According to reports coming in, Microsoft is planning to replace its Outlook.com email service with Office 365 features, however through a standalone free service. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s future agenda have told The Verge that Microsoft will migrate all of Outlook.com users to Office 365 throughout the year.
For those who aren’t familiar, Microsoft Office 365 has services like Outlook Web Access is already a part of its portfolio. But now Microsoft wants to align Outlook.com services with Office 365 ‘user interface and feature set’, after which Outlook.com will be powered by Office 365 technology.
Microsoft so far plans to retain the Outlook.com name for its consumers. The service will be available separately as a free email facility without the subscription advantages of Office 365, similar to how it works presently, however the back-end technology and features will get updated and replaced.
Experts suggest that Microsoft’s reason for this sudden change is to align Microsoft’s Outlook, Office 365 and Exchange platforms.
Move will also provide developers with a single platform to develop add-ins for Outlook.
Microsoft has not updated there consumer email service Outlook.com for months. Growing distance between Facebook and Microsoft has already led to the termination of Facebook chat in Outlook.com.
The interface found of Office Web Access is similar to the one found on Outlook.com so users will not have difficulty adjusting after the transfer. As previously stated, the migration will take place throughout the year until the current Outlook.com becomes completely redundant.
Source: WindowsCnetral, DigitalTrends
