When Will YOU Have the All-New Mail
Judging from the weekend comments, and because my last post answered one of the other pressing topics, the big question on many of your minds is “When will my account be switched out of beta?”. Unfortunately the official answer is, I really can’t say because exactly when the roll-out reaches you depends on the “farm” (short for server farm) where your account “lives.”
So to elaborate on this mysterious process, I managed to track down Skotch Vail, Director of Yahoo! Mail’s Front End (translation: the engineering folks working the rollout), and while I can’t tell you all individually when your accounts will go live, I can now offer a little more background on the process involved.
So without further ado, here’s the scoop. As has been mentioned before, there are A LOT of accounts to transition: 255 million (according to comScore). All of these user accounts are divided up into hundreds of farms. In advance of every release, we go through extensive internal QA, followed up by selective roll-outs to large numbers of employees (extended QA), but since we cannot replicate every possible scenario of user behavior, browser selection, computer hardware, operating system, and feature usage, we gradually roll the product out to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.
As we roll the updated code out to each farm, our engineers are closely monitoring for unforeseen issues. It’s also a fairly complex process because of the different types of Mail accounts on our system.
Of course you will now ask why we announce before everyone has it. We know that once it goes out to anyone, word travels fast, so we’d better make sure we explain ourselves. We realize it’s not a totally perfect process, but we really feel like this is the best way to handle something of this magnitude.
Hopefully that helps explain things a little, and thanks much to Skotch for taking the time to chat.
Ryan
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail
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- 154 Comments
September 19th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I DO NOT WANT THE NEW MAIL SERVICE FROM YAHOO !!!!! i will stitch my home page and my mail service before i go thru that mess again tried beta it was worthless
Dan
September 19th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Thanks for the update – I’m sorry that you have negative people who post thoughtless comments. Yahoo is a free service – Windows Vista is paid for. Yahoo has always called it a “Beta” version – Vista is a “Beta” version but is not marketed as such. In addition, you at least attempt to address rollouts – Vista just has rumors about service packs. People who look a free gift horse in the mouth should consider the industry standard (or lack thereof) before posting comments. Keep up the good work and I look forward to the rollout.
September 19th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I genuinely appreciate your efforts to upgrade your service and communicate to your users. But two things that I think require immediate attention are:
1) Use of character quoting (i.e. quoting original mail in replies and prefixing with “> “). This was standard internet etiquette for over a decade before Outlook became prevalent. And those of us that have been around the ‘net for more than 10 years still prefer it.
2) The terrible reliability of the web servers. In any given day, I see many errors from one of three classes: “Ouch! CURL error -8″, “HTTP Unexpected response”, “Server not responding” (all errors my approximation from memory).
I simultaneously find it hard to believe that the beta upgrade could have caused this and that the beta upgrade could not have caused this.
September 19th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
i happen to like the beta version better
September 19th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
The only annoying thing I have personally had was the HTTP thing that often drives me nuts (the silly little window interruption in beta mail) However, I still think Y! is the best suited to me and my needs perfectly. We all have preffered differences, but when it’s free, you can’t please everyone 100% sooo, with that said, looking forward to Y!’s growth and all the new stuff y’all have later down the road…
September 19th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
chao thay
thay hay cho em de thi mon he thong thong tin wuan ly
September 19th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
The new question is: When will it be released for Safari?
September 19th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Yo, Ryan: Yahoo! Mail customers are loyal folks…we’ll ensure almost anything to support you guys…but Yahoo’s ambiguous, vague, nebulous answers to our straight-forward questions test our patience and make us wonder if the other free E-Mail services out there might be more responsive to our concerns. An example is your most recent post to the YMailUpdates blog…you did a great job of telling us absolutely nothing. All we want to know is when we can reasonably expect the rollout of the new Yahoo! Mail to be complete…next week, next month, next year? As long as you’ve been in Beta, you’d think you’d have a better reply to that answer than a shoulder shrug and “I dunno…” THAT is what bugs us.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I must say that I love the new yahoo mail. I’m still in beta and I’m looking forward to have the final version.
However I do have a complaint and it’s not about yahoo mail itself. You do not support Opera and it’s a shame. Opera is the best webrowser i’ve ever used, even better than firefox, IE or safari. You should support it. Hopefully it’ll see its market share grow and you’ll start supporting this webrowser.
September 19th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
What’s the big deal? Everyone just calm down…you’ll get it when you get it. I’m still in beta, my mail account still works, and I’ll have the full version whenever it comes to me. So, calm down and get over it.
September 20th, 2007 at 1:03 am
I think you should move the Mail!Plus accounts at first.
September 20th, 2007 at 1:53 am
I’ve been using Beta since it came out, and I love it, so I am unlikely to notice when it changes to standard. Nonetheless, Ryan, I think posting an estimated date of completion, along with the explanation you provided above, would not be difficult, and would have been more useful.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:44 am
I love the new interface and being an IT guy myself I know these things take time. For all the non-believers then go…I think yahoo will be fine 254,000,000 instead of 255,000,000 accounts….don’t worry you will be back….msn live mail, gmail and aol mail all have nothing on yahoo mail — old and new. enjoy your mediocre mail system and you will be back on yahoo before you can figure out where things are hidden on vista now.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:32 am
Alrighty then – when will it work on Safari?
September 20th, 2007 at 3:41 am
I’m having problems getting into my mail too. I get three error messages that I have to go through before I can get in. It’s getting really annoying. I hope I’m switched soon.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:06 am
As a paying customer for Yahoo Mail Plus as I see it Yahoo’s marketing group got way out in front of its engineers. Near as I can tell the only “improvement” is that you removed the “BETA” tag from the product, but in all other respects have made few changes, visible to the end user. to the buggy, poorly performing code you got from Oddpost several years ago. Folders still don’t open. Fonts are 6pt. and can’t be modified. I get something called “error #5,” and screen refresh is a joke. I have a 3Mb/Sec broadband connection so don’t blame performance on my Internet service. You’ve got a lot more explaining to do.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:40 am
I LOVE Yahoo! mail Beta and can’t wait to be switched over to the real thing. I tried gmail a couple of times but came running back to Yahoo! because it is SO much more convenient. My favorite feature is the “click & drag” of messages into folders. With gmail, when i wanted to file messages away, I had to do it one message at a time, and it was like a 5 or 6 click process. It really made me appreciate Yahoo! and all the hard work you guys are doing to create such an awesome FREE email service. Thanks guys!
September 20th, 2007 at 5:43 am
I’m still waiting, but I appreciate the update. I also appreciate the regular postings on the mail blog, very nice. Thank you!!!
On another note, I would like to second Scott’s comments on the use of character quoting (i.e. quoting original mail in replies and prefixing with “>“). I think this is a great feature to have and would like Yahoo email to offer it.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:00 am
I was trying the Beta Yahoo Mail for several weeks . Only complaint was I had to click through three or four error messages (“Object missing” or something like that) but I just assumed that was part of the process with a Beta. In the last week I can no longer retrieve my mail at all, other than what I see in the baloon if I hover over a message in the preview.
Could it be that there is a Windows update that “accidentally” zapped the competition. I run XP and use the latest versions of Firefax and IE Explorer. Same problem in both browsers.
Help.
Etahn
September 20th, 2007 at 6:00 am
Generally like the Beta, but am very disappointed that the filters don’t seem to be working consistently. Some days on some folders and not on others. But otherwise good, not original but good. Netscape mail started this look and functionality years ago and Mozilla/Thunderbird continues it today.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Please i want to go back to yahoo mail classic not yahoo Beta. My reason is not able to access my mail when possible.
Thanks Engr. Fidelis N. Anugwa.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Like Scott, I have been wanting the “> ” for prefixed quotes for a long time. I emailed Yahoo! about it when Beta came out… must have been a couple years ago now.
September 20th, 2007 at 6:53 am
The answer to a “when” question typically requires a measurement of time – minutes, hours, days, weeks, months.
How about we make it fill-in-the-blank: “the rollout of the new Yahoo Mail will start to public users on _________ (date). We expect the entire rollout of the new Yahoo Mail will take ____ (number) _______ (unit of time).”
That’s all we asking for. Answering the question is more important than the answer itself.
September 20th, 2007 at 7:28 am
For those of us who are paid Yahoo Plus users and don’t like Beta, will we be forced to switch eventually or will the classic mail reader still be available to us?
September 20th, 2007 at 7:29 am
I find the yahoo Beta mail cumbersome at best it takes 2 screens now to get to my mail (I am sure this is to get another ad in my face) and then it takes a long time (10 – 15 seconds) to load the mail page and a long time to load mail each time I click on one. The ad I can live w/ as I know you need to make a living the long lag times I cannot. (Yes I use this over a very, very fast line @ work). So I have relegated my Yahoo mail to my “spam” mail and use Gmail regularly because Gmail is so much more responsive (and I get to skip the itermediate ad step).
September 20th, 2007 at 7:29 am
The new yahoo mail looks and feel great but it sorely miss a very usefull feature found in the classic yahoo mail: the ability to identify emails addressed to AddressGuard diposable emails via color codes. Just because of this I cannot switch to the new version. Please please, could you implement this feature in the new yahoo mail.
September 20th, 2007 at 7:34 am
I must say, I was initially very excited about the Yahoo email upgrade, and was one of the first people to jump on board. I was also very likely one of the first to jump off board. Yahoo Mail Beta is far too much like gmail, an account I also have and never use. Don’t follow the competition, innovate your own software.
I certainly hope you never force us all into the new mail system, as I know I would be sad to leave yahoo as my main account.
September 20th, 2007 at 8:42 am
I had to switch back to old mail this weekend when I could not get into mail beta. Yahoo customer service said it was a known bug with my ISP-comcast. I’ve been using comcast as long as I’ve had mail-beta and never encountered this issue I just wonder????? Not impressed
September 20th, 2007 at 8:47 am
My opinion on the Yahoo Beta style message site is that I hope you will allow some of us who are happy with the classic style to keep it. I feel cramped by the Beta style. There is too much going on in it and not alot of space to see your messages and to read them. It is very irritating to have to constantly hit the arrow button to get rid of the advertisement on the right side just to read the emails. I am not a computer geek. To me the information on the page is far to busy and I prefer the classic style. That style is simple and you are allowed to see your list of emails and to read the emails stretched out and not cramped in as in the Beta style. But there will be some who will want the Beta and some will want to keep the classic. I hope you will allow the user to choose which system they wish to use.
As for the person or persons who get rude about the change, there is no cause to be rude. You either like or don’t. Yahoo is trying to update their services and there is no reason to show bad manners. I know it is the in thing now days to be rude, but be an adult and show consideration for others or keep your rudeness to yourself.
September 20th, 2007 at 8:58 am
[...] paying customers should be let in first, I appreciate the fact that someone is listening. Also, a post today on the official Y! Mail blog offers some more details on the roll [...]
September 20th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I like the classic Yahoo mail, I like being able to choose my colors, and to color code downloaded mail for other accounts and Address Guard mailboxes. I also like the quotes prefaced by > and resent having to “mark” previous mail quotes myself manually
September 20th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Forgot to say: I am a MailPlus customr so, it’s not free, although the cost is minimal, and I really hate being forced to go to a “look” and interface I don’t like. One reason I chose Yahoo Mail originally, all those years ago, was the ability to choose my own color scheme for the page.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Great thanks for the update as to how you are migrating all of us onto the new Mail servers, but you forgot to give the timeframe, or as with all Yahoo projects, I suppose there is none.
For once though it would be good to publish at least when you “expect” to be all done.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Please be patient, for those who don’t work in IT, it seems to be a very simple process, but if you’re not careful it can become a real mess and when that happens your comments will ask why they do that without a proper rollout plan.
September 20th, 2007 at 10:41 am
I print a lot of my emails, and I like how they looked with the “old” system, i.e. with the Yahoo logo in the upper left corner. The new print format looks like a refugee from a .txt file; c’mon, guys, lets’s make it look like something!!
September 20th, 2007 at 11:19 am
i was just wondering how long you think i will be waiting to get my email changed becasue my dad’s email has changed already, btw i love what you have done!!! if there is nayway you can get back to me plz do, thank you very much
September 20th, 2007 at 11:25 am
I have been using Yahoo Mail for years and I don’t mind the new version. Sometimes it is a bit heavy because they’ve tried to pack so much into it, but basically I like it.
However, the new Yahoo Go! is a disaster. I primarily used the old version for email, calender and contacts. It worked great. It synced everything with my phone with no worries. I just had to set how often I wanted it to sync and didn’t have to think about it after that. Now with the new one you have to start the software, login, then tell it to sync or to check mail. Then wait for it to check. Might as well be using a browser. It’s very frustrating. I wish the would have an option for just the things that I need it for. Unfortunately, I think I will have to change email because of the new software. Very disappointing.
I actually just posted an article to my blog about it not too long ago as well.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:35 am
The Beta is way too slow for prime time, IM(NS)HO. It’s painful to use.
(And yes, I have a fast computer and a great broadband connection.)
Oh, well. I appreciate that it’s free.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I tried the beta, it does not work well on Firefox. I hit “reply” and the screen freezes.
One great thing about yahoo mail was the simplicity and robustness of basic functions.
Dont try to be something you are not, keep doing what had made you successful to begin with. Make sure the new version is robust enough before switching everyone.
Not everything Google does is “cool”, dont feel the need to keep up…
September 20th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Got the upgrade to Beta, tried the upgrade Beta, hhhm. Not for me, but thanks anyway. Went back to the old school after a week.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I WANTED TO KNOW WHO I NEED TO CONTACT TO GET MY YAHOO E-MAIL FIXED. I CAN RECEIVE MAIL BUT CAN’T SEND. JUST GOES BLANK!
September 20th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I’ve tried the beta twice in the past year, and both times switched back to classic within a day. Maybe because I’ve been using it for 7 years, maybe more, I’m too stuck in my ways, but I don’t like the upgrade. Last time I tried it, I went and checked on email name availability at Hotmail and Gmail, I was so annoyed. Please put me at the end of the forced upgrade list.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I don’t particularly like the new email. I tried it and switched back. takes too long to load EVERYTHING.
I don’t even use outlook or outlook express, cause it takes too many resources, but I do use Mozilla Thunderbird, it won’t hijack your system ( anything msn gets hijacked by outlook and/or messenger when in use )
September 20th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
beta does not work on my Iphone or mac computer.
I hope they dont switch it for me . I had to switch back.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
what happened to yahoo photo? It worked really well for me then it disapeared..
I want it back was there a problem?
September 20th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I think beta mail is awesome! It’s not the old boring you have 2 new messages. I miss the animations on the old yahoo mail though
September 20th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Beta mail is awesome
September 20th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Como estas? Muy bien!!!
September 20th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I heard Yahoo purchased Zimbra. Why don’t they just roll that out. I use Zimbra WebMail… it rocks. The Yahoo Beta… Looks cool… the ad thingy on the right is a pain. I keep sliding it out of the way and soon as I click the mouse anyplace, it slides back.
The Yahoo webclient isn’t nearly as cool and solid as Zimbra. If what I am seeing is Yahoo’s bastardization of Zimbra… all I can say is ‘yikes’.
I often get time outs when my mailbox is loading.
I often get time out when attempting to open an email.
Seems like I get substantially more spam than I used to get. My ratio is about 10 – 15 spams to 1 valid email message. Is this related to new mail? Hard to tell.
Further at least two valid emails everyday are misclassified as spam. On a bad day about half of what shows up in my inbox is spam. Its hard to tell, and not likely, that this is related to the new mail webclient.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I,m really thankful for your no strings attached service,since 2002,I,ve only had one problem and your team promptly replied when i asked for help,and next day my e-mail account was 100%.i look forward to the upcoming version,yall are doing a fine job,thanks again,Brad
September 20th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
I am a professional programmer. I have been known to write a few GUIs and use them too. If I had to choose, I’d choose Yahoo! Mail Classic over New Mail without hesitation. I too, actually tried New Mail a number of times, sometimes for days at a time, (I know. Wow! Days?) but I switched back each time because I prefer the way Classic Mail works. How a computer interface works is more important to me than how it looks. I can live without the drag-and-drop that New Mail has and Classic Mail doesn’t. I am perfectly fine with clicking a check box in a dialog to move mail. Maybe I like to copy an email subject from the inbox page and paste it into the search dialog to search for other email with that subject. I can do that in Mail Classic, but not in New Mail. I like to be able to search a page of email subjects or authors using a simple Ctrl-F, typing some text and hitting Enter. Can’t do this in New Mail. (Can’t do that in New Bookmarks, either.) I think New Mail could be made acceptable to me, but I doubt it will happen because, like the Windows operating systems, so many GUIs are drifting toward the lowest common denominator, glitz-and-glammor, entertainment-seeking, casual user and away from the basic power-user who wants an interface to fit like a glove, hit like a train and not to get in its own way. I like many aspects of New Mail, but I trust my instincts, and my instincts drove me to switch back to Mail Classic. I think that if I am forced to use New Mail, THAT will stink.
September 20th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
To Anu: What version of Firefox are you using? Maybe you need to update that. I’ve used FF exclusively for over 2 years on both a G4 ibook (mac) and 3 different Windows machines of varying ages/specs with no problems at all.
IMO..like some of the others..it is a FREE product… be happy you have it at all, lol. I do like the new Y! beta -works for me!
September 20th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
The “new and improved” email looks like Widoze Lookout. It’s a serious bandwidth hog that does NOTHING to improve. I am sticking with the original.
There is a motto: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
September 20th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
You guys at least listened to my complaint about the stupid text I had to type in the box every time I sent and email and fixed it, so it seems to work well now. It was preventing the 419 scammers from using Yahoo! anyway, they still prefer it. Not much you can do about that.
September 20th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Sorry about that: “it was not preventing the 419 scammers from using Yahoo! anyway”. I do that via allreaders.net.
September 20th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
When you can finally make your business mail users (i.e. the ones who actually PAY for mail) able to access their mail from a wireless device in a reasonable application (using plain html version is horrible!) , I might switch. I am so close to switching to Gmail due to this issue!
September 21st, 2007 at 12:58 am
I have been using yahoomail for years and i prefer yahoomail beta to the original yahoomail.
September 21st, 2007 at 1:06 am
Think you could even try making it Safari compatible?
September 21st, 2007 at 2:50 am
i would always prefer quick and easy to operate, simple to understand and manouvre
September 21st, 2007 at 2:54 am
I have been using the yahoomail for 5 year for now well foir me I dont have any comment everything is great.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:50 am
There was already a cryptic mention of Safari compatibility…
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Y-Mail/message/12971
which seems to have been an announcement of a non-existent Safari compatibility:
But you can see the chronicle here:
http://strayvoltage.blogspot.com/2007/09/yahoo-mail-cant-figure-out-what-its.html
that it’s not working.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:25 am
I certainly hope that everyone is not “forced” to over to the new system! I cannot support it, it seems that everyone is going to all kinds of useless bells and whistles that are just for show and generally limits functionality for dial up users. I would love to go broadband but I can only do that by satellite which is $500 in startup. I tried the Beta from broadband for about 15 minutes, I hated it. I realize that it is free and I generally use Yahoo! over my other freemail accounts because I like it as is, “meat n taters” so to speak. Beta seems to be designed by a bunch of kids that just want to “purty” things up. Please keep classic as an option for those of us that want functionality over useless “toys”. I would hate to be forced in my email to Beta as I have in Yahoo! photos the “bells n whistles” laden Flickr.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:34 am
I am using the new Mail beta and the past couple of days it will say that I have messages in my inbox and I dont. I go there and there is none and it is not clearing that screen nor on my messenger screen. Something is wrong.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:06 am
Hi
September 21st, 2007 at 6:01 am
Like many others, I have tried the beta version and for users, like myself, who like it simple and FAST why the heck fix something if it isn’t broken?!
I also fail to see the logic in improving classic yahoo and at the same time try to roll out a new (slower and more cumbersome) version, with bells and whistles that are of little, if any, value (to me).
In short, we like our yahoo just like it is thanx and the only reason I would change (both web hosting and email) to google would be if yahoo would be stupid enough to shove the new version down our throats!
Just my 5 cents worth…..
September 21st, 2007 at 6:03 am
Goodness, please don’t ever return to adding that awful > before each line of previous messages. I’ve been around the internet for more than 10 years and that is one of the best things that is not around anymore.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:11 am
Don’t mess with my yahoo!
yahoo classic ROCKS and beta SUCKS!
If you use beta, you might as well use gmail (which also sucks).
Yahoo, we love you for being consistent and innovative but pleeeeeease don’t try to make a new and improved yahoo gmail version (i.e. beta). Trust me you’d loose tons of registered clients and that can not possibly be your intention, or is it?
September 21st, 2007 at 6:11 am
Out of beta? It is now on 1 farm and 6 builds later. I hope the news media will pick up on the fact that Yahoo lied.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:26 am
I’ve got an account with gmail and an account with Yahoo! and Yahoo! Beta is NOTHING like gmail. What are you people talking about???
September 21st, 2007 at 6:56 am
Yahoo should fix their current problems before going on to something new. I’ve had nothing but problems, slow starts and ‘ERROR CODE 5′ messages for the last two (2) months.
Yahoo’s tech solution,’ change your password’.
Well I’m not doing that again.
FIX CURRENT EMAIL FIRST!!!!
September 21st, 2007 at 7:21 am
I am not thrilled with the new yahoo mail.beta. It looks too much like outlook which I switched from to Yahoo. I don’t like how once you have forwarded an email there is no longer the option to delete it right then. And the address book is awful. Why do I have to highlight each one instead of checking off a box like before? I tried the new mail and switched back to the old one. The only thing I liked about the beta was the new fonts.
September 21st, 2007 at 7:57 am
I was an original oddpost user, and I loved it. I didn’t like classic Yahoo, too cumbersome, couldn’t do multiple actions at once. I love the folders of the beta, and esp. being able to see lots of email subject lines in a more compressed space on one screen as well as previews. It is buggy though — get too many errors, can’t display message, etc., and too many clicks to get to inbox. Responsiveness of inbox link seems to have degraded since the introduction of the chat function. I don’t like the Home tab at all — when I click on mail, I want to see my mail. I’ll go elsewhere for news.
September 21st, 2007 at 8:06 am
I will use it when it stops “hanging” EVERY time I try to open my email.
I have to kill my connection and reboot. I did not have this problem with the classic version.
September 21st, 2007 at 8:57 am
new mesage
September 21st, 2007 at 9:13 am
I think you guys should remove this all-new yahoo mail stuff. Please do so because almost all the comments people are sending are notorious. Yeah, sure.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:24 am
I’m a Yahoo Mail Plus user. I will go to the new mail when it’s at least 2x faster, supports View filtering (not just sorting), Advanced Search (boolean), and the Signature on/off option. (Oh… and it has to run for at least an hour at a time without an error.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:26 am
I guess the old saw about…If it aint broke dont fix it could apply here… I tried beta and I did not like it.
I did not like mixing Bulk-Junk mail that could only be deleated after it was opened there by informing these leaches that I was alive.
I stopped using Incredimail for the same reason.
I don’t do text message.
I guess that I am old fashiond, but…that is the way it is.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:43 am
I AGREE WITH RON…I HOPE WE CAN KEEP OUR REGULAR OLD EASY DOES IT YAHOO MAIL…I TRIED THE BETA AND DID NOT LIKE IT AND SWITCHED BACK…PLEASE GIVE US THE OPTION TO KEEP IT THE WAY IT IS…I USE YAHOO AS MY HOME PAGE AND MY MAIL…I AM ON DSL SO I DO HAVE ANOTHER EMAIL OPTION WITH MY SERVICE BUT I USE YAHOO FOR EVERYTHING…
September 21st, 2007 at 10:22 am
I have concerns about switching to the new Yahoo — mostly because I’d like to have access to my Yahoo mail when using computers that have had access to Active-X controls disabled. Many of the current email interfaces cannot be accessed from secure locations — gmail and the new Yahoo mail are two of them.
I can access Yahoo mail using the “Classic” view, but not the Beta view. I hope that the old interface will continue to be an option.
Thanks for allowing us the opportunity to comment!
September 21st, 2007 at 10:50 am
I really don’t like the new Yahoo! mail. I have had more problems with browser crashes, hangs, system performance problems, etc. and I find the new interface difficult to use. I’ve reported a variety of problems over the beta run, but given that the problems seem to still exist, I assume that I’m in the minority. I have problems with the new my.yahoo.com beta – in fact, in its case, it won’t even display on my system, and when I try to get the beta my.yahoo to switch back, it refuses.
I’ve been a yahoo user for years. I have over those years recommended Yahoo to friends as a free service worth trying out. I hope that Yahoo continues being a site that can be recommended.
Of course, if I am unable to use the site after these kinds of upgrades, I will have to move on to some competitor’s site.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:51 am
For those who use Firefox and have problems with Yahoo Mail Beta I have a suggestion that might help. It worked for me. My Yahoo Mail Beta was really slow for some reason even though I have a super fast computer and broadband connection. So I reluctantly tried something and it helped. I uninstalled Firefox, removed its folders and ran a registry cleaner. I reinstalled Firefox and visited my Yahoo account. I found that my mail was a lot faster. Something about my old Firefox installation was slowing me down. Now I am rebuilding my profile from scratch. I’m adding about 20 extensions one by one to see if any of them were the problem. So far so good. Conclusion: for slowness consider a clean install of Firefox. It might help a little.
September 21st, 2007 at 11:00 am
I have an even bigger concern right now. I decided to see what the beta looked like today. So I click on the link to switch. I get a screen which says that the new yahoo won’t support my browser.
Here’s the thing – I don’t have the ability to change browsers. I get what the admin provides for me. Downloads and installs are blocked on these machines.
Also, I noticed that, at least as far as the screen information discusses, only Mac and Windows are supported. So my alternate machines are all eliminated from access as well.
Eliminating customers doesn’t seem like the most friendly solution. Hopefully, rather than going that route, the final rollout will, at the very least, permit those of us with alternative browsers or systems to access the Mail, etc. via alternate methods.
And perhaps rather than adding all sorts of whizbang new nifty features (like chat, newsfeeds, etc.) someone could check to see what the average user really wants, rather than just the advanced users?
Just a thought. While Yahoo is “free” to use, if the number of people using it drops significantly, then the number of eyes and clicks on ads also drops, which means Yahoo loses revenues, which means the company is in trouble…
September 21st, 2007 at 11:29 am
Yahoo Mail is the best and the Beta is great!!! Thanks for letting us now of how things are working out.
September 21st, 2007 at 11:44 am
I have had nothing but problems with the beta version. It constantly hangs up and gives errors when sending messages. Alot of times, I cannot even connect to it. I like the interface, but I think there is still lots more work to be done to make it robust. For that reason, I have created a Google account, in case I get really frustrated and just do away with it completely.
September 21st, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Can we have a forum board for this stuff with different topic threads? That would be very constructive. A list of comments does no work as well. I would like clarification on problems some people mention, and an easy way to gather answers or solutions for each problem.
My Yahoo Beta is working well. The area above messages is sort of big, but using F11 (full screen mode) helps. I use my browser View menu to change text size (I do not see 6 pt. fonts like that earlier responder). I don’t mind quoting via — Original Message — section because “>” symbols can get so deeply nested that text wraps and “>” gets added to the wrapped lines. (Not pretty.) Errors? What errors? Maybe some people have bad farm servers or something? I don’t see errors. Hanging? See if you can start up Yahoo mail with Yahoo Messenger Offline. Does that help?
September 21st, 2007 at 1:59 pm
I absolutely love the new beta version and look forward to the roll over to new program also. It seems to work very good, only a couple glitches. It is more efficient and easier in many different ways. Thank you so much for giving us free email program. I do appreciate it.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:15 pm
The new Yahoo Web Mail has finally emerged from Beta, and I really like it! Getting a printable view of messages is just a double-click, and viewing messages in full-screen mode works almost as fast and easliy. But with G-Mail and AT&T Worldnet, among others, offering FREE POP-3 Access, I would like this feature (or an IMAP version) to be moved over to the Free Yahoo Accounts.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I prefer Yahoo Classic as is. Thanks
September 21st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I prefer Yahoo Classic & do not wish to use alternative. thanks
September 21st, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I haven’t been able to click on message and read messages like on old style mail, have to click mail icom, then click Inbox then click on selected mssg. is this normal? I am getting click itity. I am new to all of this.aarrg!
September 21st, 2007 at 6:03 pm
You know you will be able to use both yahoo classic and the new one….if you actually read the last blog
Oh and congrats yahoo for not making the same mistake as Microsoft and making everyone move to the new service.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:26 pm
At first, I did not like Yahoo! Mail Beta, but after giving it a shot, I have grown to like it. At my workplace, they recently upgraded to use the G-mail interface, which I find lacking. I like how I can have a composition open in one tab and search through past sent mails in another tab.
My only complaint is with the headers – the information that displays on screen is very minimal. I like having full header in view all the time, the option to – Show all headers on incoming messages – was one I used. Especially for printing e-mails. Last year, I was involved in some legal proceedings and having the in-depth information that full headers allowed, printed on the e-mail when I printed it, was helpful and needed. Now, I cannot do that. I hope the – Show all headers on incoming messages – is an option that is brought back.
September 21st, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Oh yes – I agree with the posters above who have complained about the lack of options when it comes to search. I like the advanced search options of the old Yahoo interface and when I have to do some detailed searches (As I save the majority of my e-mails), the old way of searching always allows me to find things much faster. I spent 20 minutes trying to find something the other night in Beta, and got so frustrated that I switched back to Classic and found it in less than 5 minutes.
I do love the new interface though, and if they can fix those minor things – the search ability, the ability to have full headers – I will be happy.
My last complaint is that I had about 35 filters setup and over the past week those filters went bye-bye. I am not overly upset about this, because I have been meaning to clean up my filters, but still… I assume the loss of filters was due to the upgrading that is happening.
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:20 am
i happen to like the beta version better than the old way
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:43 am
Hello.
I’ve ran the Yahoo Mail Beta for over a year and think it’s excellent. There have been additions etc. which I’ve suggested to support. They were received and answered with every attempt to show appreciation for my efforts. The Beta has gone through many improvements through this period of time I’ve been exposed to it. Many of you should remember one thing: The word Beta is prominently displayed. If you don’t understand what it is, look it up. I’m looking forward to the new release.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:28 am
Ryan, thanks for the update, I have been one of the curious about when it would rollover.
IMHO, if one is able to get their mail (and they are using the Beta version still), count your blessings. Put a piece of duct tape on your monitor where the “beta” is if you have to. If you are one of the ones that don’t want to lose the classic style, perhaps the “squeaky wheel” method will work for you but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Perhaps if you are that unhappy with the new look of Yahoo! Mail, find something else that you can be happy with. Only YOU can decide for yourself what you want, just don’t settle for something that you don’t like.
Just my 2 cents…
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:28 am
I hate it!! I dont like how its set up!!
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:52 am
I was offered Beta back several months ago – tried it and went back to the classic original format. I agree with most of the comments especially the one about not being able to view the email except in the smallspace. I guess we are creatures of habit and this makes it hard to accept changes – HOWEVER I would certainly like the option to choose which style I prefer. But then when the rollout is complete you cannot leave us hanging without ever updating the classic style.
Thans – and I do prefer Yahoo! over most othe brands.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:21 am
And when’s Opera support coming?
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:31 am
Wait a minute…. I just realized that folks with free accounts are being upgraded while we who are PAYING customers with premium mail accounts have to wait.
Not only is that wrong on __SO__ many levels, but it will be a major factor in deciding whether to renew my account…. or not.
Hmmmm…. gmail here I come!
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:51 am
Everytime you mess around with intentions of NEW THINGS WITH YAHOO…..YOU
MESS THEM UP AND I HAVE TROUBLES
UNTIL I CONVINCE YOU TO PUT ME BACK
TO THE ONE I WAS ON…P L E A S E
LEAVE IT ALONE…
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 am
Mine is still Beta…Please tell if your gets out of Beta…
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:34 am
Unlike Scott and Serena that like the “>” being added into the emails! Robert said a mouthful about the symbols becoming so nested they crowd out everything. Up until I found emailstripper from papercut.biz, I used to copy the mail in it’s entirety to Word so I could remove the”>”. Bottom line the new version basically sucks and if you add the greater than sign it will suck even more. I have been around for 10 years so Scott doesn’t speak for me. Maybe I will try out the new version sometime again, when it has lost some weight.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:54 am
I love yahoo mail… thank you for offering it to me.. and personally… I had no idea until I just read this article, that there were any changes taking place with the beta… it’s free… everyone just be thankful for it… whatever version it is in! :)
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 am
The new beta is terrible! Yahoo could learn a few things from the more popular- and user friendly- mail services, like Google’s Gmail. I tried beta and gave it about two weeks, but it’s frankly a worthless downgrade.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:50 am
Everyone I know was forced to go to the Beta version a few weeks ago. We were not able to read or write anything in Yahoo Classic. What disturbed me most was the fact that we were not given ANY notice whatsoever. It took several days for some of my friends to find out they had to switch to the Beta version to use their mail. Also, I am not able to sort my mail like I had in the past and bring up all my ‘unread mail’. Will that be a feature once the rollout is complete? While Yahoo is free and I have always appreciated it and recommended it, I am disappointed that they dropped the ball as far as giving anyone any notice before taking down our Yahoo Classic abilities. Afetr reading these posts, I would like to know why some people are able to return to Yahoo Classic mail and we are not able to go back. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:57 am
I tried but did not like it. I have my colors set up to resemble my work’s homepage and all my co workers love it. But in Beta it just doesn’t look right.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:26 am
I tried beta but I didn’t like it, the old yahoo is more personal, and much easier to use. Not to mention the beta only worked on one of my computers, and when it did- it was slower than I liked. I switched back to the old version and I love it. I do appreciate the effort to try and make our service better, even though it is a free service. Thanks for attempting to make it better, and for giving me the opportunity to switch back!
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 am
Please tell us something. Will it be hours, days, weeks, months or years. This article’s headline contains the question “When?”, but the article only tells us that you can not tell us, it would be better titled “We do not have a clue!”
–
Cal-Guy
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:29 pm
As said already, a better indicator of progress would be helpful. Is the migration 10% complete? Will it take maybe 2 months to complete? Some more info would help.
I forgot to mention earlier I pay for a Plus account. Maybe this explains why I do not ever see any advertisements when reading my mail. I also use FireFox (with the free Ad Block Plus addon enabled for most sites). I might have slight slowdown, but not too bad at all. I use 52 Kbps dialup at home and a fast connection at work, and Yahoo Mail Beta is responsive and error free for me.
I just learned from Help there is an FAQ area with customer questions and answers. Maybe some people here can find solutions there?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Loved Beta, but I’m working out of the library these days and it doesn’t work there. So I’m back to basics.
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:12 pm
I would like to get the new Yahoo Mail, but I get the message that my browser is not supported. I’m on a Mac running Camino, which uses the Mozilla engine. This is supported via Firefox, so it should work as well (probably better) in Camino.
When Yahoo opens the new Mail to recognize Camino, I’ll use it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:18 pm
For all those who are pressing for an exact date for the rollout, I, for one, prefer that Yahoo techs allow unspecified time for changes and corrections, rather than going the Microsoft way and sending out buggy stuff just to meet a deadline.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I’ve got the classic yahoo version (i think) and it works well…smooth compatibility with my Opera 9 browser…like the looks of it too…anyway could i keep my account as it is? If it ain’t broke,don’t fix it,is my thought….it’s fast and trouble free as it is….thanks a bunch…
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I AGREE THE BETA BLOWS. 2 times I’ve tried to load it and both times I’ve had problems. Maybe it’s me or my system, but just leave me with GOOD OLD CLASSIC and I’ll be quite content.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:48 am
Hello Ryan!
I understand this process takes time.
However, I would only like to know one thing – in case I decide to use Yahoo! Mail Classic, how would I know when/if my account was switched out of beta?
September 24th, 2007 at 6:23 am
Ryan –
I love Yahoo! Mail. However, there’s a major problem with Yahoo! Mail Beta’s Contact program that prevents me from using it. In the old Contacts, there was a “Category” feature, which is required to sort my many contacts into usable views. The Beta Contact program lacks “Categories”, which means my contacts are essentially inaccessible. I – and I imagine many others – would really appreciate if you could add this feature to the new Contacts program. Thanks, in advance, for your help.
David
September 24th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
hey ryan, i wanted to know if the new yahoo mail will show what is in your calendar on the calendar bar at the the bottom of what is now the yahoo mail beta view.
thanks
September 24th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Hi:
When will the address book part of Yahoo! Mail be cleaned up?
I like the interface very much, but the Contacts portion seems like an afterthought. It’s not as robust as before, and little stuff like the inability to have apostrophes (as in the last name “O’Connor” can be entered, but don’t display properly, and cause problems when trying to SEND the message).
Please tell me that there’s more work ahead on the Contacts section?
Thanks.
September 25th, 2007 at 3:40 am
I have been using the new Yahoo! Mail Beta for quite some time now and really like it. I’m anxiously waiting for my “farm” to be converted. I’m with everyone who would like an overall progress report (i.e. we’ve converted about 40% of the farms and/or are estimating completion of the rollout by a certain date). I understand the need for not being super specific, but any information is better than really no information.
PS. Any news on new features that are in the works is also greatly appreciated!
September 25th, 2007 at 6:22 am
I like the new mail, but lately my email notifications (through the Yahoo! Toolbar, MyYahoo! and messenger have been all messed up. Normally, once I check my mail, the counter on the notification resets to zero new messages, but now it won’t reset, making it seem like there’s new mail when there isn’t. Is anybody else experinecing this? Is a solution in the works? Thanks
September 25th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
I am sorry to hear that some of you, call people that actually don’t like lies ‘whiny’ but oh well. On August 28th post on this blog said: “Many of you have already been switched from the beta, but others may have to wait a week or so for the rollout to hit their respective servers”. I guess the ‘so’ is a month, or more or who knows… When things are announced I like to anticipated them and be excited about it. If the company sets the date it should obey by it, otherwise it should never announce something that’s unachievable. Let’s recall: Yahoo Messenger for Vista was announce on January 8th 2007, and it was set for release in the first quarter of the year, that means April 30 the latest. Now is what? Third quarter! At least for Yahoo Mail we got half decent explanation. For Yahoo Messenger we got nothing, except deleted comments of people who showed their disagreement and disappointment with Yahoo! I used to respect this Internet giant… now it’s just a little mouse in my eyes.
September 26th, 2007 at 7:31 am
I am totally happy with the new mail, if it is beta or all new doesn’t matter to me, I am happy with it anyway =).
I am just wondering if we will ever be able to customise our yahoo (colour whise), that would be great.
thanks for all your work
September 27th, 2007 at 4:00 am
I have been a regular user of Yahoo! and i prefer it to any other email service.Though my account is still in the “beta” phase and i am expecting a roll out sometime soon, i am unable to control my anxiety.Looks like the full version has a lot of new options including the one that allows us to choose a colour of our choice. That’s great! Great going Yahoo! We are always there for you.
September 27th, 2007 at 4:33 am
I’m surprised by some of the negative comments about the service overall. As a long-time user of Yahoo! mail pre- the beta, I was very impressed – and remain so – with the new application. It’s really made a huge difference and I look forward to losing the “BETA” from my account soon.
I think a great job has been done with Yahoo! mail.
September 27th, 2007 at 10:50 am
I have a comment on the beta that should be corrected before moving international users. With respect to asian holidays in the calendar, the korean spelling appears correctly in the feed at the bottom of the mail view. However, the korean characters are not appearing at all in the calendar view itself. Instead, dashes are shown. This appears to be a bug that may effect any other language characters other than just the asian ones. I am not sure how to register comments on the beta, but I thought this should be forwarded to those responsible for the calendar so that it could be corrected.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:19 am
Laura, I am experiencing the same thing with the new email counter on the tool bar and the desktop widget not resetting to zero after I check my mail. It resets I think at least once a day, but otherwise the number of supposed new emails just accumulates. I hope there is a solution soon!
September 28th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I have been paying for the premium version of yahoo mail for close to 2 years now. I would have hoped that people like me would have received priority for the upgrades over those who get the free service. It is painful to see others not paying anything and getting the new service months before those of us who support yahoo with our dollars.
September 28th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
For those of you who are asking questions here, forget about getting an answer. I cannot count the times that I have emailed yahoo with questions or problems. Want to guess how many times I got a reply? A big fat zero! I don’t bother anymore. I am very close to giving up on yahoo completely. The way the new email works will probably determine whether I do. And yes, I pay for my email on yahoo, so I don’t buy the “but it is free” excuses.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I am looking forward to trying the new version. You all have really improved the speed and performance and this has led me to switch from gmail to yahoo. I love the features (especially the chat), and I hope the notepad and calendar can be updated soon– perhaps with zimbra functionality.
It will take time for people to get used to such a huge jump in functionality from the old version. I definitely don’t think it is because the new version is worse. Personally, I would never use the old version of yahoo mail. Keep up the good work!
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I got my new Yahoo! mail yesterday.
Trust me, it is really cool.
It loads faster than the beta and we have the option of choosing colours as well.
We can also chat with Windows Live contacts from the mail application.
Good work Yahoo!
October 6th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Still haven’t received my update yet. I’m a Yahoo Mail Plus user. Anyone else not yet received the update?
October 7th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Yaho…………….New services are appreciable.But I am new to this Mail swervices, I have not experienced its utility so far. Now, I am aquented to use the Yahoo Mail beta. In this line any new additions by tyhe pramotars , it may be welcome.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Yahoo mail at present is useful and quick. Any new effort or additions in the mail section are appreciable and subscribers are using it. comments posted by B.R.Sree nagesh,Mysore.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
i need new mail it fill good
October 8th, 2007 at 11:49 am
To all of those people complaining about paying for premium and still not having the upgrade: if you actually read the article, it says that they have to upgrade accounts one server farm at a time. Unless I am seriously mistaken, the server farm your account is on depends on when you opened your account, not whether you paid for it or not.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:04 am
Yahoo!Mail out of Beta…
It seems the Web 2.0 generation is growing up. After more than a year in public beta, and over two years in development, the new version of Yahoo!Mail has finally been let loose as a finished product. The change of the service from beta to release also…
October 10th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
when will everybody get the new mail???
October 13th, 2007 at 3:03 am
chuc vui ve
October 16th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Just got the new version. Just gorgeous. Excellent work from Yahoo and a good example of what the Internet can be: attractive, productive, useful. Looking forward to the calendar update.
October 16th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Hi everyone,
I was just wondering if there was a way to see what server farm my account is on. My free account has been switched to the new version which looks great. My SBC (now AT&T) accounts haven’t switched over yet. Thanks.
October 16th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I can’t get into my yahoo mailbox- no mail. no yahoo help or contact us function either. waaahhhh what’s going on?
October 24th, 2007 at 8:22 am
My yahoo chat account has been converted to the new mail, but my main mail account is still on beta.
I did try out the new mail in Safari 3.0.3 on Windows and everything works with no errors (although, it first said it was unsupported). Can’t wait for my main account to be upgraded.
Unfortunately, rss reader still does not support authenticated feeds (requiring user/pass).
November 6th, 2007 at 4:43 am
It’ s been two days that I can’t access my yahoo mail. I keep getting “error code 5″. I ‘ve tried everything (clearing temp, cookies etc, changing password) but still nothing. Please any help will be apreciated, because I can’t work without e-mail
December 4th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I cant get my mail to work, I sure wish you would fix it. I cant delete my spam or anything as far as that goes.
December 4th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
why do I get the notice on my e-mail account that “due to unusual mail my mail can not be used for up to 48 hours.
December 12th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Opera!
Opera!
Opera!
Opera!
Opera!
When will we have the excellent Yahoo UI team fix the problems? You have one of the best frontend engineers.
December 16th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
I was not created or soldered yesterday and nothing has changed back in my yahoo contents. I do not like to be thought of as a guinea pig when I have paid for yahoo services in the past and now have terrible credit as a result. To make matters worse now there is no way for me to communicate with one company on my credit report since they are out of business or sold to wherever. To say this experience has been a nightmare is not really adequate of how this has been taked out of context and only for the sake of discussion or need of information.
December 28th, 2007 at 3:55 am
You have trapped me into not being able to get back to my usual mail site. Your offer to update to your new system will not go away. Please remove it
December 28th, 2007 at 3:56 am
Your offer,which I do not want to take up, will not allow me to get back to the system I have been using. Please remove it
January 1st, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I might like Yahoo beta mail if I could use it!!
I am using windows 2000 sp3 and IE and none of the tabs work and I cannot switch back at all to the Classic Yahoo e-mail!!
If anybody has a solution you mail mail me at my other yahoo e-mail addy– rkensler@yahoo.com
Peace!!
March 11th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Yahoo Mail Plus user.
iPhone cannot retrieve mail from old e-mail server. (at least 10 year old yahoo account)
I’m using the Beta. It works best for me because I can get through my e-mails much faster with the screen preview. Settings set to no confirmation on sent e-mails really speeds up the process of going through 100 or so e-mails per day.
Two things:
1. The search mail feature hangs. It’s not because of the browser. It’s because my yahoo mail account is over 10 years old and is still sitting on the old mail servers. Every time I need to do a mail search, I need to switch back to classic. No fun.
2. Because my account is still sitting on the old servers I can’t take advantage of the iPhone push e-mail services. iPhone can’t get through to the old mail servers to retrieve the mail in my inbox. (Other folders work fine)
Does Yahoo! plan to migrate all the old accounts to the new servers? Is that what were talking about here or are we just talking about the roll out of the new main interface?
April 5th, 2008 at 2:46 am
That was brilliant. Very informative information that as a newbie to the internet I enjoyed very much. Keep up the good work! And thank you.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:27 pm
[...] themselves wrote a couple of posts on this topic back when the beta was being rolled out, see: [1], [2]), but I figure three months has given them a fair chance before I start moaning . I’m on [...]