You might be a user of Hotmail since the good old days, or a Gmail fan who just isn’t as happy with the things coming from Mountain View as you used to be. Or perhaps you just want to get on the latest thing that comes down the pipe, or you have been saddled with a firstnamelastnameYEAR@ email address and you want a new email address that is yours. Whatever your reason, you should head over to http://outlook.com to take a peek at the latest incarnation of Microsoft’s free email service.
Outlook.com has a web browser interface styled after their (in)famous Metro look, but there’s much more to it than that. Outlook.com is a new domain, so if you are early enough into it, you might be able to pick up an email address that is more you than your current one. Each mailbox comes with 7GB of free storage, and a host of other standard features including
- Sending and receiving from other accounts
- Forwarding
- Automatic replies
- History
- Stationery
- Signatures
- Filters
- Aliases
- IMAP over SSL and POP3 over SSL support
Of course, the free account is underwritten by ads, but the right-hand column is very small and unobtrusive. Microsoft has been trying for some time to distinguish themselves from Google when it comes to the privacy of your email. The ads in outlook.com email are not based on the content of your messages, which makes you feel a little better.
It’s the upcoming features that will make Outlook.com stand out from other web mail products. The current version is touted as a preview, but also indicates that integration with Skydrive, Office Web Apps, and Skype will all be forthcoming. You can see where this is going-head to head with Gmail and it’s Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google Talk apps. I’ve been a fan of Gmail for years, but the recent decision to shutter iGoogle makes me unhappy, and I’ve never found Google Docs to be what I want for editing, just for quick viewing. Office Web Apps rocks (assuming this will be comparable to what you can add to SharePoint) and will make it a much better experience when receiving attachments.
With so many email services to choose from, yet another offering might not be what you want just now, but if you have been considering a move from your ISP, Yahoo, AOL, or Gmail account, an Outlook.com account might be just what you are looking for. It is what I am looking for, and in an upcoming post, we’ll go over just how much fun (or difficulty) it can be switching from one provider to another.
Hotmail Gets an Upgrade with Outlook.com
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