Microsoft is planning to replace the technology and interface of Outlook.com with Office 365. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the company is migrating all Outlook.com users over to Office 365 this year. Microsoft’s Office 365 service includes Outlook Web Access, and we’re told Outlook.com will start to align with this user interface and feature set. The Outlook.com name will remain for consumers, and the Office 365 technology will help power it separately as a free email service without the subscription benefits of Office 365.
The primary reason for the migration is to ensure Microsoft’s Outlook, Exchange, and Office 365 platforms are aligned, and that means adding the consumer Outlook.com service into this mix to keep everything consistent. In an interview with The Verge last week, Microsoft’s general manager of Office Apps, Rob Lefferts, speculated there could be some UI changes as part of the swap. "I expect there will be some visual enhancements," said Lefferts. "We debated a couple of ways we could have gone about it, but given the other goals we have for Exchange, Outlook, and Outlook.com it seemed like the most straightforward way to do it."
How Outlook.com may look in future.
Microsoft hasn't updated Outlook.com with major changes for months now, and the company recently killed off Google and Facebook chat ahead of its migration plans. Any potential UI changes will likely involve Microsoft moving toward its Outlook Web App interface used on Office 365. It's largely similar to Outlook.com, so most Hotmail and Outlook.com users will already be familiar with any future changes. Microsoft's migration of Outlook.com will help the company provide add-ins across Outlook for desktop, mobile, and web thanks to a single codebase that developers can hook into.
Comments
I use Outlook for all professional/formal emails since I managed to make it on my real name without the use of numbers or underscores. I literally don’t care about Office 365 or any of that stuff. I hope this move doesn’t mess up Outlook.
By Pixelated on 05.05.15 2:35pm
I snagged my name @outlook.com as well. But since 3rd party email apps tend not to support Outlook or do so long after Gmail, I just forward all my Outlook mail to Gmail and use "send as" to always reply from the outlook address.
It’s a lot of rigmarole, but it gets me the best of both worlds.
By ericesque on 05.05.15 2:46pm
I usually add my @outlook as an Exchange account, never had a problem on any app on Android at least.
By zettaJon on 05.05.15 2:51pm
Some apps I’ve looked at on iOS don’t use the OS accounts and instead fetch mail on their own. If they don’t have Outlook or Exchange support you’re out of luck – short forwarding your mail to a supported service. Mailbox still doesn’t support Outlook/Exchange. It took several other apps a year or more to finally support Outlook/Exchange.
By ericesque on 05.05.15 3:32pm
I too got my real name, but I am so tied up with Google, I have found it hard to move over to Outlook. What´s more I find not being able to sync my contacts and calendar (which I like to always be with my mail) on OSX is a real problem.
The day that is fixed, is the day I use that import feature and say goodbye to Gmail. (MAYBE)
By dc9super80 on 05.05.15 3:36pm
Oh, for me, I don’t want to move my mail over to my real name account on Outlook— it seems too important to give out willy-nilly! I trust Gmail’s spam filter too much and other companies too little to switch over fully.
I pretty much just give my Outlook address to my immediate family and on my résumé.
By The White Tiger on 05.05.15 3:54pm
Cool. Looking forward to streamlining. It’s currently crap. I hate having to log out to MSN. I hate having to log out to switch accounts.
By skisagooner on 05.05.15 2:38pm
And I hope they allow users to merge separate accounts soon – I’d even forgo the extra OneDrive space if they would just allow my main account to swallow my social media one, without any issues or workarounds.
By mw888 on 05.05.15 3:06pm
Can’t you do that now? I merged my @live.ca account with my @outlook.com account a long time ago with no issues.
By PopcornPenguin on 05.05.15 3:10pm
Interesting, did you have to close the live.ca account down for a month before adding it to your outlook.com? To be honest, it’s been a little while since I properly checked, but a quick search suggests that I’d still need to close an account down before merging it.
By mw888 on 05.05.15 3:18pm
That was the only way I was able to do it, but if you put a reminder in your calendar, you should be able to get it back pretty easily. You can then choose which one to make your main alias
By AR2186 on 05.05.15 4:50pm
I use both and vastly prefer Outlook.com. Hope they bring the visual bits from Outlook.com over to Office 365.
By ryanvinnicombe on 05.05.15 2:38pm
Agree, while both already have similar layouts, IIRC Outlook.com had friendlier photo attachment preview, etc. So while Outlook.com migrates to the more extensible O365 backend, let’s hope OWA picks up some UI flourishes in return.
I wonder what the result will be though. Will Outlook.com users have access to the O365 Admin Center (portal.office.com) or Exchange Admin Center (outlook.office365.com/ecp)?
By beq on 05.05.15 5:20pm
I’d also like the Exchange Online OWA (which is tied to your Microsoft organizational account) to be able to link to the standard OneDrive, Skype, and Office Online apps (which are tied to your consumer Microsoft account).
I’ve set up my family with Exchange Online email accounts, but apparently the enterprise OWA only likes integrating with OneDrive for Business (SharePoint), Skype for Business (Lync), etc. Whereas my family members continue to use the consumer-based OneDrive, Skype, Office Online (from their Office 365 Home subscription). Similarly the consumer OneDrive website only links to the consumer Outlook.com mail/contacts/calendar, with no option to link to Exchange/O365.
By beq on 05.05.15 5:20pm
In fact Microsoft has had trouble in the past with using a shared login page to access both Organizational accounts and consumer Microsoft accounts. For example I had also set up my family with Microsoft accounts using email addresses on their own domains, which are also the same addresses used to register their Exchange Online organizational accounts. The way it works is that both types of accounts can use the same email address if they have different passwords. But there have been glitches over the years…
By beq on 05.05.15 5:20pm
I really just want them to add the ability to add your own contact pictures. That’s really the only major thing I miss from switching away from gmail. I didn’t use it alot, but I figured if I was starting over I could start being more consistent about it.
By rcbeiler on 05.05.15 7:42pm
Wow,that was fast even for Microsoft. My wife had Hotmail, then it became Outlook, now it is becoming Office 365.
Hint: When things are working well, names don’t have to change. MS seems all about branding when they should be spending more time on the quality of their services and especially their UIs.
It’s the same reason Toyota sold the Corolla in 1979 and they still sell it today. Meanwhile GM had the Chevette, then Cavalier, then Cruze.
By TheVergeUrge on 05.05.15 2:52pm
This isn’t a name change, this is a backend change. Because Hotmail was an outside purchase for the company, it’s always run Ina completely different infrastructure from Exchange. As such, you end up with weird quirks in behavior.
By dagamer34 on 05.05.15 3:03pm
? Any examples… just curious
By rmuch on 05.06.15 7:42am
I think this platform migration should go better. I remember when they switched hotmail.com from Linux to windows, the windows servers couldn’t handle the load and brought down hotmail. They have more experience running azure so I imagine it’ll be smoother this time around…
By sunk818 on 05.08.15 10:50am
I think you misunderstood what’s happening here. As dagamer34 mentioned, this is a backend change. It’s a platform migration. If I’m Microsoft why would I want to maintain multiple platforms when I can maintain a single platform (O365) and brand it separately for consumer vs corporate clients?
MS is making huge strides right now and most of it is game changing in the corporate world. What you’re seeing is the results of those changes filtering down to the consumer level.
By brandonsteili on 05.05.15 3:25pm
You forgot the Cobalt before the Cruze. And technically the Chevette became the Aveo, Monza became Cavalier.
By ToniCipriani on 05.05.15 4:09pm
So my account was @hotmail then @live.com then @outlook now it’s something else. God dammit this is a lot of work for a back up email account. WTF Microsoft.
By NinJustin on 05.05.15 2:58pm
It’s almost like you didn’t read the article at all.
By dagamer34 on 05.05.15 3:02pm
No I get it I just don’t like the domain of my email to be redirecting me or the UI changing to something else every few years because Microsoft can’t make up their mind and for some reason need to be developing multiple web email interfaces at the same time.
By NinJustin on 05.06.15 9:17am