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Microsoft has launched Outlook.com, a new web mail service, to take on the popular Gmail ever. All Hotmail or Microsoft Live users can log into Outlook.com using their existing IDs or you can create a new Outlook.com user name.
Microsoft's new email service that launches in preview, offers the first major improvement to Cloud mail in eight years, said Chris Jones, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows Live. “We think the time is right to reimagine personal email, from the datacenter to the user experience,” he said.”
From a cleaner look, to less obtrusive ads, to social media connections like Facebook and Twitter, the new service from Microsoft seems very aggressive.
Right in your inbox, you get o see photos of your friends, recent status updates, the ability to chat and video call and Tweets that your friend has shared with you.
Here is a video on Outlook.com
It integrates with SkyDrive, so you have enough of free space, and it can open attachments right inside new Web apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Its built-in Outlook chat connects to Facebook messages, and it will integrate Skype calls later this year, reports say.
Unlike Google's email service, Outlook.com doesn't personalize its ads by barging into your email content. The text-based ads appear to the left side of the inbox, and you can hide them with the chat window.
Outlook.com mail was designed to snag Gmail users first and foremost, according to Dharmesh Mehta, Microsoft's director for Windows Live product management.
Here is what Microsoft have to say...
We think the time is right to reimagine email. So today, we're introducing a preview of Outlook.com. We realized that we needed to take a bold step, break from the past and build you a brand new service from the ground up. You already know Outlook via the Outlook desktop application-for PCs and Macs-as the world's most popular application for reading email, managing a calendar, and connecting to people. And you may have used the Outlook Web App connected to Exchange Server in your organization. Now, in addition to a desktop application and a service for businesses, we're offering Outlook as a personal email service - Outlook.com
When you're viewing an email thread, the sidebar shows the sender's photo and recent Facebook and Twitter activity, which you can respond to right in line.
Outlook mail takes some of the aesthetics of the Windows 8 Metro UI and blends it with the functionality of Hotmail.
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Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations upload to SkyDrive and can be edited in the browser - just like Google Docs, but without the need to convert the files.
Can Outlook.com replace your current email?
While Microsoft's new mail service has many new features to entice users to shift to it, including the social integration ability, cleaner look, less obtrusive ads, the ability to chat and video call, it remains to be seen whether the it gets the desired response.
Is Outlook.com better than Gmail?
What all features do you like most in Outlook.com? Are you set to shift to it? Or you better like to stick to your current email?
Do let us know by commenting below.