According to the Windows Live Mail Blog and Program Manager Imran Qureshi, Windows Live Mail hit M4 (Milestone 4) yesterday applying new features and a bunch of bug fixes testers have found over the past couple months.

"The wait will soon be over. This week we will be releasing the "M4" (Milestone 4) update to the Windows Live Mail beta (codename: Kahuna).

We listened to what you, our beta users, told us. We fixed many of your issues, improved reliability, made Kahuna even faster and added some great features that will improve your mail experience.

One of the really awesome features we've added, that no other webmail has, is 'Spell check as you Type.' (You can watch a demo of this here). This spell check feature runs in the background and highlights spelling errors while you type unlike the spell check feature in existing webmail services that require you to click a button and then correct spelling errors one by one.

Keep using Kahuna and keep the feedback coming. We're not joking when we say that you're now part of our development team."

Head on over to their blog to read a few of the noted changes and new features for M4.

To be honest, I've never been fond of Hotmail. But Windows Live Mail looks very impressive. I've been trying to get on the program to test for a few months now and unfortunately I've been unable to do so. But I can't wait to use it. There is one feature that I could safely say would win me over though - the ability to use POP3 for my Windows Live Mail account. I'd like the ability to use Windows Mail in Windows Vista to check my Windows Live Mail. I'm not saying I wouldn't use their impressive new web user interface - that is definately not the case. I simply would like to have the ability and feel that having this feature would be a great asset to Windows Vista. I go between my home PC and work PC and would check my mail using their web interface at work while I'd use Windows Mail at home.

(via:Brandon LeBlanc)