound like much though. - Hexxagonal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My interest factor is about a 0. Blogging tools are really rather great right now, and just because he had one golden egg I don't see him getting another.
- maldrax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Why does this get press? I mean the guy had a great idea (Give away e-mail accounts) and got very rich. Good for him.
But lets face facts. He is a one hit wonder, (as almost all of the dot com millionaires are) - kibblesnbitz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Regardless if Hotmail WAS the best around I think it's a poor email system today. And I've had Hotmail go down many times since I've started using it (which was in the late 90's). It's not about the filters being bad it's about the whole intuitivity of the system. There's a lot of bugs. Windows Live Mail looks awesome though and I'm signed up for the Beta for that.
- galfridus73, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Don't get HoTMaiL mixed up with MSN Hotmail, guys. Nothing is the same anymore but the domain name. Bhatia had a great service there and, rightfully so, sold it at a good profit. We can't blame him for the poor implementation we see from MSN nowadays.
Also interesting (from TFA): "Mr Bhatia will be in India to announce the global launch of blogeverywhere.com. Users of the website will be able to download a toolbar that allows them to write and publish their own blogs, while also giving Hotmail users faster access to their messages."
Do you think he's aiming for MS to buy this system from him, too? - Alex3917, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I get a more spam in my hotmail inbox every day with their spam filters turned on than I do through my gmail in an entire month.
- vyoming, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Hotmail sucks bigtime. Use it on a 56K modem and u'll see what I mean.
Gmail rocks on a 56K link. - manonmars, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Hotmail was an invovation in web email at that time. Blogs, sorry tooooo laaaateeeee!
- dpl_, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I guess this is nitpicking, but is Hotmail really an invention?
- vinterstille, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did the article really say "internet-based email".. lol
- eclip5e, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Exactly, what does this have to do with blogging besides using the word "blog" in the name?
Are they using the word "blog" just because its catchy, and a buzzword?
Like most overhyped buzzwords, eventually they become over used, and eventually meaningless. - gekkokid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3blogs are old, why are people trying to get rich of it still by repackaging the same idea
- gimmegimmenow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It seems those people from the dot com days, and who really aren't as tech savy, are the ones trying to push blogs the hardest since they long for the days where they could work in something they pretend they know what they're doing. Take for example that blogger, who is regurgitating a rumour about firefox making millions from google search, he has a web company that sells blogs! haha
http://weblogs.about.com/od/personalblogs/p/calacanis.htm
These people should really just shut up, really get a tech background or a related field to their topics and then they should talk if it's actually real news and important. - antoniojvr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I remember having HoTMaiL pre-msn days. I really liked it. Once MSN bought it, I went to yahoo, and eventually to GMail. I look forward to see what Sabeer has in mind for blogs.
- cpawl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I set up a hotmail account in 1998 to use strictly for as a SPAM collector, that's about all it is good for. Here's a tip - instead of wasting 5M to help 250M india online users cache email and blog from a toolbar (not a new concept by the way) why not invest money to get a nation with so many users high speed access in the first place.
I predict another flop. - sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So now he's making... a toolbar? wow.
- dargon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I can't remember if HoTMaiL was the first or not, it was just one of the more successful. Right around that time there was also rocketmail, and mailcity, along with a few sites that were email reflectors, get an address and mail sent to that address gets reflected to your actual address.
- Eraser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2kevinfoster... and that is exactly why you are not a multi-millionaire.
- dognose, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2for 5M, I would think they would hire someone who could speak english to write the pages.
"Add a comment to the any web page." - ronintetsuro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"instead of wasting 5M to help 250M india online users cache email and blog from a toolbar (not a new concept by the way) why not invest money to get a nation with so many users high speed access in the first place."
I totally agree, but the money is in playing to the suits of rich American investors, i.e. ad firms that have money coming out of their ears.
Of course, if this guys really was a genius, he'd see that same oppertunity in what you're suggensting, and infinitely more ROIC. God, what I wouldn't do with a sizeable startup loan and a phone. - Crazy_8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1*sigh*
I really can not understand how everyones Hotmail spam filters don't work. Mine has been working fine for years. I never get any spam in my Hotmail inbox. And even in the actual "Spam" box I have only ever gotten a handfull of them since I signed up for my Hotmail in 2001. (5..maybe 8)
heh...now yahoo, that was a mess. Signed up for it and received 20 spam e-mail in under a week. I shut that account down after that.
Only things I use now are Hotmail and Gmail. I dumped Yahoo, the spam filters from them were almost worthless. - eclip5e, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you read the article, you might be thinking: "What does this have to do with blogging?"
Let me summarize: Have you used hoodwink.d or the Firefox MyStickies plugin? Then this is what it is, with a corporate backing. - Crazy_8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thats strange. I've had my hotmail account since 2001 and it have gotten about 5 spam e-mails since then.
But then again, I NEVER post it anywhere. I put my gmail account on fourm profiles and such. (And if the option is there, I set it for showing only to registered members, not everyone.) Now I get a minimum of 10 spams a day in my gmail. :(
I don't think it matters what the service is, just posting your e-mail on the internet, regardless of what service it is, will get you spamed big time. - fani, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I had a HoTMail account before it got bought by MS.
I liked it then. It was very nice. Now, I use Yahoo! Mail only. Yahoo mail is best suited for my needs.
No spam in Inbox. Fast enough and works very well.
Hotmail unfortunately sucks now. MS didn't do a good job with it.
I find that most people stick with one these days as its easier and they all have their prefs. I have it as Yahoo Mail. - Noelix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2He's just NOW focusing on web logs? Dude, welcome to 2005. Maybe in a few years he'll start thinking about turning his attention towards an online video download service.
- sabit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Reminds me of the days, when it was actually usable without all the MSN crap. Now, I use it for subscription address.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3He comes from the same city as I hail from.. Go Bangalore...
http://xtaur.us - ronintetsuro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1And besides, good for this guy. It's nice to see a dev that still gives a crap about his project after he's sold it.
Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying it's nice to see in the public sector.
*checks his gmail* - curiousstranger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1USA.NET (NetAddress) was also offering free web-based email services in 1996.
- Sushubh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i would agree. he is late this time too. his arzoo flopped big time and this would go the same way.
- throwaway18, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0>Prior to the sale, it was the best (and only, AFAIK) web-based email site around.
If I remember correctly USA.net was offering free webmail service in 1997 before the hotmail
buyout. Archive.org dosn't have copied of the webpage back that far but a copy from 1998
mentioning their webmail service says copyright 1996. - wrinkles, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Gee, wonder if I'll hate the weblog app as much as I hated Hotmail. Of course I didn't know hotmail before MS got its paws on it.
- jo42, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Blog: Something you leave in the toilet bowl after a very big meal...
- miaow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0if he thought up webmail first, then you can say he invented it. i suspect its more a case of loads of people thought of it and he captured the market first.
i notice his 2nd venture was a flop. on the internet, its often more to do with luck than anything. google probably became popular cos of its clean hoome page when we were all on dial up, as well as the notion(?) it was a better search engine and the layout was easier to read. the name was also a clincher probably.
the other problem is that competitiors can likely easily enter the same market and crush you, as the latecomers microsoft did to netscape. at the moment google can likely crush anyone with their brand-name and cash. doesnt mean they will be the best or even average in any market they get involved in. Beta was better video but VHS won out. - Cerberus047, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1It will when microsoft buys it out and tries to "fix it"
- duniyadnd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I thought he only did one thing successfully and the rest of his projects flopped. Ah well, same happened with Steve Jobs, but it just takes one, or two projects to make it big.
- lifesun1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0It was a great app for about five seconds. Would have been nice if Microsoft would have acutally upgraded it in the last five years.
- nhansen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Have you been to www.blogeverywhere.com ? That orange is making me queasy :| For 5m you think they would have sprung for some decent icons and a better color scheme...IMO
- spect3r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I remember hoTMmail - the original before it was integrated with MSN services... I quite liked it :)
But he's a multi millionaire now.. why on earth is he still working! Personally, I would be on a beach somewhere:) - cogent_bob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1If you have to ask, then I guess I need to go and patent it and sue MicroSoft.
- echimu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Excellent info, I was about to post-same info :)
- nihilator, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3intuitivity...heh
- tomkin, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Dude, you are a die-hard alegist. Hotmail has sucked for years. It takes like 40 years for the compose message box to come up on a T3 connection.
- galfridus73, on 10/12/2007, -31/+26Spell it correctly: before MS bought it, it was HoTMaiL. Get it? Those of us who had accounts before MS were very, very happy with the system (which, by the way, was run on Solaris boxes until MS began to really integrate the whole thing into MSN).
Not to sound snarky, but don't comment about something you have no experience with unless you say so up front. - jav1231, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1*YAWN*.....wha?
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