I’ve been exclusively using Gmail and Google services for a while now having made the switch from Hotmail oh so many years ago. Google Calendar, GChat, Picasa, Google Maps, heck even this blog sitting on Blogger -- it’s been all big G for quite some time. Unfortunately when I needed a professional sounding e-mail address (FunkyMoron wouldn’t cut it) and with the knowledge that my UW e-mail wouldn’t last forever, I discovered a huge problem. I could not find a combination or permutation of my name that I liked that could be put in front of “@gmail.com" -- they had all been taken.
I thought I was S.O.L. with Hotmail because let’s face it -- it had been around much longer than GMail, and there was no way my desired name would be available. But Microsoft had an ace up their sleeve -- a brand new service, dubbed “Live” -- complete with a new “@live.com” domain. Quickly I entered in my first.last names and was greeted warmly with a “Your Account Has Been Created.” I was elated! Now I was armed with the best possible e-mail combination to move along into the professional world.
Since then, I’ve switched from Rhapsody to Zune for my music needs (was iTunes really ever an option?), bought a heavily discounted Microsoft “LifeCam” to video chat with my sister, and used Outlook to check the @live.com mail on my computer. The appeal of Google is that everything is in the “cloud”; all your data is accessible from anywhere. And they do it much better than Microsoft does.
Until now?
I randomly ran into a review of the “New Hotmail”, and how it was being touted as the next big thing. They too were moving into a threaded type approach (they call it “conversations”) in addition to introducing a new feature called “Sweep”. Maybe I’m a sucker for clean-line artistic videos, but this got me thinking that Microsoft is stepping up their game -- granted Google already has a lot of these features.
Long story just a little bit shorter, they’ve got a whole new suite of fantastic new programs dubbed “Windows Live Essentials” coming up (“Wave 4”, or 4th beta versiom, was just released). Most important to me -- Windows Live Mail, which I’ve got up and running replacing my bulky and slow Outlook. It consolidates my @live.com mail, @gmail.com mail, RSS feeds, and calendar (Google and Facebook events) all into one place on my desktop. It’s pulled my GMail, Live, and Facebook contacts into a contact book -- though I can’t combine them unti my Hotmail gets upgraded to the above video experience (within the next month).
As great as having everything in your internet browser is, sometimes it’s good to work with good ‘ol fashioned desktop programs. And for me, it looks as if Microsoft is becoming relevant again. As someone that’s already using their services, it is a nice bonus to see that they are making great strides and improvements to help me out. Very interested to see what’s next.
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