Here at Danburg Properties of Boca Raton, we read with interest this week’s news that Microsoft was releasing out of beta test stage Outlook.com as the successor to Hotmail – and as the rival to web-based email leader, Gmail.

As a developer and landlord of commercial real estate and warehouse space in Boca Raton, our ability to reach our tenants and prospects is vital. For years, we’ve relied on tools like the email, contact management and database application, Act! Others use Goldmine or Salesforce.

Yet many small businesses have turned to “cloud-based” tools, like Google’s Gmail, Google Contacts and other associated applications to reach out to their network of customers and prospects. Those concerned about recipients’ perceptions of the sender’s reputations have long debated how “MyName@hotmail.com” or “MyBusiness@aol.com” may reflect on their brand.

Meanwhile, those with Gmail know that with such and address comes the cachet of a tech-savvy, early-adopter.

Microsoft hopes to change that. Any business with Microsoft Office installed on the PC or Mac knows that Outlook is the default email application. Even those who use Gmail and Google’s Chrome web browser on a PC will find the PC defaults to opening Outlook when an email link is clicked.

By turning 1990s-era Hotmail into a 21^st Century brand – complete with many novel capabilities – Microsoft has turned heads as well. It has signed up some 60 million Outlook.com users in the past six months of beta testing. It signed up 1.5 million new users in the past 12 hours.

What does this mean to your business? The news means Outlook.com offers AOL and Yahoo! email users a chance to refresh and validate their brands. Hotmail.com users automatically will be seamlessly transitioned over time to the new service.

To be sure, these forms of web-based email are little substitute for a real email addresses tied into your domain, like info@danburg.com. Google allows users to send and receive email branded with their own company domain – yet operating with the Gmail platform.

For a company like Danburg, we likely will not change from the powerful email, contact database and marketing tools found with Act! And companies using Gmail might find little reason to change, given the powerful tool box of free services – like Google Drive word processing and spreadsheets, Picasa / Images photo service, Google Calendar and other applications – that comes with a Google account.

Yet if your brand is important, it’s important to at least give your email some thought. Outlook.com has opened the door to let us take a peek inside at the 21^st Century.