Microsoft brings Outlook.com out of preview, begins shutting down Hotmail

It seems there was a point to Microsoft’s (MSFT) anti-Gmail campaign after all: It’s meant to coincide with the launch of Outlook.com, the webmail alternative that Microsoft has been offering as a preview for the past several months. Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it was taking Outlook out of preview and was starting the process of transitioning its current Hotmail users over to the new system. Microsoft promises that Hotmail users will experience no disruptions in service and that “everything from their @hotmail.com email address, password, messages, folders, contacts, rules, vacation replies, etc. will stay the same, with no disruption in service.” The company also says that Outlook has garnered more than 60 million active users in the past six months, thus making it the “world’s fastest growing email service.”