Millions send messages through Windows

Millions send messages through Windows

Thailand is the biggest social Web society in Southeast Asia and ranks ninth in the world, said Barrie Ooi, regional product manager for Microsoft Windows Live, Southeast Asia.

Published on November 20, 2007

Around half the total Internet population in Thailand - around 6.7 million people - are Windows Live users. Within Windows Live, around 1.4 million are Windows Live Space users, 5.3 million people are Hotmail users and 3.6 million are MSN users.

The Windows Live Space population in Thailand represents the largest social networking activity in the region and ninth in the world. This ranking is calculated using both the number of page views per day and the number of messages per day.

"Windows Live Space has been launched in Thailand for 18 months and now there are 1.4 million Space users. Thailand is a vital country and has one of the highest growth rates of users in this region," said Ooi.

He said in Thailand more than 75 million messages are sent per day. This is the biggest number in Southeast Asia, while in Singapore there are around 45 million messages and in Malaysia 35 million sent per day. The biggest volume in the world is Brazil where around 120 million messages are sent per day.

Globally, Windows Live users are around one-third of the total online population. That is about 285 million Windows Live users from the nearly one billion Internet users around the world.

Ooi said that Microsoft aims to be the leader in online social networking. The strength of Microsoft in this area was the range of services provided for users under the Windows Live service set. Users can easily download Windows Live Component from get.live.com and access the service with only single sign on to experience several online services, he said.

There six Windows Live Download components - Live Mail, Photo Gallery, Live Messenger, Toolbar, Live Writer and Family Safety - and from these six components, there are four services for end users including Hotmail, Web messenger or MSN, Space and SkyDrive.

Microsoft has localised all features as well as unveiling the latest version, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 or MSN 8.5, with news features and functions in Thai language. Thai is one of more than 30 languages of Windows Live around the world.

The Hotmail mailbox has been extended to five gigabytes for each account and people can have unlimited multiple accounts. Space has enhanced the capability for high-definition photos with a resolution of 1,600 x 1,600.

"SkyDrive is in a beta version that was just launched for closed users in October. We provide one gigabyte of memory. SkyDrive is virtual storage offered free to allow users to upload files, such as PowerPoint, photos and video, to keep in their online storage area and then allow them to easily access these files to share with others anywhere any time on any device," said Ooi.

News features of Windows Live Space also allow users to experience new added services such as a photo gallery that allows them to send, organise and share many photos within a few seconds and video file upload and sharing to allow them to experience blog videos.

"With photo gallery, instead of sending huge files of photos to your friends, users just send all photos they want to send in thumbnail or snapshot format. Once their friends get the message, they just click on a special photo and the system will automatically download that photo from servers. This enables users to send and share photos faster," said Ooi.

The company has also launched a new domain for e-mail accounts at @live.com.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation