Hotmail merges with Microsoft

PUNE, Jan 3: Hotmail Corporation, the most widely used free E-mail service provider, has merged with software giant Microsoft, president and...

PUNE, Jan 3: Hotmail Corporation, the most widely used free E-mail service provider, has merged with software giant Microsoft, president and CEO of Hotmail Corporation, Sabeer Bhatia, recently informed Hotmail’s registered members.

In his letter, Bhatia has clarified that Hotmail would continue to remain a free e-mail service provider. "Hotmail is to be run as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft with complete autonomy. The service will continue to be called Hotmail’ and the domain name will remain Hotmail.com," he said.

He also averred that Hotmail would support the widest variety of browsers from all versions of Navigator to Internet Explorer to set-top-boxes and myriad other devices. Hotmail Corporation, which was started in the US by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith two years ago, is the world’s largest e-mail service provider with a subscriber list of 10 million.

The merger, according to Bhatia, "would make Hotmail a more content-rich service by augmenting its current base of Web courier and other content providers with Microsoft’s own properties".