Hotmail Drops ‘Web 2.0′ Interface

The power of user centered design is being realized more and more everyday. I just came across a story about Hotmail dropping their AJAXy web 2.0 interface in favor of a simpler redesign after seeing the results from beta testers. It makes for interesting reading that touches on the average user’s comfort levels with AJAX and the web 2.0 revolution.

New Hotmail–it’s a classic

Microsoft had been tinkering with Windows Live Mail for months, but testers still weren’t happy. The program was too slow to load, too different and, well, just not like the old Hotmail it was intended to replace.

It was a painful realization for the more than 100 managers and developers on the project. In banking on a snazzy Web 2.0 application to try to catch up to rivals Yahoo and Google, Microsoft had dramatically overshot its audience… Months earlier, a small team had started working on a second version of Windows Live Mail. At first, it was just a very limited program designed for people whose browsers wouldn’t run the new program. But in recent weeks, the team had decided to add a few tricks to it and turn it into a “classic” version that felt more like the old Hotmail.

Key leaders on the project quickly realized that this “classic” version should be the new Hotmail, or at least the default option for most people. Bowing to its users, and despite grumblings from the developers, Microsoft shifted much of the team away from the “full” version and onto classic… Read the Full Story.