Microsoft Corp is hoping to revive its MSN Microsoft Network online service with the acquisition of Hotmail Corp, provider of free Web-based electronic mail, which it will integrate into MSN. Founded last year (CI No 2,946), Hotmail was the first e-mail service to enable users to send and receive mail and access the Internet from a Web site without having to have special software on the client. This means users can access e-mail accounts from any computer with a browser. Hotmail enables users to retrieve e-mail from up to four POP3 e-mail accounts via any PC connected to the Internet. Microsoft Network has so far had a chequered past, established as it was originally to operate as a private network independent of the Internet, and then turned rapidly around to the company’s new-found Internet strategy at the end of 1995 (CI No 2,812). Microsoft says Hotmail will become an important component of MSN, and will complement its existing family of e-mail and collaboration products, including the Outlook Express e-mail and newsreader client and the Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client. Hotmail will operate as a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary out of Hotmail’s California base. Financial terms were not given.
