As of July 31st, Microsoft has come out with what I am sure they are hoping will be the "Gmail/Yahoo Email Killer." Since the old days in 1996 when "HoTMaiL" (now Outlook.com) was launched web-based, (or I guess now known as Cloud-based) email has gone big time. HoTMaiL, which was its original name, was sold by its creator/designers, Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith to Microsoft for an estimated $400 million. Quickly after that the name was changed to "MSN Hotmail" (now Outlook.com). I know some of you are grinning now because you signed up for one of those accounts, as did I. The name until recently was, "Windows Live Hotmail"(now Outlook.com) are you seeing the pattern here? Then along came Yahoo mail and Gmail and the gauntlets were thrown down all over the internet.
They still battle for supremacy which is the reason for them constantly adding "new and improved" features to their sites. I have researched the number of users each of the top three providers and have found that the number varies from report to report, so I will not say here who is in the lead but it appears as though they all have between 350-450 (+/-) million users. It also looks as though Gmail and Hotmail battle for the number one spot with Yahoo mail as number three.
Be that as it may, they are still all available and all free. As we know they make money off of the advertisements we click on and purchase things from — upon those rare occasions when you are overcome with some trinket or service.
Now, back to the main topic, in July Hotmail sort of became, "Outlook.com" with new and improved "stuff." I say "sort of" because you can still use Hotmail and it is still fully functional. However, MS says they see a day coming where everyone who owns a Hotmail account will move to Outlook.com. To me this means they will require you to come over to the outlook side, sooner or later. There is currently an option to "upgrade" your current Hotmail account to Outlook.com; however, it is optional and you may still retain your Hotmail.com address.
They all have their plusses and minuses. They all have email, cc, bcc, calendars, address books, etc. Gmail has lots of tie-ins with Google Voice and others that we have looked at in the last couple of columns. One of the benefits with Outlook.com is as Microsoft says it has "virtually unlimited storage." Outlook.com also gives you the option to directly link with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. This is an option so if you are like me and like everything separate and distinct you do not have to sign up for this feature. Yahoo’s big plus is, well…I’m not really sure but when/if you find it please let me know.
Before I close I would like to mention that since it has been open only a week or two you should head over to Outlook.com and sign up for your personalized account. If no one else has it yet you can sign up for, "headguyincharge@outlook.com" or whatever else you would like and have it your way.
