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Dump Gmail for Outlook.com? Four reasons you might

Just an ole mans rambling: I predict this is going to be the BS subject of the month!!!!! It actually has already started on two other blogs... So, that being said - - waiting to hear more "hair brained" arguments as to why you should not convert.... Oh, and thanks for a well written article!!!!

I have been an Exchange/Outlook user for my entire career but I decided to move our company off our in house Exchange 2003 Server to Google apps/Gmail after we ran out of storage space. Unfortunately I have regretted it ever since. If your company is primarily Outlook users you will especially regret making the change on so many levels. From the administration and issues of the Google Apps sync tool, setting up calendars, Out of Office, email filters, etc. Most of the native Outlook/Exchange features that exist with that setup disappear with Google apps and please don't tell me about GLabs and using gmail as a replacement for Outlook. I wonder if Hosted Exchange accounts will have some of the features available in Outlook.com.

Are you tryign to be funny...
the only thing you even indicated that might be a reason to switch (business users sending confidential e-mial) is a farce. All e-mail is open. If you send an e-mail through the net then it is visible to many system. Business users use either internal corporte e-mails, or BB encripted e-mail, or lock the "Confidential" portion in a safe format.
Outlook.com - 8 years to Beta. How long till it works. the good news is that it will refocuse google to update there e-mail more and sooner.

8 Years to beta, you're kidding right? Google is in perpetual beta on everything they do including anything a business would want to use like Google apps. I can't speak to Outlook.com but I would take OWA over Gmail anyday.

I was actually in the market for a new email address, so thought this would be ideal! How wrong I was. Microsoft apparently isn't interested in helping new customers obtain accounts. I tried to sign up and ended up with a 450 error, as did some others I know. On following the link to contact support, the user is taken to an FAQ type page, with no option for assistance other than a forum. Being a resourceful girl, I contacted someone inside the company only to find out that there is no phone support and only forums. That doesn't help me obtain an account!! Who's got time for this bull? As far as I'm concerned, it's just not worth the effort that is apparently involved to get a simple email account.

I transferred my hotmail account to outlook and created a new account for a relative. Not one error till now. Try using a different browser. Microsoft products work better with Internet Explorer just like Google products work better with Chrome. Using Internet Explorer should help.

Sorry to say but IE is a dog of a browser and the idea that one needs a specific browser for an email account is just redundant. I use FF 80% of the time, Chrome otherwise and once in a while I fool around with Opera. IE is comparatively less responsive for me, and sorry to say but MS websites are just such a slow pain to use in any situation.

I assume the screenshot was taken from a full-sized display. Does the program look different on a phone or tablet? I can't imagine squeezing all that onto a phone's smaller screen without rendering it illegible.

If I were to sign up for a web-based service, I'd consider this. The lack of data mining my content would be a big factor, at least until MS changes its mind.

Most people have more than one. It's a great upgrade but that list doesn't mean anything to me except for the data mining. Sometimes that's just creepy.

Through POP though. You can also create alias email addresses.

POP is terrible. When will Microsoft support IMAP?

Never really understood why everybody was so in love with gmail. All the features that are raved about come in distant seconds at best to other programs. Skydrive has been around for a while but gmail is just now catching up. Unfortunately it became trendy to bash anything Microsoft and IMO hotmail suffered because of it, not because of any lack of form or function.

Like the fact that you can opt to do direct attachments or attach files from SkyDrive. I think it will also let you attach and upload to SkyDrive at the same time.

For our IP and privacy is a deal breaker for me. Many of my geek buddies are dropping Google search and GMAIL because of the new EULA that came out a while back. I still have my account, but don't use it at all. I like using Dragon as a replacement to the regular Chrome, because they aren't as intrusive. But since our ISP will be using IMAP server based GMAIL service now, I will still be a GMAIL customer - only I will be using Outlook to access it!

I still say Microsoft's promises of more privacy are a good attractant, and with so little junk mail, I won't be switching anytime soon.

MS has already revealed that they scan the contents of your SkyDrive folders for "inappropriate content", whatever that means. If a file triggers their alarms, your entire account is killed, email, SkyDrive, and everything else connected to it. I don't know how much more they could possibly invade your privacy. I'm not a Google fan, don't like big corporations at all, but they have not show themselves to be that evil.

I believe this is not the full release yet. Yesterday, I selected my Outlook.com alias, and am now using it quite successfully. Wait a week, till this is fully available and then try again. I am a longtime hotmail and gmail user (gmail because I didn't want to give a hotmail address) and have become a +G user and other Google products. I reallllllllly like the Outlook.com UI and expect to use it more broadly. Not enhanted with the GMAIL limitations like labels instead of folders.

"I am a longtime hotmail and gmail user (gmail because I didn't want to give a hotmail address)"

rick, why didn't you want to give a Hotmail address? Is there some stigma attached to it that I'm unaware of, like having an old AOL address?

I don't have amy web-based e-mail experience, preferring a local e-mail client (Outlook 2010) and the e-mail service from my ISP. I have name-recognition of the major web-based e-mail providers, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. What's the downside to a Hotmail address?

Hotmail was considered the successor to AOL as the goto place for the technically unsophisticated. It was also so easy to establish a new account back in the early days that Hotmail pretty much became a major spam source, to the extent that many companies (including one I worked for) blocked anything coming from Hotmail, legitimate or not..

Now turn up the air conditioning, will ya?

Batteries died in the remote and everybody's out of stock.

Good one guys! I just wanted to comment that I've found Hotmail's anti-spam as good as I've found in web-based email. I can understand why it became a source of spam though, because so many spammers were using it as a service, and folks were too loose with the passwords, and had their accounts taken over by spammers.

I don't know why I would expect anything from someone dumb enough to install a thermostat (or anything else) that can't be changed without the remote.

The Insert your email name (Microsoft account name) forgot to add a "check if name is available" button beside the field. If it's not available the 'Enter the characters you see' spoof box refreshes everytime. 20 minutes later.

Only an idiot would have OKed this UI.

...about this company from redmond, did we?

I got my new outlook email address on the first try.

Automatic Folders? Google Apps has included priority inbox that works according to Google's algorithms as well as giving you the ability to create and segregation using filters

Mobility? Google Apps already offers native integration across all mobility platforms with a user experience consistent with the device and the option of "Apps" that provide an experience more similar to desktops.

Privacy? While Google scans some content for ad placement in Gmail and the free version of Google Apps, this is not the case in the business versions. Additionally, Microsoft has not said it will not be scanning [i[any content, just that it will not be scanning certain types of content.

Social Integration? Google integrates with Google+ and you can use tools to pick and choose how you integrate with social networks

Here is what you can't do with Outlook.com: You cannot open an email, reply by secure instant message, and initiate a free voice call or video chat.

If I'm emailing someone, I'm emailing them, not calling them nor chatting with them, nor using IM with them. How ridiculous. Would you want your postman to open your mail, then read it to you on the phone? Would you want all your telephone conversations transcribed and sent to your mailman? Would you want something you sent by mail SHOUTED OUT across the street? Ridiculous.

Sorry, but after using Google Now for a couple of weeks it has taken on the role of a service I didn't know I needed and now can't do without.
As a frequent traveler (business) Now flat out rocks!

Can I do this with Outlook.com and some side services?
Nope. Maybe someday.

Does it support POP3 like gmail?
I don't leave any eMail out there.

yes. i registered 2 outlook-adresses and "pop" them from gmail.
while setting up outlook.com, it asks me to get emails from other, already working email adresses.
in this way, it is very likely to gmail.
only thing i maybe wanna know: can i administrate more than 5 email-adresses with pop or imap with outlook.com? 5 is already not enough ^^ thanks god cascading is possible

Tags ("labels") leave folders in the dust, any "innovation" in folders is like innovation in buggy whips. Who cares?

I could go on, but the bottom line is that Outlook.com will get subscribers through sheer critical mass whether it's good or not. As an example, does MSIE have its market share (what's left of it) because it was a better browser? You don't need me to provide the answer to that question (although I did in the sentence preceding the question).

To think that people who "get" gmail will switch is comical.

Ok, I'm an idiot. That's a given. But every time I try to dnld this from the MS site, it just opens my hotmail account. What am I doing wrong?

You don't have to download anything. Clear out your cookies, it sounds like you haven't done this, since if you have old login.live cookies and go to outlook.com it will redirect you to your hotmail inbox. Once you erase those old trackers and go to outlook.com you will be able to create a new email account. You also can simply login to hotmail and on the right you should see a "try outlook link" that will convert your hotmail inbox to the new outlook inbox. You then can decide if you want to keep it or go back. You also can convert your hotmail email into a new outlook.com account if you want, but I suggest you make a new one just in case they decide to go back to hotmail some time in the future.

I did not clear cookies, but merely went to outlook.com. Before I was going to the MS site and outlook, and there was a link to dnld. That was my mistake. it's okay so far. We;ll see.

YOU CAN'T download it. It's webmail! It's on the cloud where anyone can see it.
All you do is sign up for it, and why bother, if you have hotmail, just use that, staying away from Gmail, outlook, and everything else. ...or just use Yahoo.

and others that it's web based email...like hotmail, gmail, etc...but do ya think some folks will listen?

I use offline access for one of my gmail accounts.
Does Outlook.com have this feature?

but that doesn't mean that it won't be available in the future

Will my Android smartphone and tablet authenticate with Outlook.com?

BTW there are a lot of web apps that have login authentication with Gmail and don??t require me to type a password. How to migrate those applications to Outlook?

Do you know if Outlook.com will work fine with MacOSX or Linux browsers?

Really?

Content-driven ads are a "privacy protection" issue but outlook's "social integration" isn't? How so? Let me put it another way: how could a tech publication worth its salt call content-driven ads a "privacy protection" issue? This is just unfathomable.

Mobile experience better on outlook.com? How?

Now if you tell me it integrates with Exchange and Azure better, or that it handles fonts better (Gmail's fonts handling is a joke), or if you can search for and delete incoming attachments easier - then we are talking.