Skype and Outlook.com Join Forces to Make E-Mail More Personal

Published on September 2, 2013

Two of the world's largest communication services have recently been married together, and we're geeking out about it. The union is between e-mail service Outlook.com and video-messaging service Skype - and its sure to improve communicating ten-fold.

Face-to-face communication right from your inbox

E-mail is not dead, despite what many might think. However, face-to-face communication is sure to give it a face lift. According to a recent poll from Ipsos Public Affairs, 76% of people indicated that e-mail conversations lead to follow-up phone or video calls. Having Skype available to users at a simple mouse-click away increases functionality of Outlook.com, and creates an inherently personal aspect to your e-mailing experience.

Now, we're big Google Apps fans over here at Geek | Chicago, we like GMail's integration with Google Hangouts/Voice/Talk... and they are working daily on a tighter integration of all of these tools. That said, we believe variety is the spice of life, and we also acknowledge that Google is not for everyone. So, check out Microsoft's new-ish email service - Outlook.com. Its an upgrade to their original email service, Hotmail (the new service is also the home of pre-existing Hotmail accounts). And now with Skype integration, it just that much better.

Already an Outlook.com or Skype member?

Don't worry, its easy to merge the two together. You can either connect preexisting accounts together, or use a separate Skype account directly within Outlook.com. Furthermore, a browser plugin is available to enable the integration.

Click here to learn more and to try it out. It's free, easy, and could add back the personal touch that you may have missed in your e-mailing experience.