For those of us still holding on to a Hotmail account, the email service provider is rolling out Outlook.

Outlook coming to Hotmail

Everyone laughs when I tell them I have a Hotmail account. Yes, it was the first email address I got years ago. Why change something that works and everyone already has? We don’t change our phone numbers anymore so why change my email address? While I’m not ready to change Hotmail is ready to change, but I’ll still get to keep my email address.

Hotmail is rolling out Outlook to users while still allowing you to keep your Hotmail address.  Unlike some other free services out there that automatically change your account, Hotmail hasn’t taken that step just yet. Right now, you have to click “Upgrade” under options to convert your account to an outlook format.

If you don’t like the new upgrade, you can switch back to the old Hotmail during this preview period.

The new look is a little bland and will take some getting used to for me as it doesn’t quite look like the Outlook I use at the office or the web version I use to log in at home.

The upgrade is advertised as a way to integrate social media. That way you can see your contacts updates when you log in to your email. Of course that means syncing your accounts which is something I try not to do too often. I like my privacy on various programs and often don’t snyc.

What’s interesting is that I didn’t sync my accounts or upload a profile pictures.  As you can see to the left, my profile is blank.

However, when you look at an email conversation you see a different story. My Facebook profile picture pops up. Same for my husband. It’s amazing how even when you try to be somewhat incognito online, these programs are smart enough to connect the dots.

A picture is not a big deal, and some might argue that it enhances your email experience. It just always makes me wonder what else these programs know about me.

The other features include access to more cloud space, and a calendar that actually resembles the old Hotmail look.

I’ve made the upgrade for now and will play around with it. For me, it’s a good excuse to clean up my Inbox because I know that hasn’t been done in years. I have emails from people I don’t even know who they are anymore.

If you want to change your Hotmail address to an outlook one, click here for the steps to take to do that.

Need to clean out your email folder? Get rid of junk email in just a few steps.