While everyone else seems focused on new media technology such as social networks and mobile sharing, Microsoft is mastering what they’ve always done well: email.

Their latest push towards perfect email management and distribution comes in the form of Outlook.com which they are billing as “modern email designed for the next billion mailboxes.” Judging by the video below, they’re definitely heading in the right direction.

Despite the rise of new media, email still remains one of the most common and important online activities. Here’s what they’re saying about it on their latest blog:

Webmail was first introduced with HoTMaiL in 1996. Back then, it was novel to have a personal email address you could keep for life – one that was totally independent from your business or internet service provider. Eight years later, Google introduced Gmail, which included 1 GB of storage and inbox search. And while Gmail and other webmail services like Hotmail have added some features since then, not much has fundamentally changed in webmail over the last 8 years – though yesterday’s frustrations about the small size of inboxes are now things of the past. At the same time, email is becoming less and less useful as inboxes become cluttered with newsletters and social updates, and people increasingly keep up their personal connections in social networks instead of their email address books. All of this has led many to hope for a better solution so you don’t have to settle for today’s webmail.

Here’s their launch video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDI6Itn7soQ