Windows Experience Blog : Windows Live, Beta

Important Update Regarding Windows Live Movie Maker Beta

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:14:10 GMT

Starting July 1st, 2009, when you launch Windows Live Movie Maker Beta you will be prompted to implement a software update which will extend the beta. You can download the software update here to continue to use the software without any interruption. If you choose not to install the software update, you will be unable to continue to use the Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.

The folks on the Windows Live Movie Maker Team are hard at work on “V1” which should be out sometime this year. For more information on the future of Windows Live Movie Maker, see this excellent blog post by Lead Program Manager Mike Torres from the Windows Live Team Blog.

I’m pretty excited for what they have in store for Windows Live Movie Maker!

New Plug-ins Available for Windows Live Writer

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:22:25 GMT

3 new Plug-ins for Windows Live Writer were recently release that I think bloggers who live and breath in Windows Live Writer (such as myself) will appreciate. These plug-ins were created by the awesome Windows Live Writer Team here at Microsoft.

DiggThis – Add a “DiggThis” badge to your blog posts so your readers can quickly “digg” your blog posts. The plug-in offers several different “styles” of badges to choose from, as well as alignment options for where its placed on your blog. Download the plug-in here.

Twitter Notify: This plug-in will automatically “tweet” the title and link to your blog to your Twitter account when you publish a blog post. Download the plug-in here.

Flickr Upload: When you insert an inline image in a blog post in Windows Live Writer it also uploads that image to Flickr you when publish your post. Download the plug-in here.

You can download the latest version of Windows Live Writer in the new Windows Live Essentials suite today at download.live.com. Some of the new features include:

Insert and upload Windows Live photo albums
Insert and publish video to YouTube
Server-side tagging (support coming soon to WordPress.com and BlogEngine.NET)
Improved blog account setup

And there is more! You can read about what’s new in the latest Windows Live Writer release via the Windows Live Writer Team Blog.

Windows Live Writer is a must-have tool for bloggers.

Upload Photos to Facebook with New Windows Live Photo Gallery Plug-in

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:18:24 GMT

Michael Palermiti, Program Manager on the Windows Live Digital Memories Experience Team (the awesome people responsible for Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Movie Maker), has posted about a new plug-in for Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta that allows you to upload photos directly to Facebook. Using LiveUpload to Facebook, users can configure multiple Facebook accounts to upload photos to in Windows Live Photo Gallery. Upload to Facebook supports the ability to upload photos to existing albums on Facebook or create new ones.

Download: LiveUpload to Facebook

What’s even better about the LiveUpload to Facebook plug-in is that it takes advantage of Windows Live Photo Gallery’s new People Tags feature. That means if you tag a person you are also friends with on Facebook – once you upload the photo to Facebook that tag will automatically appear on the published photo.

You can download the Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta, along with Betas for the rest of the Windows Live Essentials suite, at download.live.com today. The plug-in only works with the Beta.

For a list of other plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta – click here!

Windows Live Calendar Gets To Do List & New UI

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:23:00 GMT

As was announced yesterday - the Windows Live Calendar Beta was to be upgraded today starting at 3pm Pacific Time. And it seems the upgrade is almost complete as folks are beginning to take notice when they log in to Windows Live Calendar it looks different!

The Windows Live Calendar Team says the following changes will appear in the Windows Live Calendar Beta update tonight:

To Dos: Now you can manage personal and shared task lists with our new To Do functionality.
Design and Usability Enhancements: A lighter weight user interface allows your calendar data shine through. Lots more room for your calendar data!

Definitely check out the new To Do functionality. I've created a task for me as you can see here:

I've got a ton of tasks to be added!

And remember - you can sync your calendars to your PC with the Windows Live Mail Beta available at download.live.com.

New Microsoft Office Outlook Connector Beta Release with Calendar Sync

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:40:00 GMT

UPDATE: You can download the final released version of the Outlook Connector here or through Windows Live Essentials at download.live.com.

The Windows Live Calendar Team has announced the availability of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta - which allows you to sync your calendars on Windows Live Calendar (calendar.live.com).

Download: Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta

The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector is designed to sync your Windows Live Hotmail mailbox, Windows Live Contacts, and calendars in Windows Live Calendar to Microsoft Office 2007 (or 2003). The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector will work with any Windows Live Hotmail account - as well as Office Live accounts or Windows Live Custom Domain accounts (domains.live.com). Not only do I have a Windows Live Hotmail account - I also have a custom domain that uses Windows Live Hotmail as well.

When I installed the Microsoft Outlook Connector Beta - my calendars that I have in Windows Live Calendar appeared in Outlook 2007 under "My Calendars". I could check each calendar that I want to view (whether it be all or just 3 as you see in my screenshot). I can add and remove events and those changes are then synced back into Windows Live Calendar and then synced to any other machine running Outlook and the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. Whether I am offline or online - I can always view my calendars which is really nice.

The current version of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connect 12.1 Beta is 12.0.6237.1003. To find out what version you are running choose "Outlook Connector" in Outlook's menu at the top and then choose "About Outlook Connector". You have to be running this version to get calendar sync with Windows Live Calendar. Previous versions of the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector will not sync your calendars.

I'm a little late posting on this - Sarah Perez over on ReadWriteWeb has an excellent post on the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector as well and definitely worth a read. Paul Thurrott (regarding the release of the new Outlook Connector Beta) says "this could be huge". The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta certainly creates a great experience with Windows Live by bringing together email, contacts, and calendaring all in one spot. I know for many people wanting such an experience for a while now - this *is* huge for them and very exciting to see.

The Windows Live Calendar Team also recently made an update to the Windows Live Calendar service introducing some awesome new enhancements such as iCal subscriptions and an automatic Birthday Calendar for all your Windows Live Contacts. Check out my post on last week's Windows Live Calendar update here.

Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Now in Beta

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:33:00 GMT

As you may have read, the Beta release of Windows Live OneCare 2.5 is now available on Microsoft Connect for folks to start testing. I of course went ahead and installed Windows Live OneCare 2.5 to give it a spin myself. So what's new with Windows Live OneCare 2.5? After installing the Beta myself, I didn't notice anything different over the non-Beta version. I decided to ping the Windows Live OneCare team to see what we can expect with Windows Live OneCare 2.5. They tell me that the Windows Live OneCare 2.5 release is mainly what they call an "under-the-hood" release. That means that we won't see any big new features like the great OneCare Circle introduced in 2.0. Going forward with the Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Beta - continue to expect the improvements and changes to remain "under-the-hood" and not very noticeable in the UI.

In testing the Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Beta, I noticed after installing it on one of my PCs and signing in with my Windows Live ID that contains my OneCare Subscription - it was not displaying my OneCare Circle. This was because I was running the non-Beta version of Windows Live OneCare on my other PCs. When signing in with your Windows Live ID that contains your OneCare Subscription in Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Beta - it creates a new subscription for testing purposes. In order for me to take advantage of my complete OneCare Circle, I will need to install Windows Live OneCare 2.5 on my other PCs. I don't have to worry because this won't affect my OneCare Subscription in any way and I can always uninstall Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Beta and go back to the non-Beta version of Windows Live OneCare.

Interesting in giving Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Beta a try? Just click here to go to Microsoft Connect and fill out the short survey. All feedback for Windows Live OneCare 2.5 Beta should be submitted via Microsoft Connect.

Remember - it's important to stay "green" with Windows Live OneCare. And by that, we mean keeping your OneCare status green ;-)

Publish your photos to Flickr with Windows Live Photo Gallery

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:16:00 GMT

Today the DMX Team is announcing a beta refresh for Windows Live Photo Gallery that includes the ability to publish your photos directly to Flickr. Based from direct customer feedback, the DMX Team worked with Flickr in enabling support to upload photos to your Flickr account in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Uploading photos to Flickr through Windows Live Photo Gallery is just as easy as it is uploading to Windows Live Spaces. To upload to Flickr, all I needed to do was choose the photos I wanted to upload and hit "Publish" in the toolbar. A drop-down list will appear that allows me to either choose Windows Live Spaces or Flickr as destinations I want to publish my photos to. I of course for the sake of this post chose Flickr. A new window appeared letting me enter options for which set I want the photo to belong to, what size I want the photo to be uploaded at, and permissions of that photo.

Windows Live Photo Gallery will notify you once your photo (or photos) have been uploaded and ask if you would like to view those uploaded photos. In choosing to view the uploaded photos, I was able to add a description and change the name of the photo.

I'd like to share one of my most favorite photos I've taken to-date which I've uploaded to Flickr using Windows Live Photo Gallery:

This is a photo I took with my Nikon D40 (which is a Certified for Windows Vista device) while camping at Timothy Lake with some friends this last summer. This is a shot of Mt. Hood here in Oregon. You can also take a look at my Windows Vista Coach Tour set. I took a bunch of photos while traveling around the East Coast last year on the Windows Vista Coach.

Program Manager Michael Palermiti has posted on the PIX Blog about today's Windows Live Photo Gallery release which they are calling the Beta 2.2 Refresh. If you already have a version of Windows Live Photo Gallery installed, you can grab the Beta 2.2 Refresh by running Microsoft Update (the Windows Update client in Windows Vista will detect a new update is available if you have it configured to use Microsoft Update). If you don't have Windows Live Photo Gallery installed and you want to give it a try, just head over to the Windows Live Betas page and choose Windows Live Photo Gallery.

You can also check out the Flickr Blog where they talk about partnering up with Microsoft for Windows Live Photo Gallery.

For me, I am going to leverage both Windows Live Spaces and Flickr in publishing my digital photos to the web with Windows Live Photo Gallery. For personal photos such as family events and things I've gone and done with friends - I will upload those to Windows Live Spaces. For all my digital photography and traveling to events - I plan to upload to Flickr. Quite a few amateur photographers use Flickr to show off their work. I'd like to do the same. I'd also like to share memories from traveling around as well. You can follow what I upload to Flickr by going to my Flickr page.

Make sure you keep your eye on the Windows Live Wire Blog too for information on Windows Live releases.

Announcing the Windows Live suite with unified installer

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:05:00 GMT

Today Chris Jones, Corporate Vice President of Windows Live Experience Program Management, has announced the availability today of new betas for the new wave of Windows Live applications. These new beta releases showcase Microsoft's goal in releasing the new Windows Live applications together. These new betas are being released with a brand new unified installer for the Windows Live suite. Users will be able to download a single installer for the Windows Live suite in which they can pick and choose the specific Windows Live apps they want to install on their PC's.

To showcase the new installer for the Windows Live Suite - I've got a video demo on how the new installer works. Check it out:

Video: Windows Live Installer Demo

The unified installer is an impressive addition to Windows Live and is a much easier install experience for the user.

Shipping with today's betas is also the broad availability of the new Windows Live Photo Gallery. Previously, Windows Live Photo Gallery was a closed beta. With the new unified installer for the Windows Live Suite, users can now choose to install Windows Live Photo Gallery. I'll be talking more about Windows Live Photo Gallery in separate post very soon.

The Windows Live suite currently consists of Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Writer, and Windows Live Photo Gallery with Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. These applications bridge the gap between the Windows Vista PC and the Windows Live web services. Windows Live Mail allows you to sync your email and contacts from Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Photo Gallery lets you publish your images to Windows Live Spaces. Overall, the Windows Live suite is designed to extend your Windows experience by tapping into Windows Live. Of course choice comes with the Windows Live Suite as well. You can use Windows Live Mail to check any POP3 or IMAP email account and Windows Live Writer supports a great variety of online blogging services.

Give the Windows Live Suite a try today.

Update 1:16PM PDT - Looks like the Windows Live installer page is now online. Give it a shot!

Demo: Windows Live OneCare 2.0

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:51:00 GMT

Last week Nick announced that the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Program has begun. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is the next major release of Microsoft's all-in-one PC protection program. Windows Live OneCare not only protects users from viruses and spyware, but also helps users make sure their important data is backed up and that their PC's are updated with the latest updates from Windows Update.

Chris Overd over at LiveSide briefly touches upon features within Windows Live OneCare 2.0 such as Multi-PC support with your OneCare Circle, Centralized Backup, and the upcoming online photo backup service. However I took some time to record a little demo video showcasing some of Windows Live OneCare 2.0's new features including the new PC startup management tool and the OneCare Circle.

Video: Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Demo

You will notice that in the demo, I didn't touch upon Windows Live OneCare 2.0's new Centralized Backup feature. That is because my PC's on my home network have all their backups managed by Windows Home Server, which was released to manufacturing earlier this week. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 takes into account PC's being backed up to a Windows Home Server. But more on Windows Home Server at a later date.

So just how does Windows Live OneCare 2.0 work with Windows Vista specifically? Windows Live OneCare 2.0 takes advantage of Windows Vista's Network Locations (Private VS Public) and protection levels with its firewall settings. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 ensures protection for your PC depending on your Network Location. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 uses Windows Vista's networking features to help protect the user's PC.

This is just the beginning of the beta program for Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Program. Expect Windows Live OneCare 2.0 to evolve throughout the beta.

Expect this demo video to be the first of many demo videos to come on a variety of topics!