Hello, and welcome to Outlook

Microsoft have pushed the button on their big reimagining of the popular Hotmail email service, as of today Outlook.com launches in preview form. Outlook.com represents the first major improvement to cloud mail in eight years, and it builds off the power of Outlook that people have long used on both PCs and Macs.

If you're an existing Hotmail user you'll be able to upgrade to the new Outlook.com preview immediately. Of course you'll be given the option to rename your existing @hotmail.com address to the new @outlook.com, or (if you prefer) add an additional alias to your old account. If you are new to the fold, you too can pick an @outlook.com email address and take a tour of the new service.

In one particularly early review Slate.com describe the overhauled service as "the best reason yet to ditch Gmail". We'll leave that comment open to interpretation - why not see what you make of it?