Hotmail Is Officially Dead

Hotmail is officially dead.

Microsoft announced today that they have finished transferring all Hotmail accounts to its newer email system Outlook.

The SF Gate reports that Hotmail accounts will still be active, but the look and feel of the old system is officially dead.

Microsoft wrote in a blog post: “Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve completed upgrading all Hotmail customers to Outlook.com. Coupled with the growing organic excitement for Outlook.com, this has pushed us to over 400 million active Outlook.com accounts, including 125 million that are accessing email, calendar and contacts on a mobile device using Exchange ActiveSync.”

Gigaom writes that Hotmail users will now be able to use all of the features of Outlook including new features like SkyDrive Integration, but that doesn’t mean that everyone considers the move an upgrade.

Outlook Group Product Manager Dick Craddock addressed the change, writing:

“Of course, whenever a widely-used consumer service makes any substantial change, there will always be some folks that don’t like it, and that shows up in the feedback, too. It’s gratifying in a sense because it means those customers loved the previous set of changes we made. With a communication service that is constantly evolving, we try to strike the right balance between bringing out major improvements and keeping true to what our customers love.”

Craddock tried to smooth some of the tensions by assuring Hotmail users that they wouldn’t have to change their email address, that they wouldn’t have to update mobile settings, and that Hotmail Plus users would still see the same benefits on Outlook.com.

Are you surprised that Hotmail is officially dead? Are you a Hotmail user? Well, were you?