Outlook email address history
Outlook email address history! That's a great topic. Here's a rundown of the evolution of Outlook email addresses over the years:
Early Days (1996-2002)
- Outlook was first introduced as a part of Microsoft Office 97, with a focus on personal information management and email.
- Initially, Outlook used the same email address format as Microsoft Exchange Server, which was
[email protected]. - However, this format was not widely adopted, and users often used their company's domain name followed by
@outlook.com(e.g.,[email protected]).
Hotmail Acquisition (1997-2012)
- In 1997, Microsoft acquired Hotmail, a popular free web-based email service.
- Hotmail users were allowed to keep their existing email addresses, which were in the format
[email protected]. - Outlook began to integrate with Hotmail, allowing users to access their Hotmail accounts within the Outlook client.
Outlook.com (2012-Present)
- In 2012, Microsoft launched Outlook.com, a new web-based email service that replaced Hotmail.
- Outlook.com introduced a new email address format,
[email protected], which was designed to be more modern and user-friendly. - Existing Hotmail users were migrated to Outlook.com, and their email addresses were updated to the new format.
Other Email Address Formats (2003-2012)
- During this period, Microsoft also introduced other email address formats, such as
[email protected]and[email protected]. - These formats were used for specific services, like Microsoft's online storage service (SkyDrive) and social networking platform (Windows Live).
Current Outlook Email Address Formats (2012-Present)
- Today, Outlook email addresses follow the format
[email protected], with some exceptions:[email protected]is still used for some legacy accounts.[email protected]is used for Microsoft employee email addresses.[email protected]and other country-specific domains are used for regional Outlook accounts.
In summary, Outlook email addresses have undergone significant changes over the years, from the early days of [email protected] to the modern [email protected] format.