New Hotmail look

It seems like Hotmail has a new look. And also a new name. Windows Live Mail. i was surprised because a lot of the new stuff seemed similar to the features in Gmail. i'm not gonna say who copied who coz i don't know the answer to that. Both emails are in Beta which shows users that they are still developing so there may still be bugs but still allows users to use their service without too much hassle. The Live Mail seems better than the previous Hotmail, probably due to simplicity. Email messages can be 'previewed' instantly without having to return to the inbox. This is particularly helpful if you can tell what you want to read straight from the subject line. Gmail also previews the email but only places a little snippet in the subject line. Live Mail also allows search just like Gmail and also allows easy finds on contacts straight from the To: toolbar. i liked Gmail's searching for contacts better though, because it worked much much faster than Live Mail's. Its interesting to see that both Gmail and Live Mail have calendar links. Live Mail's calendar can be opened through the same window where as Gmail's calendar opens up a new window. Both calendars can be shared by and with other people. Live Mail offers a little bit of personalisation by allowing users to change the colors on its layout in a minor way. Gmail also has a bit of personalisation by offering users to choose xml or rss webclips to be shown at the top of its inbox. Hmm. i grew up with Hotmail, then hated it then converted to Gmail. Is Hotmail's evolution enough to bring me back? i don't think so. i like Gmail better because its faster than Live Mail and also i'm able to read through email quickly and also compose and send mail quickly without having to use the mouse. At this time in my life, that is what i am doing. Sending out emails for job stuffs, sending quick emails, i would prefer to do that quickly. Live Mail still has 2 big picture ads (one on the top and on the right) which i really don't like compared to Gmail's personalised text ads. i would like to use Live Mail to browse through the seek job subscriptions because i get a lot of email sent from them and it would be easier to browse quickly through it all. The only big drawback is that it only works for Internet Explorer 6.0 which stopped working properly on my home computer. It works if i disabled my firewall, but i don't think that is wise. Live Mail doesn't work well with Firefox at all. The preview functions don't work at all in Firefox, so that pretty much kills Live Mail for me. It's a pity they can't (or will not) make it compatible. Gmail converted me from Hotmail because of its simple design. Live Mail does looks better that Hotmail because of its clean look and simplicity. Some of the best things are always the simple things. Gmail is still better =)