# A friendly Challenge - SD's oldest Hotmail account **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959 "2012-06-22T17:10:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/21 "2012-06-24T01:49:02Z")
I’m sure it’s long since died, but my original Hotmail account would have been created sometime in 1996. I was tired of wrangling with AOL, which was horribly unreliable, and I wanted an email account to which my parents did not have the password. Typed “free email” into Altavista and landed on Hotmail. I remember when Microsoft bought them out, mostly because of the ever-increasing amounts of crap that started turning up on the page as they switched over to their MSN branding. I scored a Gmail invite a couple months after they started going around, and promptly switched everything over. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/22 "2012-06-24T02:05:14Z")
March 20, 2002 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/23 "2012-06-24T04:25:09Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > According to Wikipedia, it was > My current account was created December 20, 2000… > [@gwendee](#): > > December 6, 1996 > [@Lanzy](#): > > Just since Dec 2000… > [@Projammer](#): > > December 05, 1998 Interesting. Mine is December 5 2001. I also thought it would have been older, maybe 1999. ---
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/24 "2012-06-24T04:51:00Z")
April 30, 1999 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/25 "2012-06-24T05:08:57Z")
I can’t log in to my old account anymore, they messed something up and it was up to me to fix it, whatever the hell it was. They required my mobile phone number to get it sorted out, and I do not own a mobile phone, so it all failed. Anyway, I got my original Hotmail, which I would still use if I could, on the 2nd of October 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Aestivalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Aestivalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aestivalis)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/26 "2012-06-24T14:34:18Z")
Only Nov 8, 1998! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/27 "2012-06-24T15:59:40Z")
August 1, 2002. I started it for spam purposes too, and ignored it for awhile, but I started using the options and junk folders and now my inbox is practically spam-proof. I use it as my primary email now. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/28 "2012-06-24T16:30:36Z")
I was pretty certain that I set up my account in about '97, when I got my first real computer, but it’s apparently only been since early 2001. Joe ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/29 "2012-06-24T17:30:30Z")
Interesting. I never had hotmail, though I did start online with an AOL account in 96, and shifted to a juno account in 97, and almost immediately got hooked up to a private ISP based in Norwich CT a couple months later that had a permanent dial up instead of a dial up when you need to use the computer and I have barely been offline since. I shifted to cable modem in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/30 "2012-06-25T07:16:46Z")
Uh, 2011. I win, right? (I just got it because Gmail wouldn’t let me have the name I wanted. I actually use Gmail to check it.) ---
**Author:** ![BowlOfDucks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BowlOfDucks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BowlOfDucks)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/31 "2012-06-25T07:19:42Z")
I really don’t get attached to email accounts, or any account if I can help it. I have tons, I’ve forgotten the passwords and/or the account names to quite a few, and I’ve deleted a load more. All the email accounts I have at he moment are less than two years old. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/32 "2012-06-25T08:54:28Z")
I dunno how to check - but it should be around 1998 or so…I still have an archived email from 2000, so at least that old. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/33 "2012-06-25T13:40:32Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > I dunno how to check - but it should be around 1998 or so…I still have an archived email from 2000, so at least that old. It’s the second to last line in the OP. Mine is January 3, 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/34 "2012-06-25T14:53:20Z")
I think I still have an active AOL screenname from 1996. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/35 "2012-06-25T15:20:13Z")
I’ve had the same home email since I set up my first Win95 box, probably around Christmas of 1995. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/36 "2012-06-25T18:39:33Z")
I’ve had the same yahoo account since around 1996, but I can’t figure out how to find a precise creation date. I haven’t used it in 5+ years, what with being married now and all, but I joined [Match.com](http://Match.com) back before it actually had a website… they would email you a text file, which you would fill out in a very precise way and email back, kind of like the digital version of a scantron test. That was when I was in college, so circa 1993. At the time, accounts were lifetime free, and at some point in the mid 2000’s they tried to take away my lifetime free account and I made a fuss about it and they gave it back to me. Might well no longer exist at this point now, however… ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/37 "2012-06-25T19:06:48Z")
July 15, 1998. I only use this account for shipping updates from Amazon and C1alis and V1agr@ purchases. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/38 "2012-06-26T03:57:17Z")
October 22, 1998 ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/39 "2012-06-26T04:19:54Z")
Mine says 2002, but I know this is wrong. I originally set it up when I was about to make my first trip overseas, in 1998. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![spookyz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@spookyz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spookyz)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959/40 "2014-05-29T20:24:04Z")
1995 > **[hotmail join date.jpg | Powered by Box](https://app.box.com/s/nl0p94nwin3fnajpqzif)** 1998 > **[hotmail join date-2.jpg | Powered by Box](https://app.box.com/s/x3dvge4l6jn1optqseaf)** the strange part is…Hotmail service was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, and was one of the first webmail services on the Internet along with Four11’s RocketMail (later Yahoo! Mail). **It was commercially launched on July 4, 1996** , symbolizing “freedom” from ISP-based email[13] and the ability to access a user’s inbox from anywhere in the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-friendly-challenge-sds-oldest-hotmail-account/625959.md?page=3)