<p>I opened a Hotmail account today. And I said it out loud.</p><p>Not too long ago, someone published a list of the hierarchy of email addresses, from the best (your own domain) to the worst (probably Hotmail). Though I have to admit that when Hotmail first came out, it being one of the early online services, everybody had a Hotmail account, me included. It very quickly went the way of all only-cool-for-an-instant items, and was the sort of address only your mom or your weird Uncle George the Luddite would admit to having.</p><p>The big news of the year, though, was the Microsoft was going to revamp Hotmail, and turn it into an online version of Outlook - and about time, I'd say. The consensus is that Microsoft did a really good job.</p><p>What occurs to me both in looking at my own setup, and in reading reviews, is that Microsoft took the best of its hard working email client, Outlook, and the best of online email program extraordinaire (Gmail) and pulled the best features from each, combining them into a solid, savvy, service that offers flair as well as function - and can serve as your one-stop portal for email, social connection, contacts, and best of all, organization.</p><p><a href="http://centralny.ynn.com/content/features/655849/computing-columnist--hotmail-is-finally-hot-again/">Keep reading...</a></p>