Happy Birthday, Outlook.com!
One year ago today, Microsoft took Outlook.com out of preview and rolled it out publicly. Personally, I'd like to say "Thanks" to the good folks at Microsoft for moving away from the spam-ridden Hotmail.com. Hotmail.com was the original web-based email product, which Microsoft acquired in 1997 for about $400 million and it was truly a groundbreaking web app. However, due to lack of development, it became one of the easiest targets for inbox trash due to poor spam filter-ability.
Since moving to Outlook.com, I've been able to rely on it heavily, without fear (so far) of being inundated with worthless email. Outlook.com is by far, the best web-based email service, beating Gmail by a wide margin (personal opinion) for usability, slick features, spam handling, and of course, privacy.
To help celebrate the 1 year birthday of Outlook.com Microsoft is offering "celebration packages," whatever those are. To get a randomly selected package, just post to Twitter using the hashtag #OutlookTurnsOne.
