1996 was it when Hotmail was introduced and straightaway became the holder for your mail accounts? Long time it was and people were already filling up the base. may be a couple out of 10 visiting cards mentioned a email Id other than hotmail.com. Then a sudden drift when other players started making ground and it was time to make some updates. So they did and people loved the new look on Hotmail. But apart from the preview pane that seemed not to exist on other email systems and the so loving sweep system, there still was some problem that despite millions being there was making it a thing of the past. The Ads may be? Or something else, but there was starting to happen, a shift!
The love started dying out and the Google mail happened to millions of millions. The competition was tough and strong enough to send a chill down the spine of the once most famous mailing service. But after years of slumber there seems a new mailing system from the same parent (read Microsoft) and it looks like will create the same kind of ripples that we felt near the end of last century. Outlook.com is here and by the looks of it, seems to be a fascinating service to watch and wait for.
Microsoft announced some 10 days back a new web mail service with an old name, Outlook. The whole so familiar Microsoft Outlook that we are is used to in Schools, Colleges, Offices and even homes is getting a sibling with the same name but still different. Microsoft says the two will work well together, you won't be required to have the paid software client on your system to use the web and newer of the siblings. You are welcome to sign up for an email account on Outlook.com since the past few days. If you already have a Hotmail address, the whispers are that they will finally merge in to the new Outlook, but not straightaway. Microsoft isn't calling it Hotmail 2.0, the reasons are obvious!
People who aren't used to Gmail will find it easier to move to the new Outlook.com. People who are already using and love it, may have some hard time thinking as Outlook.com preview looks as fresh as Gmail did in 2004. Microsoft has done away with the graphical ads that were a feature of Hotmail. Text ads still stay but would be less disturbing. So if you were a previous member of Microsoft Outlook or currently are and were tired of complaining about problem with Microsoft mail on the go, seems the company heard you. The word is that Microsoft has plans to make Outlook.com the web email service to go to.
As for the features, Outlook.com as we said has a clean and fresh look to it. There seems to be a lot of work that has gone into the design to make it a good rival fro Gmail. The photos and videos in mail attachments can show up as a slideshow with an overlay to the main page. Better yet, if someone shares a web album with you; this slideshow still works as Outlook.com will be able to pull the photos from the actual web album for you (you will need Microsoft Silverlight installed for this).
Just like Google docs, there is also a feature to use, share and edit the office docs within the browser itself. To handle all your attachments the company has a 7GB space on SkyDrive for each account. The attachments that you send gets stored on your SkyDrive with an accessibility in email.
Address book on Outlook.com stays updated with all the status of your friends via the integrated Facebook and LinkedIn features.
Future plans are to integrate Skype inside Outlook.com so users may be able to call their contacts even though none may have Skype installed on their systems.
Chat window in Outlook.com is at the right top corner as against the bottom right in Gmail. There is no priority inbox like Gmail but the greymail is taken care of. So Outlook.com is able to recognize the Newsletters and social update mails and puts them in one place so you may be able to delete them in one go.
Do you think you will shift from being a Gmail only to Outlook.com ?
[Image Credits: Microsoft.com]
People who aren't used to Gmail will find it easier to move to the new Outlook.com. People who are already using and love it, may have some hard time thinking as Outlook.com preview looks as fresh as Gmail did in 2004. Microsoft has done away with the graphical ads that were a feature of Hotmail. Text ads still stay but would be less disturbing. So if you were a previous member of Microsoft Outlook or currently are and were tired of complaining about problem with Microsoft mail on the go, seems the company heard you. The word is that Microsoft has plans to make Outlook.com the web email service to go to.
Address book on Outlook.com stays updated with all the status of your friends via the integrated Facebook and LinkedIn features.
Future plans are to integrate Skype inside Outlook.com so users may be able to call their contacts even though none may have Skype installed on their systems.
Do you think you will shift from being a Gmail only to Outlook.com ?
[Image Credits: Microsoft.com]
Post Credit
Business IT Student at Tavistock College aiming for a career at Google, Apple or Twitter. Hopeful Entrepreneur with strong passions for Technology.
Follow or add him to your circle on Google plus.
Business IT Student at Tavistock College aiming for a career at Google, Apple or Twitter. Hopeful Entrepreneur with strong passions for Technology.
Follow or add him to your circle on Google plus.
Outlook.com is good to use. But need some time to adjust to that.
ReplyDeleteHey Vivek,
ReplyDeleteAgree with your comments. Thanks for dropping by!