Microsoft Recommends Chrome for Hotmail.. Huh?

News
By Marcus Yam
published

If you're having problems with Microsoft Hotmail, skip Microsoft Internet Explorer and go straight to Google Chrome.

Microsoft has overhauled its Hotmail but not all of its 350 million users are having it as smooth as they used to under the old system.

Part of the reason is that the modern Hotmail requires a modern browser. What's most interesting is it that Microsoft is suggesting to users who have problems with the new Hotmail to use Google Chrome rather than Internet Explorer.

“Some customers have indicated that if they use Google Chrome to view their Hotmail account they no longer encounter this problem,” said Microsoft, according to the Register.

Microsoft has told Hotmail users via the forums that those trying to use the webmail service should not use Safari 3 or Firefox 2 – both of which have been replaced by significantly newer versions.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
53 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tsk_cable
    Way to go microsoft you don't make money with IE, just skip supporting it at all.

    FireFox FTW
    Reply
  • bentonsl_2010
    Bentonsl_2010I think at this point I.E. users is a moot (
    Sorry should of said

    I think at this point I.E. users is a moot point. MS packages I.E. with windows and will also have plenty of users. However losing hotmail subscribers to other email providers (I.E. Gmail and Yahoo), would imo be a bigger blow. So them saying use chrome is more of a lesser of two evils approach.\
    Reply
  • irh_1974
    Some customers have indicated that if they use Google Chrome to view their Hotmail account they no longer encounter this problem
    So, anecdotal quotes from Chrome users?
    Any backup to the claims from engineers?
    Reply
  • olafmetal
    hotmail has been bugging out on my beta version of chrome. Firefox seems to be working fine. When I googled the error message I was getting It was all Firefox users complaining about it though. Weird. Chromes still my favorite browser. The recent bugs in hotmail might make me finally change my email account though.
    Reply
  • twu
    Steve B. signed a MAC book, now MS suggesting users to use their competitor's product(s). I've never seen Apple, Google, etc.. offered their customers other options.

    :)
    Reply
  • whiteodian
    I would use Chrome, but it has a bug with the check boxes. I've tried on different machines. What happens is I start checking off e-mails that I want to delete and somewhere between 5-10 checked all the check boxes are cleared. Mozilla for the win!
    Reply
  • bentonsl_2010
    whiteodianI would use Chrome, but it has a bug with the check boxes. I've tried on different machines. What happens is I start checking off e-mails that I want to delete and somewhere between 5-10 checked all the check boxes are cleared. Mozilla for the win!

    Never had that problem and I been using chrome for a couple years now. I am also assuming your talking about the hotmail check boxes right?
    Reply
  • 1pp1k10k4m1
    I'm kinda proud of microsoft right now??!?! They are big enough to actually admit something works better than their product, and they uncover the fact the some things interact better with their products than their other products. Maybe they'll...fix it! Maybe not...:(
    Reply
  • xerroz
    I'd rather use firefox newest version for hotmail. Though I use windows live mail anyway, it works perfectly
    Reply
  • People still use hotmail?
    Reply