Problem identified
Hotmail has rolled out a new feature for users to create and manage multiple email aliases from a single email account.
The new aliasing feature is designed to help Hotmail users protect their online identity and use different email addresses without having to change their primary email address.
Dharmesh Mehta, director of Windows Live product management wrote in a blog post, that the average person maintains 3 separate email addresses to organise different types of email, maintain different personas, or keep junk mail away from a primary email address.
While peoples' intentions in wanting to have multiple email addresses are good, Mehta notes it is inefficient to check multiple inboxes, so Hotmail's new update will help its users save time by managing their email addresses in one place.
While Hotmail already allows its users to add a plus sign and a descriptive word to their email address so a type of mail is automatically filed in their inbox under a certain folder, it is still easy for outsiders to determine a person's primary email address.
Mehta said: "Email aliases let you create completely different email addresses that you can use to receive email into your primary account without anyone knowing what your primary email address is."
The idea is that users can use an alias to collect emails, say for car quotes that are useful at the time but they do not want flooding into their inbox forever and turn the alias off when they are done, preventing a cluttered inbox.
Mehta said: "You might also be concerned that your address could be sold to other companies or could result in a large amount of new email that you don't want or doesn't belong in the same place as your regular email. Or maybe you want an address that's better suited to your hard-core gaming persona rather than your normal, professional one."
Hotmail users will be able to add 5 aliases a year to their Hotmail account, with up to 15 aliases in total.
