The End Of Hotmail
Well, I took grief for it, and was snickered at, but one of my oldest, still functioning and used-daily “tech items” is Hotmail — which I first signed up for ages and ages ago (back when AOL was king).
I have been informed that – like it or not – Hotmail is going away. I have to (repeat: have to) “upgrade” to Microsoft’s hip and slick new email system, called “Outlook.com”.
With it’s spiffy new “Metro style” graphics, and too-simplified controls. Which I do not like, and probably would not like even if all my devices were ‘touch screen’ controlled.
WHY?
Why I am being forced to change? And adapt to a new interface? So that I can have “fun email” (again?).
Because I am a brain-dead; a 20-something; I dress like that; and I just wanna have fun. Like these Outlook.com users are having with their email.
Oh, wait. I am supposed to LOVE! the “integrated SkyDrive and Skype phone calls” that will be part of my Inbox.
Thanks, Microsoft!
Shaft anyone over 30, right? Can’t get them to adopt, f-o-r-c-e them, right? (I mean, everyone else is doing it, right? And Office’s “Ribbon” went over so well with the public..) Guess what, Microsoft: the 20-somethings are not using email. This tactic is not going to change that. (And only Über Geeks are going to drop Dropbox for SkyDrive, I’d wager.)
You know what I’d like to see as an “improvement” for an email system? Not anything that requires me to learn a new way (I’m too busy), but notifications telling me how you arrested (or otherwise put out of business) several spammers. And also those *creeps* that sent me the virus-as-an-attachment. Tell me how you are doing something about the disease.
When Hotmail as I know it goes away (soon), so will I as a ‘consumer’ and user. (Further: I won’t buy Windows 8, and I’m not alone.) I am getting rather peeved at this industry trend. We gotta stay hip! And ‘with it’! Create a ‘buzz’!
(But: alienating/losing a customer, in this market/economy??? Smart!)
But you don’t care, do you Tech Giant? I’m well over 20 years-old, and not your ‘prime demographic’. (Guess what? I don’t Twit or Face, either.) So I won’t waste my breath telling you what I think of that photo. I will suggest to you (or.. remind you, Dear Microsoft) that ‘touchscreen’ is not where you should place ALL your bets. Remember netbooks?
Other lunacy: Google’s big Chromebook Pixel gamble: Can it upend Windows at a high price?
“With the Pixel, a Chromebook starting at $1,299, Google is trying to break free of good enough computing to dent the Windows juggernaut on the high end of the market.” Read more..
[Be sure to (also) read the comments on this one, folks.]
… These Tech Nerds are geniuses, right? I mean, you gotta be smart to work at Microsoft and Google. Top of your class.
Something isn’t adding up.
But Microsoft isn’t the Microsoft I grew up with, anymore… is it? (Subscription software sales, tablet and phone sales, etc..)
And Google (and Gmail) is not the answer. This (next) stuff scares the *stuffing* out of me (while the reviewers shrug off the implications.. because it’s just so neato. ) Google Now: The future of big data and Android’s game-changer
“While Google Now raises plenty of privacy hackles, it’s also a stunningly useful example of the power of big data and a major advantage for Android.” Read more..
I gotta get with the times, I guess.. (Or go independent)
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
Linux is coming.
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1101doc,
Every so often I fiddle with various flavors of Linux Desktop.
Perhaps it’s time to take another look.
But that doesn’t really answer the consumerization/cloud computing/Big Brother/web-based data mining,etc, issues ..
(I haven’t yet looked at the Linux phone OS.)
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I for one am sick of being pushed around by Microsoft. Just when I think they are doing something right (Windows 7), they turn around and become the company I love to hate once again. And they know they can get away with it. Grrrrr…
I’m with you tp. I may be an old squint, but I buy a lot of software. My Mom who’s in her mid-80’s definitely doesn’t want to learn some spiffy new email client. I will miss my old Hotmail account. However, I will never visit Outlook.com.
I won’t ever buy Window 8 either. If they continue down this path they may just lose me for good, and I’ve been with them since the days of “IBM clones” and MS-DOS.
It must simply be due to the fact that kids are apt to spend money like it grows on trees.
Sigh…
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kstinman,
Personally, I think it’d be great if it was just Microsoft. But the truth is, the attitude/policies is/are industry-wide. (And it seems to me that 98% [or more] of ALL the ‘marketing’ [and 2/3rds of the entertainment] I see is aimed at 8 year-olds.)
In some ways, they are following how they perceive we (“consumers”) are spending. In others, they are trying to force us into ‘models’.
Personally, if I was running the show, I’d offer both services, and only think about eliminated Hotmail once a 90% conversion (to Outlook.com) had been attained. If (as I suspect) Outlook.com only draws 20%, I’d give it up as a failed experiment.
But I’m not that smart.
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Hey Paul, many Valid Points mentioned here…you’ve covered many of my Beefs… Thanks.
I see a large part of the Tech World like a Whirl-Wind-Spinning-Out-Of-Control!!!
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Gaia,
Well.. to argue against that idea.. one would have to ignore the fact that there were two "dot com bubble"s …
Either way, there’s no denying that tech is evolving, and doing so without the benefit of any master plan. And that we’ll only learn the “costs” (or “consequences”) of these new sciences later on down the road.
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