Thu
Feb 21 2013
08:14 am
Hurry and get your Outlook.com email address before someone else does
By: R. Neal

I was bashing Microsoft pretty hard the other day, but today I will give them credit where credit is due.

Microsoft has officially launched Outlook.com, their free web-based email service that replaces Hotmail, Windows Live, MSN, etc. It looks pretty nice, with a clean and familiar layout for Windows users.

Basically, you set up a Microsoft Account (if you have an existing Windows Live or Hotmail account you already have one), log in, navigate to outlook.com, and Bob's your uncle.

You can set up multiple accounts, like one for personal and another for business/professional use. You can connect other e-mail accounts to your outlook.com account for a "universal inbox."

There are mobile apps for Windows, iPhone and Android. You can also connect to it from the desktop Windows Live Mail client.

You can import contacts from a variety of sources, and it also has a nice calendar feature.

Outlook.com is an attractive and free alternative to GMail that is especially nice for Windows users. It will work with any modern browser. (Microsoft lists Chrome as one of the recommended browsers.)

BONUS: Your Microsoft Account also gives you SkyDrive, Microsoft's free cloud storage with 7GB of storage and a fully integrated desktop folder that that automatically syncs to/from your PC, plus free web-based Office apps (Word, Excel and Powerpoint.) Another nice, free alternative to Google Drive with features familiar to Windows users. (And it works fine with Chrome.)

Topics:
R. Neal's picture

Aggressive MS

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2013/02/21 - 9:11am.

Aggressive MS marketing:

Don't get Scroogled!

LeftWingCracker's picture

Well, maybe not.

Submitted by LeftWingCracker on Thu, 2013/02/21 - 10:42am.

I signed up and imported my Google email lists and tried to send emails to my listserv like i had done with Gmail, and it kept blocking me, saying there was unusual activity in my account and kept asking me to verify it. After having this happen several times, I said screw it and went back to Gmail.

R. Neal's picture

Their software probably

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2013/02/21 - 11:04am.
(in reply to LeftWingCracker)

Their software probably thinks you are spamming. I saw on your blog you had trouble with GMail, too. Maybe you could try a free list server like MailChimp.

(edited)

jah's picture

My name is way more common

Submitted by jah on Thu, 2013/02/21 - 10:55am.

My name is way more common than I can understand. It's already too late for me to get any decent combination of anything I would want, so whatever.

B Harmon's picture

Finally

Submitted by B Harmon on Thu, 2013/02/21 - 10:59am.

I finally got the easiest email with just my first/last name. It won't let me transfer my address book from yahoo. I hate to change emails so will probably do it over a year. Plus, I "moderate" two yahoo groups for the neighborhood so I cannot leave them.

I have noticed an increase in the number of hacked yahoo accounts in the past few months, sending out links.

Pam Strickland's picture

I want be changing. I've had

Submitted by Pam Strickland on Thu, 2013/02/21 - 3:13pm.

I want be changing. I've had the same email since 1999 -- my mac account with my name. It was free for seven years then I paid and now it's free again. No sense in messing with a good thing.

And, Becky, I moderate both a google group and a yahoo group with that email account. You don't have to use their email accounts to moderate their groups.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

TN Progressive

TN Politics

Knox TN Today

Local TV News

News Sentinel

    State News

    Wire Reports

    Lost Medicaid Funding

    To date, the failure to expand Medicaid/TennCare has cost the State of Tennessee ? in lost federal funding. (Source)

    Search and Archives