Has Microsoft finally developed a powerful contender for Gmail?
Meet Outlook.com. Microsoft has taken the wraps off its new Outlook.com service, which will eventually replace Hotmail as its free consumer email product and hopefully (for Microsoft) compete with Gmail.
Outlook.com is a preview of a free, modern email service from Microsoft. It has a familiar name and a fresh, modern design. Outlook.com makes your email richer by connecting to Facebook and Twitter and helps you be productive with Office and SkyDrive. Because email is personal, Outlook also helps keep you in control of your private data. Some of the features of this preview are:
Clean, clutter-free inbox
Outlook.com’s streamlined inbox is, of course, great at handling spam. Even better, Outlook lets you get through your inbox quickly. It has simple, automated tools for sweeping out the newsletters and daily deals messages you don’t want.
Connect to your people
With Outlook.com, your conversations are richer with photos, updates, and Tweets from Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. Your address book also automatically stays updated with your contacts from Facebook and Twitter.
Office and SkyDrive
Outlook.com comes with free Word, Excel, and PowerPoint web apps built-in, plus 7 GB of free cloud storage with SkyDrive for sharing photos, videos, or other large files without huge attachments. Skype will also be built right into Outlook.com in the near future as well.
Is Outlook.com right for you?
At this moment there aren’t any standalone mobile applications, so if you want to access Outlook.com “on the go” you’ll need to use either a browser or an app that already supports Exchange ActiveSync. That means all you Apple iPad and iPhone users are ready to go.
If you’re a heavy Google Docs or a Google+ user, then Gmail is probably for you. Otherwise, if you use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Office, then Outlook.com looks like the winner here.
To jump on this preview and get started today:
http://signup/live.com/outlook
If you simply want additional info, do a Google search for Outlook.com – there are tons of online magazine articles, active blogs and screen shots out there…
