RSSWindows Live Software Suite Due This Week
By Nate Mook | Published September 4, 2007, 2:43 PM
Microsoft is preparing to release a new suite of applications under the Windows Live umbrella, further upping the ante in its battle to fend up growing competition from the likes of Google and Yahoo. The effort is the next step in Microsoft's transition to software-plus-services.
While its rivals focus on Web-only applications, Microsoft sees a future where desktop programs simply interact with services on the Web. Windows Live will serve as the backbone upon which this shift relies. Desktop search will mesh with Web search, mail clients will link up with Webmail services, and photo applications will integrate online publishing and sharing.
But Microsoft has done a poor job of branding and marketing Windows Live up to this point, which is where the new unified Windows Live package comes in. The software, which will be available for Windows Vista users, includes Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Mail Desktop, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 and Windows Live OneCare Family Safety.
The New York Times reports that Silverlight -- Microsoft's Flash rival -- will not be included in the first "Windows Live 1.0" release, although that could change in forthcoming updates. It's not clear if Windows Live Folders and Windows Live Writer will be part of the initial suite.
In June, Microsoft promised some big announcements surrounding Windows Live at the end of the summer, but with Labor Day past us, the oft-promised "integrated experience" is still nowhere to be found. While a single Windows Live software download may help this situation slightly, it likely won't be of much concern to Google or Yahoo, which have dominated the so-called second generation of Web services.
"To win today, Microsoft must offer compelling services that appeal to users, not simply roll up a bunch of me-too services in new pretty packaging," remarked Silicon Valley watcher Michael Arrington on his blog. "Microsoft's competitors will not, in my opinion, be scrambling to address this most recent volley from the Empire from Redmond."
Will the apps be all bundled together or can we pick and choose ?
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|Yawn... what's the big deal? Bundle free/inexpensive voip & partner with say, T-Mobile, to also hook free/inexpensive wifi & cellular to Messaging... also, include free/inexpensive commercial / paycart capabilities w/ the live domains.
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|Apparently they find time to work on this, given Vista's floundering need for SP1. Eventually just following Google is going to be a huge detriment.
What is Microsoft leading the industry in anymore? I can't think of any innovative market leadership positions that Microsoft is in anymore, save Office. No wonder Office is the only profitable division...
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|You do know that MS has seperate divisions and not every single one of them are dedicated to the OS.
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|Really? Is that why I said the Office DIVISION is the only one doing well?
Thanks, Lt. Obvious, you're promoted to Captain!
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|"Apparently they find time to work on this, given Vista's floundering need for SP1"
Thanks for reporting for duty, you are dismissed.
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|A few of these web only applications should be taken out and shot.
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|You're wrong. Microsoft still leads in software development tools, office products...New Live Mail (former Hotmail) is substantially better then Google mail. Btw it gives up to 10 Gb now.
Have you ever heard about Silverlight? or maybe .Net2 and 3 which is change the industry landscape? SQL server 2005 ? and Windows 64 and Longhorn?
These all technologies above appears in last one or two years. What done Google by this time ? Yeaaah....got full pockets of your money making business on adverstisments, purchasing somebody else technologies (Youtube etc)...where is leadership or innovation?
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|You've gotta be kidding: yeah, 10gb for $$$-- anyone can do that... 64 bit OS came out way before.... and current MS offerings still need a lot of work-- maybe if they ditched 32 bit and just concentrated on 64.... and in not so many different editions.
Actually MS set computing back @ 1½ decades by not porting to RISC processors back in the days of 486.
MS leads in useless development to supplant the innovations of others-- from OS to Browser to Java to Flash to Search to Document to Storage to Photo to Hosting to whatever else gets invented by others in the future...
this is why they're stuck in such a rut-- committing so much resources to reinventing wheels all over the place-- rather than committing LESS resources to just concentrate on seamlessly interfacing current / popular innovations-- THEN the bulk of remaining resources can be concentrated on inventing completely NEW technologies.
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|Am curious as to the source for your information on this.
Windows Live Mail (Desktop) beta has been great most of the time, but has had terrible intermittent syncing problems for us hotmail users, so if they have a fix for it in the final build of Windows Live Mail - please release it ASAP!
Noone seems to quite have a handle if it's a bug with Windows Live Mail or the Hotmail servers as far as I can see.
Mike
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