Microsoft previews Outlook.com webmail

Microsoft has silently just released Outlook.com, a new free webmail service. Now with the minimalist look and feel shared by Windows Phone and Windows 8, Outlook.com could be the next big thing in webmail.

Today, Microsoft launched the preview of Outlook.com, a new, modern mail service for individuals. Microsoft is taking a bold step to reimagine personal email – from the datacenter to the user experience – and deliver an email service for the next billion users.

 

Highlights of the Outlook.com preview:

• Modern experience for modern browsers and devices: A fresh, clean user interface that’s intuitive to use, works across your devices with Exchange ActiveSync, and gets the clutter out of your way with 60% fewer pixels in the header and 30% more messages visible in your inbox. Plus no display ads or large search boxes that take up that extra space. 
• Connected to friends and co-workers, wherever they are: Outlook.com preview is connected to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and soon, Skype. You can view pictures of your friends, messages, status updates, chats, calls – all powered by an always up-to-date contact list that is similarly connected to those networks. 
• Smart and Powerful: Outlook.com automatically sorts your messages from contacts, newsletters, shipping updates, and social updates, and with sweep you can move or delete them in a few clicks. Plus, the service includes free Office Web Apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, as well as SkyDrive. 
• Puts you in control: Keeps your personal mail personal (no ads in person-to-person mails and no scanning your personal mail to serve ads), and has great tools for power users.

Of course all the basics are included in Outlook.com, such as virtually unlimited storage and industry-leading spam protection.