Outlook.com vs. Gmail: What Microsoft is still missing - welchnotheeptist
The peachy Hotmail migration is all over. Microsoft recently announced that Hotmail as we've known it for yours is expended indulg gone, and every last its users have been transitioned to Mindset.com, which now boasts much 400 million users worldwide.
In its heyday, Hotmail was the go-to electronic mail client over competing services much as Yahoo. That changed approximately 2005, when Hotmail fans inescapably got an invite to Gmail from one of their friends. Gmail proved to be the superior Webmail service, and many Hotmail accounts began to languish.
Microsoft's trying to geological fault the ball back to its court with Outlook.com.
On the far side its sleek aesthetic and robust social media integration, Microsoft has packed the service with a bevy of adroit-dandy new features in recent months, including a much improved Android app, a redbrick UI-style calendar, the Skype video shout out preview (which is non yet available in the U.S.), and recent SMTP send and SkyDrive integration improvements added yesterday.
But is Microsoft's new email religious service ready to replace Gmail pear-shaped-time? Is it well behaved enough to entice the throngs of Hotmail users who left Gmail elongated ago return to their early stomping grounds?
It's awful close, but Mentality.com isn't quite willing eventually. Here are the features Outlook.com still needs if it wants to go toe-to-toe with Gmail.
Improve search
Gmail hunting is just plain healthier than what Outlook.com has to offer. That may seem open, but Google only recently upped its game for Gmail search beyond a standard inbox query. Most notable is its Instant search results, which recommends opposite messages you might be inquiring for as you type. You can buoy too search inside attachments, find oneself Google Drive documents, and quick irritate a standard Google search happening the Web.
Outlook currently offers a fairly basic inbox search. There are a few nice features, including an Insistent search-like feature that lets you quickly search by transmitter, recipient, OR subject line. But it's scarcely not atomic number 3 healthful Eastern Samoa what Gmail has to offer, particularly without Bing and SkyDrive seek integration.
Deeper Skype desegregation
Gmail's Google Voice, Talk, and Stamping groun integration is nothing short of awful. To combat that triplex menace, Skype one-to-same video calling is slowly rolling dead set Outlook.com users opening with the U.K., then the U.S. and Germany in the coming weeks. IT isn't up to par with Google's offering quite yet, though.
At launch, you bequeath only be able to initiate Skype-based video calls with your Skype and Courier contacts. Paid Skype features such as mobile and landline phone calls aren't on tap withal. Other Skype staples are also missing such as sending files via IM, audio and video calls to your Facebook friends and screen share-out. Just those features may come to Outlook.com one of these days.
"We leave continue to amend the quality and availability of features finished time," a Microsoft representative told PCWorld earlier in the week. "In the meantime, we encourage you to download the screen background or mobile versions of Skype to relish all the coaction and productivity tools you recognize and love."
Customizability
You can change your theme color on Outlook.com from blue to other modern UI-styled flat color, but that's about it.
Gmail lets you add personalized background signal images, patc Gmail gadgets and Labs plug-ins add optional functionality that ingest no vis-a-vis in Outlook.com. Perhaps information technology's not Microsoft's panach in that new era of the streamlined modern UI to add an overabundance of features to Outlook.com. At the very least, however, add-ons offering a hurried view of your latest SkyDrive documents or your calendar appointments would atomic number 4 welcome additions.
Make filters more full-featured
The killer productivity feature for Gmail is its filters that let you automate actions for specific types of messages. You could, e.g., funnel all messages from john@johnsmith.com that have attachments to a specific label, or forward them to another email address, or delete them immediately. The options are draw close-endless.
Outlook filters don't have half that functionality. If you need to filter messages from a specific sender in Outlook.com, you protrude by clicking "Sweep" at the top of the inbox window. Then you bequeath see options to "Move all from…" operating theatre "Delete all from…" Choosing "Move all from…" lets you funnel past and future messages from that transmitter to a specific Outlook.com folder. But that's it. No options to forward, archive, mechanically edit operating theatre whatever of the other options available with Gmail filters.
Minding the gap
Microsoft has done a great job with Outlook.com and the enraged pace the caller is setting with updates and new features means we may see more cool satiate strike Outlook.com soon. For now, however, Gmail silence has an edge ended Microsoft's webmail service, simply the feature gap between the two services is closing fast.
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/451659/outlook-com-vs-gmail-what-microsoft-is-still-missing.html
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