When it first came out in 1996, Hotmail shocked the world with its free webmail service, the first to ever grace the online stage. The webmail system prior to that was a hassle to use, in addition to the fact that it has a price tag attached to it. During that time, it was not deemed possible that regardless of where a person is, he/she can communicate with practically anyone and be assured that his message will be delivered in a matter of seconds.



However, the fact that it was free was not really Hotmail's principal shocker. Rather, it was the groundbreaking capability to read, create and send emails to anyone regardless of where you are, as long as there is an internet connection available. As mentioned earlier, the webmail system prior to Hotmail was extremely vexing to use. You had to be registered with a webmail company and all emails will be downloaded directly to your computer only. Since the hardware and software functions still needed to be improved during that time, these companies did not have enough space to hold your emails. This is why they made it mandatory for you to download the emails if you want to view them. This is good in the sense that your privacy was guaranteed. However, it was very inconvenient especially if you travel a lot because you can only view your emails through your computer. You cannot easily access your email inbox wherever you go.

As technology progressed more and more, majority of the internet service providers have created websites that you can visit anytime to check your email. So even if you are in another country and the only available computer is not the one you have registered with the webmail company, you will still be able to access your emails.

Hotmail also has a search service referred to as Hotmail Email Finder. This is integrated in a sort of Hotmail social network. To help you understand easily how this works, it may help to know that Hotmail has its own directory of members, just like most email providers. This directory is a compilation of the members' names, their email addresses, and all the emails that go along with them. This directory makes an MSN member search a lot easier to do. However, as already mentioned, all these information in the directory are listed in the form of a social network, much like Facebook or LinkedIn.

Just like these social networks, you have to log in to your account and then you can begin searching for other members and view their profiles. Moreover, you are given the options to upload pictures, start a blog, and set-up an “About Me” section. Thus, you get to see a lot more than just the email address of a member by looking at his profile.

The Hotmail Email Finder service also makes use of a unique function called the Contact Card. Because of these Contact Cards, the way of searching for an email account has been revolutionized. Just as how email is the traditional mail of the virtual world, a Contact Card is its business card. The great thing about it is that it can do both the traditional and the reverse email searches. Furthermore, not only will you get the person's name and email address, but a Contact Card will also display a message from the person you are trying to find, a list of the songs they have been listening to, and summary of their blog entries. This makes it a lot easier to know if the person is indeed the one you are trying to locate.