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.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Live Photo Gallery
Now Live Photo Gallery is, after Live Writer, probably my most used Live app. The only advantage I had found in the early versions was panorama stitching(I take lots of panoramas). This feature and a bit more is present in the new version.
(Yes, that is XKCD in my photo viewer)
Just as Live Writer did away with a terrible color scheme, Live Photo Gallery does away with a similar-but-not-so-bad color scheme, and changes to the same one that Live Writer has. Not much else has changed except for it being a bit speedier. The buttons on the top have been altered a bit, but no new functions that I know of.
Update:
I read through the features list, and there are some important things that I didn't notice.
1. Facial Recognition - It now can recognize a human face, and if you tell it who is who in a few photos, it can start making suggestions which are not too accurate, but narrow down the list a bit.
2.There is now an option under "Extras" to create a photosynth, which will directly open up photosynth if the plugin is installed.
