Microsoft Mail Beta unveiled

Well, fear not. Microsoft and MSN have big plans for Hotmail. The company has been working for the past several months on a next generation Web mail solution that codenamed Kahuna and currently goes by the nondescript name "Mail Beta" (thus, I'll continue to simply call it Kahuna). It will likely replace Hotmail when it's released in the first half of 2006, though MSN representatives I've spoken with won't discuss it in that way, discuss branding, or allude to how it will be marketed. No matter. Let's just assume for argument's sake that Kahuna is the next Hotmail. Here's what's happening.