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Comment by briandear | Hacker News Reader

The reason Outlook is the world's most used mail client is because people are often forced to use it to access their company email. While anecdotal, I don't know a single person that uses outlook because they choose to. However, hopefully, outlook.com can introduce some innovation in the space, although, I'm skeptical as I am with most Microsoft 'innovation.'

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To give a counterpoint, I not only know maybe a half dozen people who voluntarily use Outlook; I know at least two who voluntarily use Outlook on a Mac.

I think the fact that few developers enjoy using Outlook is causing you to overgeneralize. Most people who don't care about things like whether their email is in mbox format, or who don't want to learn how to use Mutt or notmuch, find Outlook surprisingly easy to use and powerful.

I poked around on outlook.com, and I don't see anything particularly innovative, other than it looks and works nearly exactly like Outlook 2013. But I wouldn't assume its lack of anything novel dooms it to obscurity, either. Outlook, unlike Notes, is a positive brand-name in some circles. I wouldn't be surprised to see this get a relatively large amount of traction right off the bat.

Outlook on the Mac is actually a very decent client, and I prefer it over the other options.

I use Outlook 2011 on my Mac for the company Exchange email, contacts + calendaring. It's not bad at all, and Spotlight searching is very fast.

I use outlook on a mac to access my employer's email account ... and I'm a developer :)

That would be me with a Mac.

I know a good few people that willingly use Outlook, including ones who use it for their Gmail account. Its actually pretty good at being e-mail PLUS calendar PLUS tasks, and so on. Google still haven't got that yet IMO, by virtue of "Google Calendar" and "Google Mail" being two separate products.

Google Calendar is completely integrated with Google Mail in every way outlook is.

I didn't realize this myself, either, until I started working at an employer that uses the Google Apps stack for all things corporate.

We switched to Google Apps at my company. Out of 120 employees, there are still 37 using Outlook. Some of them use Gmail on the web periodically, but most of those 37 are adamant about not switching (even though the Outlook on Gmail experience is objectively terrible compared to in-browser).

I have a client who just switched to GMail, and most of the enterprise development team is in a state of revolt... apparently they are cracking down and removing outlook since people were just using the outlook client to get to their GMail.

One complaint I heard was the lack of sorting features (sorting your inbox by subject, sender, etc.) which also drives me nuts when I use Gmail on my personal account.

As a counterpoint, at my work you can choose what you use. All Windows users are using Outlook. Half of the Mac folks are using Outlook, then there are a couple Sparrow users and the rest use Mail.

I like outlook because to me usability and readability is better than Gmail.

It'd be nicer if Outlook.com acted as an Exchange client (not just an Exchange ActiveSync server). From the post, it looks like they're recommending people forward their email to a new @live.com email address. Bleh.

Good recommendation, I hope somebody in Redmond hears it and makes it happen. I'm fine with Outlook on the desktop, but never liked Outlook Web Access when I had to use it, Outlook.com would be head and shoulders above having to keep using OWA.

Outlook, like all of office, is the default choice of pretty much anyone in a non-tech office setting. These programs aren't just "chosen", they are expected.

The same way having a desk is expected.

Which is terrible. That's like everyone expecting their food to be bland and overcooked. It's almost Soviet in its depressingness.

No, it's like expecting their chair to have four legs and support their weight.

People that use software to do other things often aren't interested in how wonderful the software is, provided it stays out of their way and allows them to get stuff done in a way that they expect.

The marketplace for a beautiful desk is much smaller than the market for a functional, yet ugly, desk, especially if that nice desk can't fit through the door of my office without me removing the frame, etc.

Really, how many people do you know who use any email client by choice? Everyone I know just used webmail or the built-in client on their phone.

The only thing I really miss compared to GMail are vim key-bindings. The default key bindings are weird.

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