Outlook.com will fully replace Hotmail as Microsoft's webmail service. The company will begin to auto-update accounts, and hopes they will be fully migrated from Hotmail to Outlook.com by this summer.
Microsoft's move was spurred by surprise growth in the Outlook.com mail service, which has amassed 60 million active users in just six months. Microsoft has also removed the "customer preview" label on the product. I have been using Outlook.com for my personal email since last fall and I for one am glad to see the "customer preview: label gone.
I know the first thing you're thinking: "Does this mean my Hotmail address will just go away?" No. It just means that when you go to hotmail.com, you will be re-routed to Outlook.com, and when you log in on the Web, you will get the Outlook.com experience. You can keep your @hotmail.com email address forever, but you can also use that account to create multiple new @outlook.com email addresses, too, if you so desire.
But I recommend that you don't wait for Microsoft to switch your old Hotmail service over to Outlook.com. Do it as soon as you have time. You will not be disappointed. (Switching your account over takes almost no effort: Just log into Hotmail then click Settings at the top right — you will see the option to convert to Outlook.)
If you are a SkyDrive user Outlook.com nicely integrates with this as well.
I believe that Outlook.com can give Gmail a run for its money. It's a very smart service with a very streamlined design, tasteful social integration and auto organization features such as inbox "sweep" and scheduled cleanup. Because of this last bit, it's ideal for use either as a main email or as a "spam account," the kind you provide to online retailers and other data collectors.
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