For the time being, at least, it will exist separately from Hotmail. So why didn't Redmond just give Hotmail a drastic overhaul? Well, friends, there are two explanations. First, the polite one: for technical reasons, the engineers found it easier to build a new service from scratch rather than retrofit the old one. The frank answer: Microsoft is keenly aware Hotmail has a bad rap, thanks to those banners and flashy video ads. In fact, the company has been very candid that it wants not just to compete with Gmail, but siphon away some of its growing user base. As such, Outlook offers a fresh, minimal interface -- far cleaner than Hotmail ever looked. What's more, the ads are more pared-down here: no video adverts, and no targeted ads on messages between people (newsletters are still fair game). The service is open to the public as of today and you get virtually unlimited storage, along with 7GB of SkyDrive space if you create a new Microsoft account. (Microsoft uses the word "virtually" to hedge itself against spammers who might otherwise use limitless storage to game the system.) And you should take our word when we say it's worth giving the service a shot
What you get
In Outlook.com, the storage is "virtually" unlimited, to use Microsoft's words. (The company won't fully promise unlimited storage, since it needs a way to hedge against spammers.) That compares with 10GB of free storage on Gmail. Not bad, eh? Also, as you might know, every Microsoft account comes with 7GB of SkyDrive storage, so that's what you'll get if you're new to the company fold. Also, anyone can sign up; you don't need an invitation, and there's no limit to the number of people allowed to test the service in its preview stage.Getting started
Creating an account
If you already have a Hotmail account, you can upgrade by clicking Options in the upper-right corner and selecting "Upgrade to Outlook.com." Once you make the jump, you can always revert back to the old service if you feel more comfortable there. For now, the two services will exist separately, and according to Microsoft, that will be the case for the foreseeable future. Interestingly, the company isn't promising that it won't ever force you into an Outlook.com upgrade, but it would seem, at least, that this isn't the plan for the near term.
Coming over from another email service
If you're transferring over from Gmail (and Microsoft sure hopes you are), you can skip straight to Outlook.com and create an account. You'll also need to go into Gmail settings and set up forwarding. (By default, Gmail keeps a copy of your incoming messages. It's your call if you want Google to mark them as read, archive them or just leave them sitting there, unopened.)
Once we did that, we had no problem importing our contacts list, which we'll discuss in more detail down in the "Email features section." If you want, you can use POP to import all your old email. You can also program Gmail keyboard shortcuts if you go into the full settings menu. (Alternatively, if you want to educate yourself on Hotmail / Outlook.com shortcuts, this would be a good place to start.)
Still, our experience transitioning from Gmail to Outlook.com wasn't completely smooth: our labels didn't come with us, and whenever we responded to a message from Gmail, our response didn't sync with Outlook.com.
Email features
If you're wondering why we're only now starting to talk about email features, it's because they're not very different from what you'll get in Hotmail. Since the real story is the fresh UI and the new approach to ads, we decided to get the look and feel bit out of the way first. That said, if Microsoft succeeds in luring away some of Google's users, it's worth recapping what features Hotmail and Outlook.com have to offer.Attachments
It would be incorrect to say there's no file attachment size limit in Outlook.com, but the max size is certainly higher than Gmail's: 300MB versus 25MB. But, that number assumes you're uploading attachments from SkyDrive; if you're uploading from anywhere else, the file limit drops to 100MB. By default, Outlook.com will check for missing attachments when you're sending a message, though you can turn this feature off if you're so inclined.
Like Hotmail, Outlook.com has so-called Active View, which lets you open slideshows, YouTube clips and other attached media files from within the inbox. Open a batch of photos for instance, and they'll appear as a big overlay on your screen, allowing you to click through pictures instead of making you open them in a new tab or download them. Additionally, you can open Office files (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) in the browser, even if you don't have Office installed locally.
Search in email
The built-in search bar on the left side of the screen responds quickly, narrowing down results as you type more letters. If you click in the field, you'll also see an option for advanced search, which lets you filter by sender, recipient, subject, folder, date range, keywords and whether or not the message has an attachment.
Skype integration
To all of you who have been wondering just what Microsoft was going to do with Skype, here's your answer: Outlook.com will have Skype built in, not unlike the way Gmail has Google Talk integrated. (That would explain those job postings for Skype in the cloud, huh?) Unfortunately, the service isn't ready just yet, but Microsoft says it will be rolling out soon, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, you can use Facebook Chat to talk to people, with the option of saving conversations in your inbox. We have to say, though, we did miss Google Talk after we made the switch: Facebook isn't as widely used a chat client, and Microsoft also doesn't have an IM client quite that ubiquitous (no, not even Live Messenger). Still, Skype will naturally come in handy for video chatting, though.Mobile access
At the moment, there aren't any standalone mobile applications, so if you want to access Outlook.com on the go you'll need to use either a browser or any app that already supports Exchange ActiveSync. In fact, if you open the Hotmail.com app and log in using your Outlook.com credentials, you'll be able to use the app (minus, of course, the UI you'll get on Outlook's full site). For now, Microsoft won't say which mobile platforms it's considering, or when the first apps might arrive.(Source)
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