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Yahoo! Ships New Version of Web Email Service

Aug. 27, 2007 Paul Thurrott | Windows IT Pro

Yahoo! on Monday completed a major new version of its popular Web email service, Yahoo! Mail. The company has been working on the update for over a year, and says that it will be rolled out to all 250 million of its users in the next six weeks.

"We have always been focused on making it easy for people to connect to those who matter most to them, and during the beta testing period of the new Yahoo! Mail, we were able to incorporate a number of enhancements based on valuable feedback from our users," said Yahoo! vice president John Kremer. "Now, with the all-new Yahoo! Mail, we're creating a more social e-mail experience."

The new version of Yahoo! Mail faces a different competitive landscape than the one in which in the original Yahoo! Mail emerged in October 1997. Since then, Google's popular Gmail service has appeared and Yahoo!'s main competitor, Microsoft, has completely revamped its Hotmail service, now rebranded as Windows Live Hotmail.

The new Yahoo! Mail, however, is the most dramatic of the three, with a desktop email application-like user interface and a number of unique new features. Some of these features--like the ability to send cell phone-compatible SMS text messages--were not revealed until Monday. Yahoo! also differentiates its Web email service from Gmail and Hotmail by offering unlimited storage space for email messages.

Users who are accustomed to the old email interface, now called Yahoo! Mail Classic, can opt to continue using that interface if they find the new one too daunting. Both the new and Classic versions of Yahoo! Mail are available for free.
http://mail.yahoo.com

Discuss this Article 26

R2 (not verified)
on Aug 29, 2007
Oh please, tayme...if you read my initial response you have seen that it points to the yahoo issue at hand. All other responses of mine here are not promoting any product but simple responses to those responding to me. Do we not have anything better to do than to criticize each other in here? It would be nice if we stick to the issues; which I think I pretty much have other than to respond here to your quibble. anyway, I will stop responding to these types of complaints from here on out. It is a waste of everyone's time and effort. By the way..."should" is a bad word. You "should" never tell another what they "should" do. :) Finally, comparisons will be made whether for good or bad. Sometimes they are necessary and even helpful. But when they are used as a defense without substantial facts, then they simply cloud the issue. There is a difference.
tayme
on Aug 30, 2007
treeorc - Yes, I did see your smiley in the section regarding use of the word "should". No bid deal, though...Have a nice day!!! --tayme
lotsamystuff
on Aug 28, 2007
"is this even really necessary? i mean, c'mon!" Maybe not, but then again, why are you criticizing something that's essentially a positive? Oh, wait...because it didn't come from Microsoft. Never mind. I get it. I still prefer Google's approach to e-mail, but it's nice to see Yahoo pushing the envelope a bit here and not just rolling over and playing dead.
R2 (not verified)
on Aug 29, 2007
I used to use Trillian but it has been a while. I'll have to check it out again...thanks for the reminder.
tayme
on Aug 29, 2007
treeorc -- you must not have noticed the little smiley...you, my little tree dwelling friend, should(or might I say "may want to") lighten up, it was a joke!!! --tayme
R2 (not verified)
on Aug 28, 2007
I've found Google Talk to be the best. MSN Messenger and Yahoo MEssenger are both way to bloated. Skype is bloated too, come to think of it. That is the beauty of Google Talk...simplicity, user friendliness, and an unobtrusive interface. It may not utilize certain bells and whistles, but you have to marvel at the implementation and simplicity of it.
shark47
on Aug 28, 2007
"is this even really necessary? i mean, c'mon!" "Maybe not, but then again, why are you criticizing something that's essentially a positive?" OH MY GOD! What a hypocrite.
Tristan (not verified)
on Aug 28, 2007
Yet another Web e-mail service upgrade. Exciting. Next week it'll be "Hotmail", (excuse me, Windows Live Hotmail), "has been upgraded to blah blah!" My inbox isn't much more than 8 MB, and I don't prefer sending attachments over 10 mb in size over e-mail. Ahh well, I'm sure SOMEone can use the gigabytes and terabytes of available space. Maybe.
jersey72
on Aug 29, 2007
@shark: Click on Create Filter next to the search button Type in your criteria Choose the label you want to apply and to skip the inbox Having said that, the biggest reason I like the GMail interface is because, unlike both Yahoo and Hotmail/Live, is it's simple and unobtrusive. When I'm checking mail online I am really just looking for the ability to quickly get my mail, bang out a few responses, and move on. If I want folders and all that, I have Outlook. @lotsa: I agree completely on the chat app. Trillian for Windows does the same thing.
shark47
on Aug 28, 2007
"Some of these features--like the ability to send cell phone-compatible SMS text messages--were not revealed until Monday." Maybe it's just me, but what's the big deal? I don't know, but these updates seem very uninspired to me. Also, jersey, I didn't get to complete this, but the problem I have with labels in GMail is that you have to manually add labels to each mail. There's no mail filter which does it automatically for you. If there is one, I haven't seen it yet.
tayme
on Aug 29, 2007
@treeorc - you should be careful about being hypocritical...I'm just sayin' ;-) Here, the issue is Yahoo! Mail which has to do with Yahoo, not Google, not IM...just Google. So comparing features by utilizing outside entities doesn't offer much...at least in my opinion. --tayme
Will (not verified)
on Aug 28, 2007
"why are you criticizing something that's essentially a positive?" Exactly. I personally don't use any of Yahoo's services, but I do find it impressive that they market their email service with "unlimited" size. My Gmail account is at 224MB and in no danger of overfilling, but for some it is limiting. Offering anything "unlimited" is dangerous, as there are those in the world that seek to test the actual limitations. We all know there is a real limit, and when someone gets an email bounce due to space restrictions, they get to point out that Yahoo 'lied'. I'm glad to see that Yahoo isn't starving themselves off trying to win a race already won in the search department and focusing on other endevors like email. Gmail I don't consider to be perfect, nor Hotmail. So Yahoo has some room to grow.
lotsamystuff
on Aug 30, 2007
"I agree completely on the chat app. Trillian for Windows does the same thing." Thanx for the reminder...I forgot about Trillian. Good stuff.
shark47
on Aug 28, 2007
I wouldn't mind unlimited storage with Flickr. Otherwise, this is just a gimmick that is only rivaled by Google's "infinity + 1" strategy.
lotsamystuff
on Aug 28, 2007
"That is the beauty of Google Talk...simplicity, user friendliness, and an unobtrusive interface. " That's true for nearly all Google properties, and one of the reasons they're such a pleasure to use. "MSN Messenger and Yahoo MEssenger are both way to bloated. " Agreed. Yahoo! Messenger is a particular mess on the PC. Better to use a chat aggregator anyway; Adium on the Mac is a particularly powerful (yet easy on the eyes) implementation.
jersey72
on Aug 29, 2007
I've found Trillian to be very stable. They also seem to be in an endless development cycle on a new version (Trillian Astra), but the current 3.1 version is solid.
jersey72
on Aug 28, 2007
I'm not sure the unlimited storage space for email messages is really that big at this point. With GMail and others offering 2G worth of space, is unlimited really that different? How many people are actually approaching their 2G limit?
R2 (not verified)
on Aug 28, 2007
I think the web messenger and web mail competition is both healthy and one of the more interesting aspects of IT. I personally prefer Gmail and Google Talk because of its simplicity and the ease of use when I have deployed these into systems that I administer both remotely and on site. My only reason is that Google still has that simplistic approach that I prefer as opposed to flashy advertising and so on. Whatever the case and whatever one prefers, it is good to see Yahoo competing in these areas.
Will (not verified)
on Aug 29, 2007
Is trillian stable? I used it way long ago, and it seemed a little too inconsistent for me. I didn't know if they were still keeping up with it or if it fell into the background.
shark47
on Aug 28, 2007
I don't use messenger clients that often but among all, I've found Google Talk to be the best. MSN Messenger and Yahoo MEssenger are both way to bloated. Skype is bloated too, come to think of it.
RunTimeError
on Aug 28, 2007
"We have always been focused on making it easy for people to connect to those who matter most to them," No kiddin'.
R2 (not verified)
on Aug 28, 2007
Also, jersey, I didn't get to complete this, but the problem I have with labels in GMail is that you have to manually add labels to each mail. A good point although this kind of over stepping may or may not bother some users. While I use Gmail, I use Thunderbird more intensively and the labeling feature (called tagging) is implemented much more efficiently. But the real beauty of Thunderbird is that preferred add ons can provide a multitude of integrated features that are streamlined and efficient and without a lot of bloat. As for Gmail, I like the simplicity of it although the point here about labeling is well taken and Google would do well to come up with a better solution.
R2 (not verified)
on Aug 29, 2007
Boy tayme, maybe we both should lighten up...did you see my smiley? I knew you were joking and was hopefully poking a little fun back...sorry I did not come off in that way....I will work on that! But yes, I knew you were poking fun and thank you...
shark47
on Aug 28, 2007
"Microsoft sucks!" "No. Apple sucks!" "Microsoft sucks even more." "Apple makes crappy products." ... Who the f@ck cares? Just use what you like and stop complaining. It was initially restricted to waethorn and lotsa. Now it's turned into a free for all fight.
Waethorn
on Aug 28, 2007
"We all know there is a real limit, and when someone gets an email bounce due to space restrictions, they get to point out that Yahoo 'lied'." i think you just proved my argument for me. thanks will. XP
Waethorn
on Aug 28, 2007
"Yahoo! also differentiates its Web email service from Gmail and Hotmail by offering unlimited storage space for email messages." is this even really necessary? i mean, c'mon! the only possible explanation why you'd need a huge amount of space is for file attachments, and there are simply faster, more efficient, and more secure methods of transporting files or storing them online than through email. (mind you, Yahoo!'s storage is shared with it's other services too) i mean really. ever heard of SharePoint? XP

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