4. No more Google Reader

While not an email related function, Google Reader was my go-to for news feeds and an awesome RSS reader. The day they announced it was closing, I started looking around for a replacement (Feedly is awesome, by the way). Once Google was no longer my one-stop shop, it was only a matter of time before I started looking at Outlook.com

3. New Clean Interface

Even with the latest upgrades to their interface, Gmail still feels cluttered compared to what you see when you log in to Outlook:

vs.

and:

Controls are hidden until you need them, and then appear in a clear, smooth and logical interface.

2. Email Aliases

It’s the year 2013, and Google still doesn’t offer email aliases for your accounts – instead, they suggest you open a new account and set it to forward to your existing email address.

Outlook, on the other hand, allows you to create and delete email aliases at will, and it’s a simple as typing it in:

And, the number one reason why I’ve left Gmail behind forever is…

1. Exchange Active Sync

Earlier this year, Google decided to drop its support for Exchange Active Sync connections, meaning that email accounts could only connect through Exchange’s uglier cousins, POP and IMAP. This was the death blow for me, as I expect to be able to have full synchronization of all my email, contacts and calendars, including whether or not it’s been read or replied to. Even before this, you couldn’t set up an Exchange account in Outlook, but had to use Google Sync, which was fraught with problems, and was not a good experience to begin with.

Outlook.com gives the same experience regardless of if you’re using webmail, Outlook, or a smartphone – it’s clean, full featured, and a joy to use. Maybe I’m just becoming a Microsofty, but there you have it – Gmail, you’re dead to me!