Hotmail is dead, long live Outlook

Microsoft joins the social networking crowd
WORLD (Agencies) Microsoft has announced plans to drop its famous, if somewhat outdated Hotmail brand, and replace @hotmail.com with @outlook.com. The software giant says its new Outlook email service will prevent inbox clutter by automatically sorting emails into categories, and link users' email accounts to other web services, such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype. It comes with built-in versions of Microsoft Office apps, including Word, as well as the firm's Skydrive cloud storage. Existing Hotmail users will be advised to upgrade to Outlook, but allowed to keep their vintage @hotmail.com address.>>>
Several reports say that there is no need for Hotmail customers to do anything, as they will be transferred eventually and with plenty of warning. The move is also doubtless designed to compete with Google's, Gmail. Hotmail was one of the first free web-based email services, launching in 1996. It was bought by Microsoft for an estimated $400m the following year, rebranded as MSN Hotmail, and is now credited with bringing the masses to electronic mail. In its early years its fiercest rivals were Yahoo! and AOL. In 2004, however, Google released its own, invitation-only, free webmail service, and in 2007 Gmail became available to the public. While Hotmail still boasts 350 million users, Google claimed in a June 2012 blog to have opened 425 million Gmail accounts since its launch.