Only a small update for Windows Live Hotmail but it seems to have gone unnoticed by most people. To reflect that Live Hotmail is near completion, the beta tags in the address of the product have gone and is now simplified:

Old: http://by117w.bay117.mail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx
New: http://mail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx

Windows Live Hotmail is expected out soon, but is subject to last minute changes, as Microsoft products famously have always seemed to

Just noticed actually checking on the help.live.com pages, that their secure certificate expired a couple of days ago. I’ve contacted Microsoft and so far they said “they’re working on it” but how long does it take to get a new SSL certificate? In my experience, it can be done in 10 minutes.

The Get Live website has opened up for Windows Live Hotmail and its impending release. Windows Live Hotmail is expected to be released any day now. First time users can now see the advantages of Hotmail by checking out the new website.

Go now: http://get.live.com/mail/features

Many people have asked me “What is this emoticon in Messenger for?” Well it’s a simple answer. There is a new marketing feature based around a charity event to promote Windows Live Search as well as generating money for charity.

Every time a Messenger is released as a full milestone, a charity event kicks off and a new emoticon is released. The person who bids for the highest emoticon goes into the final product. and were both auctioned off after the 7.5 and the 8.0 release, not sure about the 7.0 release but there was one, and now there is a new emoticon which every time you use it, generates you money.

I urge everyone, until the 31st March when the emoticon expires, put *9mil or *oxfam in your name to create the emoticon on Windows Live Messenger so that every time you talk to someone, it comes up in a conversation thus getting the most out of the offer.

Some new statistics have come from Microsoft - only one piece of data, but since 4th February 2007, there were 249,852,209 users of the Messenger service (including MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Messenger).

Windows Home Server has been rather a big focal point for most people, as it’s a server operating system which is meant to simplify life for home users. However people have been a bit confused as how they access their server remotely. Well here’s the answer.

Once you have your Windows Home Server setup, you’ll be able to set up the remote access. Microsoft will give you a designated web address (which you can customise to some extent) which runs in the form of http://servername.homeserver.com. Currently www.homeserver.com points to the Microsoft PressPass entry regarding Windows Home Server.

Interesting eh? You heard it here first!

Windows Live Hotmail, is the definate final name of the new product that replaces the MSN Hotmail product. It’s still not out in the open yet and the user interface will not be updated for a while, and Windows Live Hotmail is still not ready for release.

First there was Kahuna, then it was just “Mail”, then Windows Live Mail, but now it is absolutely set in stone - Windows Live Hotmail is the new product name for the MSN Hotmail replacement.

The MailCall team have updated their blog - go and check it out.

Engadget, one of the world’s biggest blog websites, has come up with a whole load of Windows Mobile 6 (codenamed Crossbow) screenshots and images. Not only that, they have a whole wealth of reports and information regarding this new software.

Windows Live will play heavily within Windows Mobile 6, as more and more people are working on the go using their mobile devices to keep them connected - I do it, most people do it. The problem is with all Windows Mobile software, is that to get the new Crossbow release once it is out in the world, we’ll have to buy brand new mobile devices which support the software. It’s not entirely fair, but I guess it’s how it goes.

View Engadget, and their wealthy photo gallery.

Parents with kids who use Messenger like it’s some sort of life support system never fear - you will soon (very soon as a matter of fact) be able to choke your kids with the virtual rope of the Internet and the Windows Live Family Safety program - maybe not the most apt of descriptions but you see where I’m coming from.

To put this clearly - the parent’s Windows Live ID will oversee the child’s Windows Live ID (as the Family Safety product does anyway), but now parents will be able to approve and decline contacts to the child’s Windows Live Messenger view. Parents will be able to view information on the person who’s about to be added, view their Space, check ages etc.

How brilliant - this will really reduce the amount of abuse in Windows Live Messenger. Finally I can say, go Microsoft

Another beta goes, another one is in the works. Windows Live Messenger 8.1 has been around now for around 6 months and a few days, and now it’s time the doors were shut. There were 3,009 registered users on the beta, a total of 1,010 bugs and 456 suggestions in total spanning the 6 months the product was in beta, and the newsgroups had over 6,000 posts. That’s quite something.

There are no final prizes for testers this time round, and work on Windows Live Messenger 9.0 has already begun (there will be no more interim releases, or at least if there are, there won’t be any beta programs for it). Current testers of Windows Live Messenger 8.1 who have access to the Microsoft Connect pages will be automatically transferred to the next beta (9.0) so don’t you worry - plenty more to come.

Download the final Windows Live Messenger 8.1 here!