Microsoft has sent a message to free Hotmail and Outlook users warning them that they have reached a new storage limit.

The new limit appears to be set at 15 GB. And according to our colleagues at TechRadar, such a warning has stirred the ire of long-term users of Microsoft's email service. If users want to increase that capacity to retain archived e-mail, they will have to pay $69.99 or £59.99 per year.

Hotmail was effectively discontinued in 2013, and Microsoft began migrating users from the Hotmail service to the new Outlook.com email client.

Now, this 15GB limit looks like another move to potentially sway legacy users to clear out old email or sign up for the Microsoft 365 suite, which increases the capacity of Outlook accounts and provides access to other Microsoft services Looks like.

Paying nearly $70 to not lose access to an Outlook account that was initially free may seem a bit steep. Nevertheless, Microsoft's move brings Outlook's free email storage limit to the same amount of free storage that Google offers to one account for all of Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

However, Microsoft's change seemed to surprise many users.

Of course, many users might not have noticed the change if they had kept up with their e-mail and avoided hoarding e-mail with large attachments. But for users who might be caught by this new restriction, they will have to do the painstaking work of deleting unwanted e-mail. That is, unless they pay for Microsoft's 365 suite.

This warns that as convenient as free online services can be, there are limitations and caveats. Therefore, one should be wary of changes and usage restrictions that may catch you at inopportune times if you are not careful.