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Microsoft ditches Hotmail brand in favour of Outlook

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By John Glenday, Reporter

August 1, 2012 | 2 min read

Microsoft has announced that it is to kill off its Hotmail email brand, adopting Outlook.com as its domain instead.

The move is intended to remove duplication and provide less ‘cluttered’ inboxes as well as the ability to make internet calls via Skype.

The principle improvement will be an upgraded sort feature which will allow users to sort their inboxes by message type – be that emails from contacts, newsletters, package delivery notices or social network posts.

Web versions of the firms office apps will also be built-in and Microsoft’s Skydrive cloud storage system will be used to eliminate the risk of attachments exceeding any size limits.

In a blog post Microsoft’s Chris Jones said: “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.

"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."

The service is currently available as a preview only with no official release date yet announced.

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