Hotmail Suffers Storage Gaffe
By Chris Richardson
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2004-07-23

Members that signed up for Microsoft's free version of Hotmail last Wednesday (7-21-04) were treated to an unexpected gift. Upon completion of their registration, some new members were rewarded with 2 gigabytes of storage, the upgraded amount reserved for paid members.

Although MSN has stated that members of Hotmail's free service would be receiving storage increases, 2 gigs is a little more than what was expected or announced. The reported increase for unpaid members is 250 megabytes.

According to ZDNet.com, the error occurred when Microsoft was in the process of upgrading their paid member's storage amounts, and some of benefits filtered down to the unpaid members. Sadly, those who received the unexpected storage boost don't get to keep it. Although, for $19.95 a year, members can upgrade their accounts and will legitimately be rewarded with increased storage, as well as other MSN perks.

This glitch is similar to the one that struck Gmail a couple of months ago. Gmail's glitch awarded its members with a terabyte (!?!?!) of storage; enough to run a couple of database driven dynamic sites. This, like Hotmail's error, was corrected quickly.
About the Author:
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.

Hotmail Suffers Storage Gaffe