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Windows Live Takes Over for Bundled Photo, Video, and Email Apps in Windows 7

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:30:48 -0500

CNet's Ina Fried reports that Microsoft has decided to remove Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Mail from Windows 7. Given the fact that Microsoft continues to upgrade its Live replacements for Photo Gallery and Mail, and added Movie Maker to the Live family, as we reported last week, this move seems to make a lot of sense.

As someone who's been recommending that Windows Vista users replace Windows Photo Gallery with Windows Live Photo Gallery ever since Live Photo Gallery was launched, I think that stripping Windows of utilities that only some people will use makes plenty of sense. Here's why:

1. Faster development of operating system releases. As Windows Live general manager Brian Hall told Fried, "It [this decision]makes it [Windows 7] much cleaner."

2. Fewer worries about antitrust actions. Lawsuits by the EU forced Microsoft to distribute EU-specific versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista that are missing Windows Media Player. By dropping other multimedia features, Microsoft makes Windows 7 even less appealing as a lawsuit target.

3. New partnership opportunities. According to Hall,"We can do things with specific partners to enable really great experiences that might be hard in Windows." We might see Windows 7+Adobe, Windows 7+Corel, or Windows 7+open source bundles from various OEMs.

4. Fewer opportunities for compatibility problems. As anyone who has ever wrestled with Windows Vista multimedia tools being broken by installing third-party tools (I recommend the freeware Vista Codec Package, available at http://shark007.net, if you can't burn CDs or DVDs in Windows Vista anymore after installing a third-party DVD burner) can agree with, the possibility of reducing the chances of a "codec war" or other compatibility problems by reducing the amount of multimedia stuff in Windows 7 is a welcome one.

So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of choosing your favorite free or commercial photo, video, and email clients right from the start, or do you prefer the current method? Are you more likely to buy a system with a preinstalled version of Windows 7 if it had a well-integrated third-party media and email software bundle, or do you prefer to create your own "best of breed" combination? Do you have a horror story of third-party apps and Windows butting heads? Tell them now before Windows 7 does away with them. Click Comment and tell us now.

Windows 7 logo courtesy of ArsTechnica.

Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3: New Features Revealed

Justin Kerr — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:56:57 -0500

Windows Live Hotmail’s 260 million users worldwide can look forward to a multitude of new features that were recently unveiled by Microsoft. Hotmail wave 3 promises a speed boost of over 70% during sign in, and will enable dynamic storage that will grow at a rate of 250 MB per month. Microsoft is also reportedly working to address the user interface problems which have plagued the service since the roll out of wave 2. Hotmail users currently have the option of picking between the well loved “classic” or the “full” user interface which reportedly suffers from a low adoption rate. This low adoption rate has kept the classic version alive, and made it difficult for Microsoft to roll out new features. Hotmail wave 3 looks to merge the layout of the “classic” with the functionality of the “full”, an approach they are hoping will finally please everyone. This is something that is desperately needed to help attract and retain users currently considering competing services such as Gmail or Yahoo. Improved integration of Live contacts, calendar, and instant messaging help to round out the initial batch of leaked features. The press release doesn’t make any mention of the long rumored POP support or any Skydrive integration, but hopefully these features are still in the works. No public beta has been announced yet, but the “coming soon” headline suggests it probably isn’t that far off.

Are you a former or current Hotmail user? Will these new features keep you with the service or send you running back? Let us know what you think.

Free Hotmail and Windows Live Mail, Meet Microsoft Outlook

Mark Soper — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:57:30 -0500

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is new! It's improved! It's improved but not (exactly) new! Depending upon your point of view, any of these statements is true.

But first, before we argue about that, what exactly is Microsoft Office Outlook Connector?

Microsoft Office Outlook Connector enables users of Office 2003 and Office 2007 who also use Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail to access and manage their Windows Live Hotmail accounts. You send and receive messages, can filter and stop junk email, and manage contacts from Windows Live Hotmail within Microsoft Outlook.

If you're a veteran user of Office 2003, though, you might be saying to yourself, "That's all very nice, but I remember ponying up some money every year for the privilege of using Outlook to manage Hotmail, using a service called Microsoft Office Outlook Live." Hotmail Plus has also offered a paid service for existing Outlook users. Here's the 'new and improved' part of the deal: you can now access both paid and free Windows Live Hotmail and MSN Hotmail accounts with Microsoft Office Outlook - and do it for free with Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. That's F-R-E-E.

That's a very good deal for Office 2003 and Office 2007 users who are also running Windows Vista. Windows Vista's integrated email client, Windows Mail, doesn't work with Hotmail or other web-based email services. Thanks to the new Microsoft Office Outlook Connector, Vista users can still access Windows Live Hotmail with a full-featured email client without needing to use a third-party service like FreePOPs.

If you're already a paid subscriber to MSN Hotmail, Windows Live Hotmail or Office Live, your subscription still gets you some extras: calendar tasks and notes functionality are available only with paid subscriptions.

How clever is this move by Microsoft? Let's count the ways:

1. Vista users who also run Hotmail have a new reason to use Office 2003 or Office 2007 (if they're not already using it)

2. Users clinging to older Office editions who also use Hotmail have a new reason to upgrade to Office 2007.

3. By integrating support for all levels of Hotmail into Outlook, Microsoft can help to head off defections to other web-based email services like Gmail.

4. Windows XP SP2 users who use Office 2003 or Office 2007 who've been delaying the move to Vista because of concerns about accessing their Hotmail accounts can now make the move without losing access to their web-based email.

Learn more about Microsoft Outlook at the new Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog.