It was commercially launched on July 4, 1996, symbolizing 'freedom' from ISP-based email and the ability to access a user's inbox from anywhere in the world. Hotmail service was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, and was one of the first webmail services on the Internet along with Four11's RocketMail (later Yahoo! Mail). Outlook is offered with any Microsoft account, using as well as and (which are no longer offered) domains. It was changed back to Hotmail in October 2011 and was fully replaced by Outlook in February 2013, sharing the same brand as the Microsoft Outlook software which is offered via a Microsoft 365 (formerly Microsoft Office) subscription. In May 2007, the service was rebranded to Windows Live Hotmail, as part of the Windows Live suite of products.
Outlook can also be accessed via email clients using the IMAP or POP protocols.įounded in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith as Hotmail, it was acquired by Microsoft in 1997 for an estimated $400 million, with it becoming part of the MSN family of online services, branded as MSN Hotmail. This includes a webmail interface featuring mail, calendaring, contacts, and tasks services. , formerly Hotmail, is a free personal email service offered by Microsoft.
