Windows Live versus Outlook? What's the Difference?

TomBrooklyn said:

What is the difference between Windows Live and Outlook?

What is the difference between Outlook and Outlook.com?

Is Outlook free? Outlook.com is free. I found Outlook and it didn't look free, but it's unclear.

I'm looking for a way to read all my Verizon ISP email in one place. I have about 9 email addresses there and I want to get them all into one email reader. A tech rep at Verizon told me I could use Outlook or Windows Live Mail.

Outlook is an email client to read email messages like Thunderbird or Safari. It is not free like the other two. Outlook.com is an email service, like Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo that is free. This might read all of your email accounts. Download Mozilla Thunderbird

newblueboy said:

Windows Live: This is a hard one to describe because it has changed a lot over the past few years. Basically, this is pretty much obsolete, because Microsoft has given each of its services different names. Don't sweat this one out too much.

Windows Essentials 2012 is very easy to describe.
I agree that the name change from Windows Live to Windows Essentials trips some people up.
There is no marketing involved - it's FREE.

I strongly disagree that it is obsolete.

Windows Essentials 2012 is basically the MS non-core technology suite that encompasses
Graphics (Photo & Movie) and Communications (Mail & OneDrive) + Writer.

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Now to answer TomBrooklyn's question.
Almost any eMail client that will do what you want; a way to collect your msgs from a number of Mail Servers.
Thundeerbird has already been mentioned. Here's a good place ot read about some others:
Top 11 Free Email Programs for Windows - About Email

Most free ones are actually fairly good, I don't think you need to pay for an eMail client.

It comes down to this, do you like the GUI, is it intuitive (can you find your way around, is it layed out well).

There's a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about Windows Essentials - people don't understand it and they repeat unfounded claims.

I'm not selling anything here - pick an eMail client that you're comfortable using. They all do the same thing.

I do have a preference and it is Windows Essentials. I've tried many others and I didn't like one thing or another - it's a personal preference. To be honest, I ddin't like Windows Essentials at first, I migrated from Windows Mail on Vista to Windows Essentials Mail on Win7.... and well... it was different.

If you only need the Windows Essentials Mail application, that's all you need to install. That's all that's on my machine.

Anyway, if you want more information on Windows Essentials I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.

edit: I just thought of one important fact that might help you decide.
Your ISP, Verizon, recommended those two eMail clients because their support people understand those applications. If you call Vze support with an issue concerning eMail they can resolve it faster.
I don't think Vze would make their job harder by recommending an "obsolete" client.

Bill
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Windows live mail is very popular, I use it on all my machines and on my clients machines
what I like about it if you make a live email account you can always get your contacts as long as you sign in no matter what machine you are on and if you have more than one, and add or fix a contact it will sync it on all the computers that are running WLM. You can also set up more than one account.
And it is free
Outlook you need to have the office suite which costs money

Mine is stilled called WLM and it still works.

grits said:

I 'thought' I read something this past week that MS changed the name from Windows Live to something with 'outlook' in the new name?????

Microsoft is or has changed the brand name of many offerings: Live is one of them

The transition is incomplete so the old name 'Live' still appears in URLs, documentation, and parts of the applications. This confuses everyone, but it's not a big deal - it's only a naming issue.

The brand change goes beyond the Live applications and touches unrelated web services: Hotmail, Microsoft Account, Live web.

Windows Live applications are now called Windows Essentials applications
Windows Essentials - Download Windows Live Essentials
In v 2012 the splash screen is Essentials Mail, but the title bar is Live Mail.
There are of course v 2009 and v 2011 which are still and always will be named 'Live'

Microsoft Live ID web services are now collectively referenced as Microsoft Account
What is a Microsoft account? - Microsoft Windows Help

Hotmail and Live ID web mail were the same thing (I think) and are now called Outlook.com
What is a Windows Live ID? | Windows Phone How-to (United States)

Calling Hotmail and Live ID mail Outlook.com confuses things when trying to determine whether a person is referring to Outlook or Outlook.com

Transition is an itch.

Pretty much anything called Live is dead :)

I have been referring to Windows Live as Windows Essentials
Windows Live Mail (WLM) as Windows Essentials Mail (WEMail)
and refer to Hotmail/Live ID mail now Outlook.com as OLcom

Does it help - not really. I have to explain this to everyone before getting to the real problem.

It's not bad and can be a little fun.
"Why do you call it WEMail, Bill?"
insert explanation here adding "besides that, WEMail sounds as though it is more fun... WEeeeeMail"
"WEMail it is then, Bill"

Trying to explain Outlook v Outlook.com isn't fun at all - too many things
I have a Live ID account
I have a Hotmail account
I have a Microsoft Account
I have an Outlook.com account
--> pretty much all the same thing, except Hotmail is still hanging in there. You can't create a new Hotmail account, but under the covers there pop.hotmail.com; Hotmail protocol (now HTML protocol).

Oh my aching back, I mean ...head.

Things change... people no longer call automobiles horseless carriages or escalators moving stairs.