MS Hotmail users: Hotmail to be replaced by MS Outlook.com (3 articles)

article source: http://www.vibe.com/article/hotmail-replaced-by-microsofts-outlook

related: http://Outlook.com

Hotmail To Be Replaced By Microsoft's Outlook.com

     If you're still using a Hotmail account for your e-correspondence, be ready for a rude awakening.
     Microsoft's Outlook.com is scrapping Hotmail -- which has been online since 1997 -- for its new interface that has just exited the preview stage, ABC News reports.
     Individuals with a Hotmail address can still keep their domains but it will be switched over to the new Outlook.com, which has amassed 60 million users since being announced last July.
     The company says that its server will be different from its competitors, including Google and Gmail, which boasts the largest number of users at 425 million.  Microsoft even attempted to get their Google ads up as part of their new $30 million marketing and ad campaign.
     Through their latest "Scroogled" advert, Microsoft threw shade at Gmail for browsing users' inboxes to populate them with appropriate ads.  "Google goes through every Gmail that's sent or received, looking for keywords so they can target Gmail with paid ads.  And there's no way to opt out of this invasion of your privacy," says the Scroogled site.  "Outlook.com is different -- we don't go through your email to sell ads."
     The company is hoping to fizzle out Hotmail -- which has been online since 1997 -- by summer.

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article source: http://technorati.com/technology/article/microsoft-officially-launches-email-service-outlookcom/
Microsoft Officially Launches Email Service Outlook.com

Author: Tim Gibbon , Published: February 20, 2013

     Software and technology company Microsoft has officially launched its email service Outlook.com from beta, and it links together social networking and cloud service SkyDrive.

     Outlook.com is effectively Microsoft laying Hotmail to rest (albeit gradually), its early email client (that launched in 1996) that was credited as the first free email service.  Hotmail was instrumental in helping shape how consumers used the Internet, and indeed email.
     Outlook.com has been in preview since summer last year and is now taking advantage of its Hotmail audience, describing the transition as an 'instant and seamless process by upgrading every user to Outlook.com.  Hotmail email users @Hotmail email address, contacts, password etc., will remain the same but will benefit from the new Outlook.com design and interface.  Users can change their email address to @Outlook if they wish, but it isn't mandatory.

     Microsoft refers to Outlook.com as modern email claiming to reach 0 to 60 million active users within six-months heavily using design, flexibility and privacy to entice as well as hold onto users.  Outlook.com allows users to connect to social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (for business or personal use), it also enables them to send photographs and video using is cloud-based service SkyDrive.
     SkyDrive unveiled by Microsoft in 2007.  SkyDrive is built into the newly released email service reported to have been used by Outlook.com users to share more than half a billion images and Office documents.
     Technorati recently reported on Microsoft's campaign website Scroogled that purports to outline the advertising and privacy concerns with Google's Gmail.  The campaign site launched earlier this month.
     Although the Microsoft claims successful transition thus far, there seems to be much yet to be addressed with any product as outlined by comments on the Outlook.com blog.

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article source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/27/microsoft-says-many-gmail-users-would-consider-switching-to-outlook-com-launches-android-app-conversation-threading-more/

     In typical Microsoft fashion, the company has announced a number of momentum numbers for Outlook.com and launched quite a few new features for its web-based email service at the same time.
     Let's start with the numbers: Microsoft says Outlook.com (formerly known as Hotmail), now has 25 million active users. Many of the service's new users, Microsoft says, are switching away from Gmail.
     According to the Outlook.com team's numbers, one-third of Outlook.com users are active Gmail users trying the service for the first time. Microsoft also says that after talking to "hundreds of Gmail users for a panel, 4 out of 5 of these Gmail users said they would switch to Outlook.com."
     Here is what this panel told Microsoft:

• They prefer Outlook.com's clean user design
• Outlook.com does a better job of blocking spam and it outperforms Gmail when it comes to helping manage unwanted messages like newsletters and daily deals
• Outlook.com makes it easier to share photos and Office documents

     It's obviously hard/impossible to verify these numbers for us, so it's worth taking them with a grain of salt. There can be no doubt, though, that leaving behind the tired Hotmail brand for Outlook.com and giving the service a new streamlined look surely helped Microsoft to get users of other services to at least try Outlook.com.

An Android App And Many New Features

     Besides these numbers, Microsoft is also announcing a slew of new Outlook.com features, including new customization options and color themes, keyboard shortcuts, one-click archiving and conversation threading, a feature that Gmail obviously helped to popularize.
     Outlook.com users can now also switch between using "Reply" and "Reply all" as their defaults. You can find the full list of new features here.
     Maybe most interestingly, Microsoft is also launching an Outlook app for Android (2.x and higher). Microsoft typically launches its mobile apps (besides its Windows Phone apps, of course) for iPhone first, but this time around, Android is getting the preference. There is a reason for this, though: Microsoft says that it is launching this app because Android devices "aren't consistent in their native support for Exchange ActiveSync."

Tags: Microsoft, outlook.com, gmail

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