Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail, the revamped version of MSN Hotmail, has gotten out of beta and is now available for everyone freely in more than 36 languages.[more]

Microsoft touted Hotmail’s recent face-lift as the “most significant upgrade for Hotmail since it pioneered the webmail industry in 1996”. Apparently, Microsoft received feedback during the beta-testing period from more than 20 million users worldwide.

All Hotmail subscribers will be able to access their mail later this month using their cellphones or the company’s Outlook 2003 or simply by going to www.hotmail.com. Microsoft also said that the new Office Outlook Connector beta, a software product integrated in Office 2007, will allow people to view and manage their Windows Live Hotmail account from Outlook for free, with full contact, e-mail and e-mail folder synchronization.

As Windows Live Hotmail begins rolling out on May 7 and continues over the coming days, consumers will be able to visit http://www.hotmail.com to sign up for a new Windows Live Hotmail account. Current MSN Hotmail customers can also update their existing account to Windows Live Hotmail by logging into their account and clicking on the green Join Windows Live Hotmail button.

“We’re thrilled to deliver Windows Live Hotmail to the more than 280 million active MSN Hotmail accounts around the world,” said Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of the Online Services Group at Microsoft . “Windows Live Hotmail represents an extremely compelling end-to-end e-mail experience that makes it easy for customers to get best-of-breed e-mail access across PCs, mobile devices and the Web. Windows Live Hotmail is a cornerstone online service for Microsoft and a critical part of our online advertising business because e-mail is a key point of influence for consumer purchases. We’re pleased to announce the launch of the service to advertisers in addition to consumers on the eve of the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit.”

Consumers will also be able to access Windows Live Hotmail by logging in at mobile.live.com on their cellphones or PDAs, and Microsoft promises new features “to make the online and offline Windows Live Hotmail experience richer” for Windows Mobile 6 users in the future.