Tuesday 31 July 2012

Microsoft drops the ball with outlook.com

Engadget reports:

So Microsoft launched a new email service today -- not a redesigned version of Hotmail, but a completely new, built-from-the-ground-up service. It's called Outlook.com, and for now, at least, it will exist separately from Hotmail, as Microsoft attempts to distance itself from Hotmail's bad rap.

So far, so good. But when we visit outlook.com, what is the first thing that happens? We get redirected to a live.com login page. The help section there is not dedicated to the new outlook.com site, but it's the generic live.com stuff.

Why would I want to sign up for an outlook.com account, if you can't even visit outlook.com without a live.com account? What features does does an outlook.com account have? I don't know because outlook.com doesn't even have a "features"-page or a "faq"-section. Or maybe it does, but unless I first sign up for a live.com account, I'll never know.

After reading the engadget article, I was curious and wanted to find out more. Two seconds after visiting outlook.com, it looks like Microsoft dropped the ball again. But then again, when was the last time Microsoft didn't drop it when they developed an internet service?

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