I Use Hotmail Since 1997

MSN China is running a campaign to engage users to celebrate 10 years of MSN service. They offer to give you your registration time if you enter your MSN account and password (well. security concerns here), they will report the registration date and time, and tell you among all users, how many users are earlier than you.

This is a very nice campaign - it engages users because everyone is curious, and everyone wants to spread out the word if they feel they are pretty early bird - like myself. Another even more successful campaign I participated was the Send Your Name to the Mars.

Here is the date I registered Hotmail.

09:06:41 July 11, 1997

What does the date tells?

• It tells that I was still in Shanghai Jiaotong University.

• It tells that it is the starting of a summer after I completed my first two years of university.

• It reminded me that I registered Hotmail at the No. 3 Dorm of SJTU - the building is right outside my window now.

• It reminded me that at that time, Hotmail is still using the red Globe+Stamp logo.

• It tells that is one year and a week since Hotmail was launched on July 4, 2006.

• It tells that is two years 11 days before MSN Messenger service was launched.

• It tells that Hotmail at that time was still an independent company invested by DFJ, and 7 months away from Microsoft’s acquisition, and I was two year away from joining Microsoft.

It is interesting to be a historicist, isn’t it?