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Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

blogs.office.com

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Re: Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

#11

Post by debacle »

cross-post from another thread because HN tends to bury things:

Wow. Very interesting. At first glance, the interface looks very mobile friendly and also very simple.

I'm incredibly impressed. The only feedback I would give is that the buttons in the top bar could stand out a bit - maybe a different shade of blue or a slight border. It wasn't immediately clear to me where 'send' was.

The ads are a bit more obtrusive than Google Mail ads, though I think that would just take a bit of getting used to.

I'm impressed as fuck, though. I can't explain how impressed I am.

Re: Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

#12

Post by sigkill »

yoblin wrote: post #4

Signup captcha appears to be case sensitive (or something??). After try number 6 I give up. Nice work, Microsoft.

Well I'm not sure about you, but my hotmail id works with this. Unless, you don't have a hotmail id in the first place... in which case, ignore this comment.

Re: Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

#13

Post by [deleted] »

briandear wrote: post #5

The reason Outlook is the world's most used mail client is because people are often forced to use it to access their company email. While anecdotal, I don't know a single person that uses outlook because they choose to. However, hopefully, outlook.com can introduce some innovation in the space, although, I'm skeptical as I am with most Microsoft 'innovation.'

[deleted]

Re: Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

#14

Post by gecko »

briandear wrote: post #5

The reason Outlook is the world's most used mail client is because people are often forced to use it to access their company email. While anecdotal, I don't know a single person that uses outlook because they choose to. However, hopefully, outlook.com can introduce some innovation in the space, although, I'm skeptical as I am with most Microsoft 'innovation.'

To give a counterpoint, I not only know maybe a half dozen people who voluntarily use Outlook; I know at least two who voluntarily use Outlook on a Mac.

I think the fact that few developers enjoy using Outlook is causing you to overgeneralize. Most people who don't care about things like whether their email is in mbox format, or who don't want to learn how to use Mutt or notmuch, find Outlook surprisingly easy to use and powerful.

I poked around on outlook.com, and I don't see anything particularly innovative, other than it looks and works nearly exactly like Outlook 2013. But I wouldn't assume its lack of anything novel dooms it to obscurity, either. Outlook, unlike Notes, is a positive brand-name in some circles. I wouldn't be surprised to see this get a relatively large amount of traction right off the bat.

Re: Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

#16

Post by IanDrake »

yoblin wrote: post #4

Signup captcha appears to be case sensitive (or something??). After try number 6 I give up. Nice work, Microsoft.

Captchas everywhere are starting to get impossible for humans. MS should have solved this problem better though, they have the talent.

Re: Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

#17

Post by untog »

briandear wrote: post #5

The reason Outlook is the world's most used mail client is because people are often forced to use it to access their company email. While anecdotal, I don't know a single person that uses outlook because they choose to. However, hopefully, outlook.com can introduce some innovation in the space, although, I'm skeptical as I am with most Microsoft 'innovation.'

I know a good few people that willingly use Outlook, including ones who use it for their Gmail account. Its actually pretty good at being e-mail PLUS calendar PLUS tasks, and so on. Google still haven't got that yet IMO, by virtue of "Google Calendar" and "Google Mail" being two separate products.

Re: Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

#19

Post by mladenkovacevic »

Sounds like a lot of interesting innovative features that a lot of people might use: social, quick-views, select-all-messages-from-sender..etc

I kind of have a problem with their design though. I guess it is all part of the Metro initiative which can look nice in some of their efforts (mobile) .. but here it just shouts at me something to the effect of: "I'm so new and cool and fresh that I don't need subtlety or pleasant earthy colors. Mail, People, Calendar, SKYDRIVE.. I dare you to click EVERYTHING!" Maybe I'm getting too old in my 30th year of life but that intimidates me more than it excites me.

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