quitting google, joining hotmail, how to make everything 'work' on mac

[moveright]

Ok, so I finally quit Google. I'm tired of how they find ways to wrap you up and keep you tangled in their web. Just my opinion, dispute the fact that I think they do internet search better than anyone, I just don't want to be a part of their information web any longer.

So, I got a hotmail email address and I'm loving skydrive as opposed to google docs! Here's my issue though...

I have an android phone (I know, I'm very close to getting an iPhone) and let me tell you, trying to get rid of Google on a Google phone is nearly impossible.
If I still wanted to use my phone with Google it was easy. Gmail was built in, my Gmail contacts were built in, everything carried over if I logged into my Gmail account on a computer. Everything was synced and just worked. However, I've got a Hotmail app on my phone which works fairly well, and of course, I can log into hotmail in a Safari window but it seems like it stops there. No way to sync Ical with hotmail calendar, no way to sync address book with hotmail address contacts (I know you can do it manually but I'm referring to real-time) etc.

What's the solution? I mean, hopefully I've described well enough what I'm after. Doesn't iCloud fit into this somehow? my iCloud account is set to sync mail but what mail? I mean, what mail account?

I'm lost. Can someone toss me a flashlight?

Thanks!

 

[agentphish]

You can't sync hotmail calendar to the Mac as far as I know.

It will sync with iPhone.

 

[ezramoore]

I can tell you right now, regardless of whether you like Google or not, the reason their email/calendar/docs/etc services are so popular is because they are better than almost everyone else's.

Hotmail/Microsoft are known for putting artificial limits on their services if you're not using their systems/browser.

As for the security/privacy of your information, you should really look into hosting your own email server (or buying a VPS or paying someone else to host it for you). Most of the things that Google does can be achieved with free and opensource software like webDAV, calDAV, cardDAV, etc.

 

[gentlefury]

Quitting google is a good start....I now have all my gmail forwarded to my iCloud account...so I never have that incorrect password BS from gmail in Mail anymore!