I tried switching to Hotmail from Gmail...

[Stokkolm]

Umm... what?

LOL, that's what my wife tells me anyway...

[SMELTN]

I like others here am just turned off by the @hotmail and @yahoo names. I do understand that I can use a @live name which I have, but I don't know.. I guess I just want to be a cool kid and all the cool kids have a @gmail account even though we may not like the interface :)

[Colin McGregor]

i have to agree with the way gmail is looking nowadays,

but that saying , i dont think i would ever go back to hotmail, to me it just doesn't seem professional to have a @hotmail email address.

but thats just my opinion

My opinion @live.com or @live.ca is more professional sounding then gmail.

[TAZMINATOR]

i have to agree with the way gmail is looking nowadays,

but that saying , i dont think i would ever go back to hotmail, to me it just doesn't seem professional to have a @hotmail email address.

but thats just my opinion

If you like hotmail's email system, then you can use your own domain, then use their email system. Not a problem. For example: [email protected] so it will be used via hotmail's email server.

Not believe me? Look up their domain service for email usages.

Of course, Google has a similar service for your own email address instead of gmail.com address.

[BetaAddict]

Microsoft offer '@live' addresses now, for all of their services, including Hotmail :) '@live' doesn't sound particularly unprofessional, to me?it's on the same level as '@gmail'. I have my own personal domain with an email address, and I use Windows Live Admin Center for Windows Live Hotmail with that email address. I feel that such email addresses sound more professional than what any webmail service offers :)

But from what I understand, if you have a long standing hotmail account, you can't get the new @live address without creating a new account. This still bothers me that MS has made no effort allow such an option.

[smooth_criminal1990]

Umm... what?

'Anal' is short for 'Anally Retentive', a figure of speech meaning being picky basically: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anally_retentive

Probably not what you were thinking :p

[jakem1]

Ahhhh stop teasing me! LOL IMAP (or lack of Exchange support from Hotmail) is pretty much the only reason I want to switch. I only want to deal with the web interface when I'm away from my computer or phone

Hotmail offers EAS for mobile and they you have a choice of Outlook or Live Mail on the desktop.

I quite dislike the current Hotmail design; it feels awkward, cluttered, and outdated. I much prefer Gmail's new design, which is interesting because I'd always previously disliked how Gmail looked. Google have greatly impressed me with their latest design decisions. I use Hotmail, but I am hoping that Microsoft update the website design to a beautiful Metro-inspired one.

+1

Now that MS are finally paying some attention to their Live services (especially Hotmail and SkyDrive) we can only hope that they overhall all UI for all the apps using Metro.

[Rudy]

Hotmail offers EAS for mobile and they you have a choice of Outlook or Live Mail on the desktop.

I use EAS on my iPhone but Outlook 2012 on OSX doesn't work with Hotmail and Live Mail isn't available for OSX

[simplezz]

You are not supposed to take Neowin's front page trolling literally.

Could you imagine the uproar had a neowin editor tried to promote switching from Microsoft's Hotmail to Google's Gmail service? :whistle:

The last time I used Hotmail it was a spam fest. That's why I moved to Gmail. I might give it a try in the future, but it's a hassle changing addresses.

[techbeck]

I have 3 email accounts...used to have a few more.

Yahoo account - Used to signup for Websites you have to register with to access content or post content. Get several dozen spam emails a day.

GMAIL Account - Main email account. I never ever give this email address out. Only to friends/family. Get maybe a dozen spam per month if that. Been using GMAIL since the beta came out and before it was opened to everyone.

ISP Account - I had this for the longest and currently do not use it much. In the process of phasing it out eventually.

Anyway, I have a HOTMAIL and LIVE email as well but dont really use them. Also, not sure how often this pops up...but would get annoying if it is to often.

[c3ntury]

Hotmail certainly doesn't beat this interface -

[Amarok]

Hotmail certainly doesn't beat this interface.

No no don't you know? You HAVE TO use the perfectly fine default UI. Have to! That's what the haters imply, it must be true.

I love my Gmail account. It's pretty much the only Google service that I make use of, and it's great. I did try using Hotmail for awhile there just to see what it was like and I couldn't get used to it either. It just felt so limited and unintuitive after Gmail. :/

OP: Since you said that you've been thinking about this since Google changed their privacy policy, just out of curiosity, did you read the new privacy policy? I'm merely wondering because it doesn't actually change anything major for us as end-users, it just streamlines things on Google's end.

[Elliott]

I use EAS on my iPhone but Outlook 2012 on OSX doesn't work with Hotmail and Live Mail isn't available for OSX

Just switch man. :p Use 1Password or something to keep your accounts straight.

[Rudy]

Just switch man. :p Use 1Password or something to keep your accounts straight.

I might tonight... my trial of mBox is expiring in a few days so I won't be able to use Mail with my Hotmail anymore

[jakem1]

I use EAS on my iPhone but Outlook 2012 on OSX doesn't work with Hotmail and Live Mail isn't available for OSX

Yes, that's pretty poor. You'd think they could at least support their own products properly. Mind you, if you insist on using a niche OS :shifty:

Hotmail certainly doesn't beat this interface -

Hotmail's UI might need some work but that is awful. You can't even read half the text.

[Charisma Veteran]

You're correct, they aren't insurmountable, but when you're used to doing things a certain way, I guess it's just hard to get used to not having the convenience you're used to. Gmail's UI is miles ahead of Hotmails.

I suspected this was your problem when you said Android wasn't as good as iPhone... no, you're just used to things being one way and don't like that the new one isn't an exact replica. So you have to weigh the pros and cons and decide if it's worth switching and getting over those things.

[c3ntury]

Hotmail's UI might need some work but that is awful. You can't even read half the text.

Hmm? It's one theme out of many, they're several you can pick from. I just happen to use that particular theme. /shrug.

[nowimnothing]

I've always preferred the Outlook style of UI for mail clients (for whatever reason, it fits my workflow perfectly). The gmail UI doesn't come close in that regard. Not that I think the gmail UI is terrible or anything. It's just very much not for me.

[Calum Veteran]

But from what I understand, if you have a long standing hotmail account, you can't get the new @live address without creating a new account. This still bothers me that MS has made no effort allow such an option.

I see what you mean. I'm not entirely sure what their reasoning behind that was, but I'm not going to allow it to cloud my judgement of them, in case the decision was reasonable.

[123456789A]

I like the Office 365 webmail and Outlook Web Access.

[simplezz]

Hotmail certainly doesn't beat this interface -

Looking good m8.

[ybrett23]

I use EAS on my iPhone but Outlook 2012 on OSX doesn't work with Hotmail and Live Mail isn't available for OSX

osx outlook uses webdav, not true eas, hence why it doesnt work,

[brink668]

I use Hotmail because I've had my account since 1997....I would rather use gmail (mostly for IMAP) but it's too complicated to switch now :/

It shouldn't be too difficult, you should start planning your execution now. It may take a year to totally get off but it is worth it. I just did the same for a lady who has been on since 2000 and her other email account was part of her ISP, she wanted to switch her ISP but didn't want to loose all that email. The complete switch took about 9 months mostly her changing her emails on different accounts and updating.

[Gladiatorus]

Microsoft offer '@live' addresses now, for all of their services, including Hotmail :) '@live' doesn't sound particularly unprofessional, to me?it's on the same level as '@gmail'. I have my own personal domain with an email address, and I use Windows Live Admin Center for Windows Live Hotmail with that email address. I feel that such email addresses sound more professional than what any webmail service offers :)

How? I don't see the option anywhere

[Calum Veteran]

How? I don't see the option anywhere

This link to sign up for a Windows Live ID displays a page with a select box that allows me to select from "hotmail.co.uk" or "LIVE.CO.UK" The choices will probably depend on your location. I'm not sure why the option for live.co.uk is in capital letters, as it wasn't whenever I previously signed up for my Windows Live IDs, but it should work all the same.

There is no way to convert a '@hotmail' address to a '@live' one, but my original post was referring to signing up for a new ID.