Hotmail storage space raised to one gigabyte

Microsoft Corporation has increased storage capacity of MSN Hotmail to one gigabyte, even as it extended its expiration period for inactive accounts to 60 days from the earlier 30 days.

Hotmail, which was started by Indian entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia and later acquired by the Microsoft, has over 260 million active e-mail accounts.

Users of the Hotmail will get more storage space to keep their files, photos and e-mails. The storage upgrade and extension of the expiration period for email accounts is part of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to meet evolving needs of Hotmail users as they gear up for the software giant's next generation e-mail service Windows Live Mail.

However, the company in a press release clarified that the extension of expiration period was for accounts that were more than two years old.

At present, Indiatimes and Rediffmail offer 1 GB storage space each while Gmail offers 2 GB storage capacity.

According to Krishna Prasad, head of programming, MSN India and Windows Live, MSN continued to invest in the needs of users and the upgradation was part of its commitment to offer a better e-mail experience to the users.

"We believe that the added storage space and extended expiry period will be welcomed by our loyal Hotmail users," he added.

The increase in storage capacity, which began in Asia on November 7, will affect Hotmail users in 10 markets in Australia, China, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore.

Microsoft is currently in the beta phase of Windows Live Mail, the next generation of web mail. It has been built to be faster, safer and simpler.