Why do I now have a Microsoft Account and an Outlook Account?

[Windows Central Question]

I have used Hotmail for over a decade. When I got a Windows Phone it was awesome to see everything come together with my contacts so that my Hotmail account was the primary contact list with links to Facebook, LinkedIn etc.
I've been a Windows Insider since January. Just in the past week or so I've noticed I have a new calendar called "Microsoft Account" showing up on all my devices. And now in Windows 10 People App it asks if I want to add new contacts to my Microsoft Account or Outlook. What is this about? I have not linked any other Outlook\Microsoft accounts to my Windows 10 device. It would seem that suddenly Office\Outlook is now divorced from my Microsoft Account or at best operating in parallel. Does anyone know what is going on? Why are they creating yet another account database? I want all my contacts in one place and not across two account databases.

 

[Gwenddoleu]

Same as you...

I suppose (hope) it will be rectified in a future build/version.

 

[RumoredNow]

Outlook is the overaching name for all the myriad Live, Hotmail, etc that have been used in the past. Outlook is Office is Cloud is your Microsoft Account.

Just like MSN is Bing is Cortana.

Your information isn't just in one database no matter what label they put it under today, yesterday or tomorrow.

It's all Microsoft and stored across numerous server farms.

Welcome to the Cloud. It's everywhere.