Microsoft puts Hotmail out to pasture
Jul 31, 2012, 8:13 AM | Updated: 10:15 am
Microsoft announced Tuesday it will retire Hotmail and replace it with a newly designed Outlook.com email service. (Microsoft image)
(Microsoft image)
It’s the end of an electronic era as Microsoft has
unveiled a new online email service called Outlook.com to
replace Hotmail.
The new service features a clean, streamlined new look,
integration with social networks like Facebook and
Twitter, and new features for managing spam.
The move is the latest effort by Microsoft to combat the
rise of Gmail. While Hotmail, launched in 1996, remains
the world’s largest webmail service, Gmail now has more
users in the U.S. Hotmail lost 4 percent market share over
the past year, slipping to 324 million users in June. At
the same time, Gmail rose 17 percent to 278 million users
worldwide, according to comScore Networks data.
If you’re a Hotmail user, you can still keep your
@hotmail.com or @live.com addresses. But new users will
only be able to choose between @outlook.com or @live.com
email domains.
Geekwire.com’s Todd Bishop says the new service is a
significant improvement over Hotmail.
“As someone who has often struggled with Hotmail’s
cluttered interface, the new experience has been
refreshing,” Bishop says.
He also praises the integration of Facebook, Skype and
Office web apps for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
For now, Microsoft is allowing users to sign up for a
preview while still using Hotmail, but will eliminate
Hotmail entirely in the coming months.
