Microsoft to replace Hotmail with Outlook

View of Outlook inbox. The mailbox Colour can be customized

Hotmail, Microsoft free Web-based email system is to be replaced with its own email application that is part of the Microsoft Office Suite - Outlook.com.  Microsoft said Outlook.com will be compatible with mobile devices and social networking. This move is also to rival Google's Gmail service.

Microsoft said that in many cases email had become a "chore" because its users accounts had become "overloaded" with material.



Its solution is to automatically sort messages into different areas to distinguish between emails from contacts, newsletters, package delivery notices, social network posts and other identifiers determined by the account holder. In addition, it is taking steps to link the Outlook account with other services the user might have subscribed to. The new Outlook.com will give users access to Microsoft's suite of productivity tools including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and SkyDrive right from their inboxes.
"We are giving you the first email service that is connected to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google, and soon, Skype, to bring relevant context and communications to your email," the firm's Chris Jones said on its blog. "In the Outlook.com inbox, your personal email comes alive with photos of your friends, recent status updates and tweets that your friend has shared with you, the ability to chat and video call - all powered by an always up-to-date contact list that is connected to your social networks." Outlook.com also links up with Microsoft's Skydrive cloud storage, allowing users to send photos and other documents via the service to avoid the risk of going over their attachment size limit.

This could pose a threat to the rival Google Drive service as well as Dropbox, Sugarsync and others.