Microsoft finishes global Hotmail update

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Additional webmail features rolled out to all 350 million users

Microsoft has completed its Hotmail upgrade, claiming that all users can expect to see a number of improvements.

The company admitted at the end of last month that the rollout had reached only one per cent of its 350 million users, and that it was upgrading customer accounts based on a random cluster selection.

Whether this is still the case is unknown, but the announcement could have given the upgrade the kick start it needed, as Microsoft said today that all Hotmail users now have access to the additional tools. Less than a week ago that number stood at 100 million.

"Now, everyone can take advantage of a faster Hotmail experience with great new features like one-click filters, Sweep, Active Views and more," said Mike Schackwitz from the Windows Live team in a blog post.

Many of the additions are cosmetic, and Microsoft has made much of the new look and interface tweaks. The changes are designed to make reading emails and following links a much simpler process, the firm said.

Users receiving an email with a link to Flickr photos, for example, will see the photos in the Hotmail window pane rather than having to go to the Flickr site.

This feature also extends to some of Microsoft's own apps, such as Office, and email users will be able to collaborate on a document without installing its applications package.

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