New Live site
We just did a Press release on the new version of Live.
Go HERE to see what is new!
Integrated Communications. Microsoft’s popular e-mail and instant messaging (IM) service now work together:
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Windows Live Mail. Users often have multiple e-mail accounts including their Web-based Windows Live Hotmail account, and spend time checking all those accounts on different Web pages and in different interfaces. Now they can easily see multiple e-mail accounts in one view, including their free Windows Live Hotmail accounts. Windows Live Mail was designed to work seamlessly with Windows Live Hotmail, and it supports Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) — enabling users to check and send e-mail from other, non-Windows Live Web mail services.
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Windows Live Hotmail was built to enable a safer, more productive and more powerful Web mail experience than previous versions of Hotmail. Windows Live Hotmail offers users flexible access to their e-mail — whether via the Web, a mobile phone or a PC. Through integrated communications, Windows Live Hotmail works seamlessly with other Windows Live services such as Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Spaces and Windows Live Contacts. Windows Live Hotmail gives users the control they need to help maximize the privacy, safety and security of their e-mail by utilizing key features such as improved spam protection, a safety bar, junk e-mail recognition and virus scanning of e-mail attachments.
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Windows Live Messenger is the world’s largest IM service that allows businesses and consumers to connect with others in real time and express themselves in a rich, convenient and fun way. Windows Live Messenger is free to download and includes more than 294 million active users worldwide.
Simple and Flexible Photo Sharing. Users want the ability to easily share things that are important to them with family and friends, whether those are photos, files, stories or events. Most users have those things stored on their desktop. Now people can share with others through Windows Live services that connect what is stored on their hard drive to the Internet, and advanced security features are in place to help them share with confidence.
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Windows Live Photo Gallery lets users easily organize, edit and share their lives in photos and videos using Windows Live Photo Gallery. Windows Live Photo Gallery helps provide consumers with a single end-to-end solution to help get digital photos off the camera, onto the PC and up on the Web for fast and easy sharing with friends, family or the world. It includes easy online publishing options to Windows Live Spaces, Flickr and MSN Soapbox and printing options in partnership with Snapfish. Windows Live Photo Gallery can be used to touch up photos; stitch multiple photos together into amazing panoramic shots; tag photos by date, keyword, star rating or any identifying label for easy and quick finding and sharing; and much more.
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Windows Live Spaces is a free, easy-to-use, customizable social networking and blogging service that provides users with a place to connect with their friends, express their individuality, and tell their story using blogs, photos and more. With more than 111 million unique users worldwide, and over 2.4 billion page views each month, it provides a broad range of tools to tell stories and offers virtually unlimited customization through gadgets. A user’s customized space can include photos, blogs, gadgets, lists and more. Integrated throughout the Windows Live set of services, Windows Live Spaces is closely integrated with Windows Live Messenger, so a “gleam” will appear next to the Windows Live Messenger Contact icon of the space’s owner, making it easy for friends and family to know when there have been changes.
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Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that makes it easy to publish blogs. Windows Live Writer is compatible with other blogging services, making it easy to publish on sites such as Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint, Blogger, WordPress and LiveJournal. New features include WSIWYG editing; rich media publishing that adds depth to the blog by allowing bloggers to post photos, maps and tags; and offline editing, which allows a user to blog at any time from any location and, the next time the user is online, automatically synchronizes the drafts created offline.
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Windows Live Events is a free event-planning service that enables Windows Live customers to conveniently plan all the events in their lives and to share photos and stories from those events. It is an easy-to-design event invitation Web site with more than 100 templates to choose from and customizable URLs. Users can invite their friends to a party with a single click by accessing their Windows Live Contacts. Memory sharing after the event is easy because guests can stay up-to-date on all the Events site activity through RSS feeds.
Anywhere Access. People generally take their mobile telephones everywhere, and as they start to rely on online services such as e-mail and IM, they want to access these services from their phone. Microsoft has a dual strategy to deliver mobile solutions via Windows Live:
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Virtually any Web-enabled phone. To make it as easy as possible for users, Microsoft is offering services that work on almost any phone that has a built-in browser supporting WAP 2.0, iMode or HTML, which includes most phones purchased within the past three years. Users can go to https://mobile.msn.com on their mobile phone and access their Windows Live Hotmail to read and reply to their e-mail, check in with their Windows Live Messenger friends, search the Web for local restaurants, access the latest content from MSN, and even post photos to their Windows Live Spaces.
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Phone-specific solutions. In addition to the browsing solution, Microsoft is also offering a range of device-specific solutions with software that is installed onto the phone. These solutions provide a high-fidelity experience by connecting the client applications to Windows Live services. They make it possible to download contact lists to the phone’s address book, communicate online presence and status, and take a photo or record a voice clip while in a Messenger conversation and send it virtually anywhere in the world — all from the phone. A set of these Windows Live solutions is currently offered through Nokia, the leading device manufacturer, and the popular Windows Mobile-powered phones.
Family and PC Safety. One of the biggest concerns that people have is the security and privacy of their identity, information and family. With Windows Live, users have built-in security features to help them protect their PC, network and family.
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Windows Live OneCare. This subscription service delivers an all-in-one PC care solution with powerful protection features and simple PC maintenance for consumers and small businesses. The 90-day free trial can be downloaded at https://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm.
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Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. With Parental Controls in Windows Vista and Windows Live OneCare Family Safety, users can help protect their children online by determining when they can use the PC and what Web sites they can or cannot see and by regularly monitoring their browsing activity. Also with Windows Live OneCare Family Safety, customers will be able to manage who their kids communicate with online when their kids are using Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Spaces. Microsoft is also working with third-party experts such as the American Academy of Pediatrics to provide parents with age-appropriate guidance on Internet usage through this service.