Last week, Microsoft officially
launched the beta version of Outlook.com, their new web email service. While the company's previous Hotmail service is still sticking around, Microsoft is actively encouraging its users to consider transferring over to the new Outlook.com.
In a new post on the official Outlook blog, Microsoft recommend that Hotmail users who want to use Outlook.com do so by using their current Hotmail account, rather than create an all new account on Outlook.com. Microsoft states that the current Hotmail.com address will continue to work in Outlook.com. All of a Hotmail's user's settings, including their password, folders, contacts, signatures and more will continue to work as they did before in Outlook.com
Even with all of these setting staying the way they are, Microsoft is also offering two ways for Hotmail users to change their email address to one with an @outlook.com name. One is setting up an alias on your Hotmail account that adds one with an @outlook.com address. You can add up to five aliases a year, with a maximum of 15.