Redmond has long made public its plans to shut down its Hotmail service by summer this year, and move all users to Outlook.com, as this new platform is set to be an integral part of the company’s long-term strategy.
But as with all things that change, some users are up in arms against the killing of the classic Hotmail service, and have started posting messages on Microsoft’s community forums.
A fair few do not agree with the forced upgrade, and are asking the company to keep Hotmail alive:
“I would like to know what was so wrong with Hotmail that it needed to be changed. Why not just make the improvements to Hotmail, rather than inventing a new email service? This sounds a lot like a ‘make work’ project for idle MS staffers, with us poor users being the only group of people to suffer.”
Another disappointed user posted a more aggressive view, threatening to completely abandon Outlook.com and make the move to another email platform like Gmail or Yahoo Mail:
“I don’t want Outlook, I don’t like it and if it’s going to be forced on me, I’ll delete my email and use Gmail, AOL or Yahoo.”
Scroogled in reverse — Microsoft would probably not like to see this happening.
Nevertheless, the company has reiterated its desire to stick to its decision of retiring Hotmail. Redmond recommends users to read the available documentation for Outlook.com. A forum moderator noted:
“We understand that you were comfortable with the old Hotmail interface however, all Hotmail users will be upgraded eventually to Outlook.com. The option to switch-back has been removed.”
Microsoft expects the transition to Outlook.com to be complete by summer, and focus on a single email platform for the long-term. Hotmail is set to be retired in mid-2013.
All Comments
Does it mean I will have to move all my hotmail accounts to outlook?