30 years later, my Hotmail email address still works, even though I won't
read your message if you email me there

Date:
Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:45:22 +0000

Description:
Hotmail turns 30, but it's barely a shadow of its former self. I look at how the service started when Microsoft did with it and how it sort of lives on.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Like a vestige of a bygone era, my Hotmail email address still exists and works, even if the domain resolves to Microsoft 's far less sexy Outlook online mail system. The continued utility of my Hotmail email address is a reminder that, 30 years after its launch, Hotmail played a valuable role in the early days of the Internet,
even if its current existence is ephemeral at best.

It's easy to forget that Hotmail, which was founded by a former Apple Engineer, Sabeer Bhatia, and FirePower Systems engineer, Jack Smith, was the first free online email provider and was something of a sensation (the name was then quite apt). Also lost to history is its somewhat peripatetic journey from a platform used by millions (at its height around 130M) to a service
that was deplatformed, derided, revived, and eventually abandoned. Back in 1996, I was an editor at PC Magazine , then the world's most popular
computing magazine, and I vaguely recall hearing about Hotmail and signing up for it. Microsoft, ever on the hunt for technology and companies that could fill its substantial online gaps (it licensed Spyglass Mosaic browser code to build Internet Explorer in 1994), purchased Hotmail in late 1996. Bhatia
stuck around to run the platform for a year or two, and Smith appears to have left shortly after the acquisition. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

Suddenly, 9 million or so early adopters were being quickly integrated into the burgeoning Microsoft ecosystem, with the Microsoft Network (MSN) in particular. To this day, my Hotmail address is tied to my Windows identity. Hot until it's not It was a good enough email system that I put my wife on it more than 20 years ago, but in 2006 or so, Microsoft, perhaps feeling the threat of the exploding Google Gmail userbase ( launching in 2004 , it was free and, at the time, with unlimited storage), decided to rebrand most of
its services udner "Live" and the Hotmail service and domain was effectively retired. You may like I sent an email without opening Gmail thanks to ChatGPT
then I found the catch Microsoft Outlook down? Email problems hit users across the world - here's what we know Free email accounts contributing to nearly half of all commercial spam

But not dead. Our Hotmail address continued to work, but we were opening Windows Live inboxes instead. I hated it and teased Microsoft that if they thought Windows is "live" now, was it dead before?

I also wasn't thrilled that Microsoft had "put a pillow over Hotmail's
face". It was a service I loved and used and served as the centerpiece for
not just Microsoft's services, but other platforms where it was my login identity. The switch to a "@live.com" email address was just confusing. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

In fact, Microsoft's entire email corpus at the time was a hot mess. We had Outlook addresses, Live addresses, Hotmail Addresses, MSN addresses. At one time, I may have had all of them.

A few years later, Microsoft reversed course , revived the Hotmail brand, and gave me the lovely cup you see above. All was forgiven, but, to be honest, by then I had moved on. My Hotmail email account became a resting place for forgotten and discarded subscriptions, as well as quite a few reminders about people's birthdays. Don't email me Hotmail as an email platform never really recovered, and eventually, Microsoft moved to put everyone on the Outlook email brand, which was almost as old as Hotmail and used, though not always loved, by millions of people who also use Microsoft Office.

My Hotmail account remains active to access Windows (though I mostly log in with biometrics or PIN codes now) and to access Outlook mail, where I can
find emails going back 26 years (not as interesting as you might think).

The truth is, though, while that email account will probably live on, the
most concrete reminder that Hotmail was once a thing (much like your old AOL email was once a thing) is that orange coffee cup. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. 319 at Freemans (15.6-inch) 379 at Freemans (256GB)
379 at Freemans (256GB) 1,799 at Amazon (14-inch)



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