Windows Live and the Future

Windows Live represents a huge leap forward for Windows and software integration. Currently, Windows Live Mail is integrated with calendar. Photo Gallery recognizes people from your contacts(with some training). Those same contacts are kept in the online services as well as in Windows Messenger and Windows Live Call. All of the services integrate well with Flickr, and can be extended to add Picasa support. SkyDrive, with a bit more storage, could be the online equivalent of a flash drive. Live Mesh is the new remote assistance service, allowing tech support to be handled largely remotely. The potential for these services integrating closely with Windows 7 is huge. While Windows 7 will not come with these apps, Microsoft could just provide an easy link to install them. While I don’t know much about the new Windows 7 UI(current builds just use the Vista UI), if something like a Windows Live sidebar gadget were to emerge in Windows 7, it would make the Live services amazing. Somehow I don’t think that Apple’s ads will be too successful when Microsoft can counter iLife with Live.

Update to Windows Live Writer Post

One feature I forgot to mention, Windows Live Writer can attach videos from youtube now, which I personally am going to find immensely useful.

Windows Live Betas Wave 3

So the windows live products are getting updated, and some additions to the apps, so I'll be reviewing one per day for the next few days. At the end of it all, I'll create a review with summaries of all of the app reviews, as well as links to the full reviews.

Today's app is.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows Live Writer!

Yes, I thought I would start with the live app I use most often.

Image courtesy of the Via Windows Life blog. This is the old version. Here is the new one:

The first thing I noticed was the better color on the toolbar, the old one was very… inelegant. The next big change is the bar at the bottom.

This gives a nice way to tab between edit, preview, and source, which is very convenient. All of my old plugins still work as well. There is now a Recently posted section on the right, as well as a Drafts section.

It feels a bit faster, and seems to startup a bit faster.

Overall, this almost completes Windows Live Writer. The only thing I would like to see is a way to tab between open drafts.