Outlook Option To Cost $60/yr

[conjur]

http://www.technewsworld.com/s...-To-Cost-60-39900.html

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) will begin selling its Outlook e-mail program as a subscription to Hotmail customers, in a bid to persuade people to pay for add-on services and better compete with rivals such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) .

The new service, which costs $59.95 per year, will let people organize e-mail, contact lists and calendars in their online Hotmail accounts using the Microsoft Outlook program most often found on businesses' desktop computers.

Ted Schadler, an analyst with Forrester Research, said Microsoft is smart to take advantage of a popular core product, Outlook, to help make Hotmail more attractive to sophisticated users.

But he noted that there are many free programs that do similar things, and questioned whether the price will be too high.

"That feels pretty steep to me," he said.

That'll go over real well.

 

[ElFenix]

i haven't looked into it (just scanned the headlines on google, really), but i was under the impression that if you sign up for the service they would let you download the latest version of outlook. that might be worthwhile (if you want a bloated pim, that is)

 

[GrumpyMan]

I'll pass, thanks though.

 

[vi edit]

That's actually kinda cool. A bit overpriced, but still neat. Having people completely live off of Outlook Web Access hosted from the corporate Exchange box I've got a bit different perspective.

That's kind of what I view this as. A way to make your stuff "in office" available at any given time. In this case, it would be stuff in home available at any given time.

Not much of a market for it, but I understand where they are coming from.

 

[OutHouse]

here is an idea. lets charge money for a product/service to compete in the same market that offers the same thing for free. :disgust:

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
That's actually kinda cool. A bit overpriced, but still neat. Having people completely live off of Outlook Web Access hosted from the corporate Exchange box I've got a bit different perspective.

That's kind of what I view this as. A way to make your stuff "in office" available at any given time. In this case, it would be stuff in home available at any given time.

Not much of a market for it, but I understand where they are coming from.

Dude, Outlook Web Access 2003 is very cool, its almost the same as the full outlook. We will be implempting OWA 2003 very soon.

 

[Looney]

Man that's insane! I thought they were offering Outlook option for $60, for those without Outlook... but apparently you need Outlook in the firstplace.

 

[vi edit]

Realistically though, I think most people would be better off just buying a $200 Dell Axim and using that to take your outlook stuff with you.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Realistically though, I think most people would be better off just buying a $200 Dell Axim and using that to take your outlook stuff with you.

I'll second that.

 

[kranky]

Aside from being a not-real-exciting idea, you can see it's another step towards perpetual "rental" of software.

 

[Spooner]

insanely too high of a price

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: Spooner
insanely too high of a price

I expect it will be advertised as "just pennies a day".

 

[cronos]

Originally posted by: Hardcore
Man that's insane! I thought they were offering Outlook option for $60, for those without Outlook... but apparently you need Outlook in the firstplace.

yes. offering it as an option for people without Outlook (let's say to get Hotmail from Outlook Express or some other mail client) makes more sense.

 

[cronos]

Originally posted by: Citrix
here is an idea. lets charge money for a product/service to compete in the same market that offers the same thing for free. :disgust:

actually, neither Google nor Yahoo offer something like this. of course Google now has POP3, but Hotmail httpmail is closer to IMAP than POP3.

 

[Doggiedog]

That's not $60. That's $60/year!

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
I'll pass, thanks though.

 

[redly]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: Spooner
insanely too high of a price

I expect it will be advertised as "just pennies a day".

more like 1 dime, 1 nickle, and a penny a day, and then some

 

[FlyLice]

What's the difference between this and Gmail + Thunderbird?

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: redly

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: Spooner
insanely too high of a price

I expect it will be advertised as "just pennies a day".

more like 1 dime, 1 nickle, and a penny a day, and then some

Cheers redly :beer:

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

You mean they want me to pay to recieve spam??? Since that's all my hotmail account is used for.

 

[imthebadguy]

total ripoff imo, my college gives me a 1GB box for nothing (well 15k a year in tuition)and i can use my own outlook with it