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AUTHOR: Jack Shafer, editor at large at Slate
CONTENTION: Though Shafer once had a good thing going with the e-mail service Hotmail, it's time they went their separate ways
WHY, WHAT HAPPENED? "Somewhere along the way, Hotmail changed. I'll be the first to admit that I changed, too."
OKAY, GO ON: "Like all relationships, Hotmail and I had devolved into a love-hate-coexistence groove. I hated the fact that Hotmail put limits on how many e-mails I could store without paying. I hated the limitation on the size of files I could send. I suspect that Hotmail hated me because I wanted all she provided and more but wasn't willing to pay."
IS THERE SOMEONE ELSE? "Well, I just came to like Gmail better. It was svelte and fast and easily searchable while Hotmail was not. Also, Hotmail kept putting on weight with all of its new features—features that I didn't want."
UM--ALL RIGHT: "It also went through a bewildering set of name changes that spoke directly to its self-esteem problems: Hotmail became MSN Hotmail and then Windows Live Mail and then Windows Live Hotmail. Who do you think you're fooling, Hotmail? We all know you're the same broad we met back in 1996."