E-mail Tasks (Part 2 - Friday's Work)

The features of 2 Email Services (Part 2):

2. Hotmail

• In hotmail, users can chat to there friends on msn messenger right from their inbox. This allows users to share photos and messgages quicker than using e-mail, but, still from there inbox.
• If a hotmail user has another account (e.g. Gmail or Yahoo) they can synchronise there accounts into one inbox, rather than opening up several inboxes at once. This allows e-mails to be answered quickly and efficiently. However, hotmail doesnt provide such an efficient method of filtering junk mail, everything has to be set manually.
• Hotmail's spam filter is effective, and does remove a hefty amount of spam, however it is still being developed everyday and some spam does get through the filters.
• A new feature is that the user can edit microsoft office documents straight from the inbox, however the user must have microsoft office installed on their PC. This makes Email production easier however it can dramatically slow down the browser being used.

Microsoft Office Web Apps

• Users also have the opportunity to have a "Sky Drive". This is a useful online storage place which can be used for backing up files. The files are locked by the user and if they wish they can make the files public.
• Hotmail is part of the "Windows Live" network. This connects with features such as XBox 360, msn and windows live photo gallery. This is easier than logging into several accounts in different windows, therefore making it more efficient and making sharing even easier.
• Sweep is a feature that allows users to delete users to delete all messages from certain contacts, as well as deleting future messages. This saves time trawling through unwanted messages, however potentially important emails could be missed if a use is blocked.

Sweep feature

Benefits and Problems of Email (1):

Benefits

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  It is cheaper than sending a real letter (you do not need to pay for stamps).
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  Emails can be sent using SMS, this means that you do not even need to own a computer to send an email.
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  Users can attatch files and photos, saving having to transfer files manually from one computer to another.
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  It can be sent in bulk, to many people, at the same time.
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  E-mail has no time or place constrainsts, it can be sent anywhere at anytime.