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Jim Hu

CNET News.com

America Online is testing a Web-based east-mail service that will compete with Yahoo Postal service, Microsoft'due south Hotmail and Google'due south Gmail.

Right now, the beta service is available to AOL subscribers simply, but information technology will somewhen be offered for complimentary to the public, the visitor said on Midweek. The service, dubbed "AOL Mail on the Web," is expected to officially debut early next year for members, and later on in the yr for the public.

"This is paving the way for our free Web mail that we will be offering to a wider audience in 2005," AOL spokeswoman Jaymelina Esmele said.

AOL has offered Web-based eastward-mail service for many years, just the service has been restricted to subscribers. The new move is part of an AOL initiative to offering more free services to public Web users, an expansion that would assistance the Fourth dimension Warner division's efforts tap the online advertising dollars that have fueled revenue growth for Yahoo, Microsoft's MSN and Google.

The "AOL Post on the Spider web" site has more features than the previous members-simply incarnation, in the version seen by CNET News.com. The revamped interface resembles Microsoft's Outlook, where e-mail messages can be organized into folders. Like rival Spider web email services Yahoo Mail and Hotmail, AOL's software includes address book contacts, a bulletin search bar, spam controls and signatures.

Mirroring its competitors, the product will include hefty storage with a limit of 100MB. After Google'south Gmail launched with 1GB of storage, Yahoo and Hotmail upgraded their own services and now offer 250MB for free users.

Other AOL Web email features include the ability to employ "rich" text options, such every bit different fonts and colors.

AOL'due south push into the public Web e-mail realm comes as the online giant faces staggering defections from its cadre dial-up service to the faster broadband connections offered by cablevision and phone companies. Over the by two years, AOL has lost 4 million subscribers, for a total of 22.4 million defections.

The company has restructured its executive ranks past splitting its Web-based initiatives from its Internet access businesses. Before this month, the company laid off virtually 750 employees, mostly from its Dulles, Va., headquarters.