Canadians Keep Memories in 'Inboxes' Instead of Shoe Boxes

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - May 14, 2007) - Wedding invitations, birth announcements and breakups. An online poll released today by Ipsos-Reid / MSN Canada, a division of Microsoft Canada Co. finds that 76% of Canadians are creating 'virtual shoeboxes' with their email inboxes by archiving these important messages, documents and photos.

Canadians are also relying on email to communicate important messages and notices to family and friends. Eight in 10 survey respondents have sent or received family photos via email. Interestingly, 12% have even sent or received engagement announcements over the Internet and 10% have sent or received wedding invitations.

While 28% conceded that it's 'bad etiquette' to send these types of personal announcements via email, the survey revealed that Canadians actually prefer email (78%) over snail-mail (28%) because 'it's easier'. In fact, 58% of respondents said they treat their email accounts as a 'personal information manager and organizer'.

These results are similar to the feedback Microsoft received from over 20 million beta testers around the world and are reflected in the new features and functionality found in its recently launched Windows Live^TM Hotmail^®. The successor to MSN Hotmail delivers a safer, more powerful and productive email service that customers can access virtually wherever and whenever they want, via the Web, on a mobile phone or with an email client.

"Over the past decade Canadian consumers have come to rely on email, and it's difficult to imagine a world without it. It has affected the way we communicate and interact with family and friends and has helped to perpetuate today's information-on-demand lifestyle," says Simon Fraser University professor Richard Smith. "Email has evolved to become much more than just a medium in which we communicate. We are now building 'virtual museums' or 'digital archives' and also managing our personal lives with these Web based services. "

Canadians LOVE email:

The poll also revealed that Canadian users of Hotmail were more likely to have changed their hair colour (45%) than their Hotmail account (23%) since Microsoft launched MSN Hotmail in Canada in 1997. Similarly:

- 70% were more likely to have moved to a new home or apartment;

- 46% to have lived in more than one town, city or province;

- And 43% to have changed romantic partners.

Interestingly, the findings also show that 84% of Canadian Hotmail users claim to have kept one web-based email account throughout their job changes, home relocations, and other times of transition. These findings suggest that Canadians are using their Hotmail accounts as a means by which to maintain a consistent email address as they changed homes, jobs, and Internet service providers.

The Wired West:

The survey results also highlighted some interesting results from west coast Canadians:

- British Columbians have been plugged into email for the longest, with 36% claiming to have had email for over 10 years compared to the national average of 28%, and a rate of 18% in Quebec.

- Three quarters (75%) of British Columbian users have had a Hotmail account for five years or more, compared to just over half (53%) of residents of Atlantic Canada.

- 14% of British Columbians have sent or received wedding announcements via email versus just 6% in Atlantic Canada.

- Similarly, 33% of British Columbians have sent or received baby announcements versus 13% of Atlantic Canadians.

- British Columbians are most likely to have felt the impact of cupid via email, with 42% saying that they have sent or received a love letter online, compared to the national average of 32%.

The online poll of 1,317 Canadians was conducted from May 1 to May 3, 2007. For more information about the methodology, please visit www.ipsos.ca.

About Windows Live^TM and Sympatico / MSN

A set of personal Internet services and software, Windows Live is designed to bring together all the relationships, information and interests people care about most with enhanced safety and security features. Services include Canada's most used instant messaging and web-based email as well as popular social networking tools, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Spaces, as well as Live Search, Windows Live for Mobile and Windows Live OneCare. Sympatico.MSN.ca. is also Canada's most popular online destination(i), attracting more than 20 million Canadians each month. Offered in collaboration with Bell Canada, the site is an online leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and advertising opportunities to Canadian businesses. Windows Live and Sympatico.MSN.ca are offered as complementary services at sympatico.msn.ca. Beta versions of upcoming Windows Live products are available at ideas.live.com.

(i) comScore Media Metrics, March 2007