Microsoft has announced today that Outlook.com will now allow you to chat with your Google contacts, directly from your email inbox! Microsoft has implemented this feature for those who have already made the switch to Outlook.com, but have friends that are still “stuck on Gmail.”
“Today, we’re excited to announce that you can now also chat with your Google friends. With this feature, the next time you’re reading an email from someone who uses Gmail, you can reply with a quick chat right from your Outlook.com inbox,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
All you have to do is head over to the Messaging pane in Outlook.com and you can add Google contacts! Your Google contacts will appear in your contact list. Clicking on their picture will begin a chat conversation or search for any of your Google contacts right from the Messaging pane.
With this new ability, coupled with Outlook.com’s existing Facebook and Skype chat capabilities, Outlook.com users can now engage in a chat conversation with their friends regardless of the services they use. These chat features can be used directly from Outlook.com’s inbox or SkyDrive.
Microsoft is rolling out these features worldwide in the next few days, so keep an eye out on your email inbox to see the new feature when it debuts.
