Microsoft Has No Idea When It Will Complete the Migration to the New Outlook.com

In May 2015, Microsoft announced a major update to its consumer-focused Outlook.com service, which would include changes to its front-end user experience and back-end infrastructure. Today, Microsoft literally has no idea when it will ever complete this migration.

It's become a running joke, of sorts, assuming you're a fan of gallows humor. According to my calculations, it's been 467 days since Microsoft announced it was starting the Outlook.com migration. And Istill don't have it.

Oddly, Microsoft is claiming that the migration is going well.

"We are in the final stages of the Outlook.com migration," a Microsoft statement to Mary Jo Foley asserts, "with nearly 90% of our active users already migrated."

LOL, what? Who are these people? I've only heard from a handful of folks who have the new version, while I've heard from what I assume is every single one of the millions who do not.

But here's where things get really dumb.

Microsoft originally promised that it would complete the migration by the end of August 2016, which was itself a really long time. But with that date quickly approaching, the firm told Ms. Foley that it would complete the migration by the end of the summer. Which is not the same as the end of August: The end of summer is September 21, buying Microsoft about three weeks. Or December 1, if you're Australian, I guess.

But then Microsoft started alerting customers through the Outlook.com user interface that the migration would be completed by the first half of 2017.

Just kidding!

Now, Microsoft tells Mary Jo that that date is also incorrect.

"The error message incorrectly stated the date as the first half of 2017; we're updating this message to reflect the latest migration schedule," the company told her. "A small percentage of our active users will take additional time to migrate based on certain features they are using like shared calendars."

So. What is the latest migration schedule then? I get that Microsoft is in "the final stages" of the migration, but given the nearly 470 days that have elapsed so far, that could easily take us into 2017.

There's only one conclusion here: Microsoft literally has no idea when it will complete the migration to the new Outlook.com. Welcome to hell's waiting room.

Oh, right. There is one more thing.

If you are waiting for the new Outlook.com and you're not sure that you have it, there one sure-fire way to tell. If you load the site in the browser and it says Outlook.com, as below, then you're still on the old version.

But if it says Outlook Mail, as per this shot (from Mary Jo Foley, thanks for that), then you are on the new site.

God help us all.