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Photo emails are brought to life with slide shows that launch directly out of Outlook.com with one click.

Outlook.com, Microsoft’s new cloud mail service, has a fresh and intuitive design, enriches conversations by connecting to Facebook and Twitter, and provides a smart inbox with the power of Office and SkyDrive.

From anywhere on Outlook.com, customers like Matt Millmann (shown here) can chat with friends who are using Facebook Chat or Outlook.

Outlook.com offers the ability to open, edit and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from anywhere with full fidelity.

Outlook.com offers a clean, easy way to edit documents from the inbox. In this example, a family’s budget is shown in Excel.

For an up-to-date address book, the latest contact info that friends share on Facebook and LinkedIn is integrated into Outlook.com.

Skype will be coming to Outlook.com soon, so people can video call Skype or Outlook friends, even if neither have the Skype client installed.

Microsoft recognizes the importance of social networks and with the Outlook.com preview, the company is giving users the first email service that is connected to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google and soon, Skype, to bring relevant context and communications to users’ email.

Once you’re using Outlook.com, you can also set it up on your phone—Windows Phone, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry or other phone.

Outlook.com provides support for Windows 8, Apple iPad and Android tablets.

Email is private and confidential, and most people want to keep it that way, said Microsoft’s Chris Jones. With that in mind, Microsoft built in additional privacy controls and policies. Microsoft won’t scan your email content or attachments and sell this information to advertisers or any other company, and the company doesn’t show ads in personal conversations, he said.