MSN Hotmail is no more. From today it will be replaced by its successor, Windows Live Hotmail, which is available in 36 languages. Windows Live Hotmail offers 2 GB storage space, safer, more powerful and productive e-mail experience and flexible access from Web, mobile phone or e-mail client.

"We're thrilled to deliver Windows Live Hotmail to the more than 280 million active MSN Hotmail accounts around the world," said Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of the Online Services Group at Microsoft. "Windows Live Hotmail represents an extremely compelling end-to-end e-mail experience that makes it easy for customers to get best-of-breed e-mail access across PCs, mobile devices and the Web. Windows Live Hotmail is a cornerstone online service for Microsoft and a critical part of our online advertising business because e-mail is a key point of influence for consumer purchases. We're pleased to announce the launch of the service to advertisers in addition to consumers on the eve of the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit."

The current MSN Hotmail users may update their account through a button called ‘Join Windows Live Hotmail’.

The interface of the new service is similar with Outlook, with right-click and drag-and-drop capabilities, preview pane customization and auto-complete addressing. The customers can choose how they view their Windows Live Hotmail and they can choose the classic version which looks similar to MSN Hotmail or the full version with more advanced functionality.

Microsoft offers new technologies to help customers to stay in touch with their e-mail. Outlook Connector, a tool which will be available later this month, will enable people to view and manage their Windows Live Hotmail account from Outlook for free, with full contact, e-mail and e-mail folder synchronization.

Also, Microsoft claims that its new service is designed with e-mail safety as one of the main objectives. There are new safety features to help users to avoid span and unwanted e-mail. For example, safety bar placed on the top of each e-mail message gives a visual cue of the status of the e-mail: white indicates the e-mail is from a known sender, yellow indicates the e-mail is from an unknown sender and red indicates the e-mail is potentially fraudulent.