Three new Windows Live betas now available

Posted by:
Nick White
05:39 PM Wednesday
May 30, 2007
25 Comments

Today our Windows Live team is releasing new betas for several Windows Live applications: Windows Live Messenger 8.5, Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Writer. All three are now available for download.

A little about each one:

Windows Live Messenger 8.5

Windows Live Messenger 8.5 presents a brand new look-and-feel that's more in tone with Windows Vista. While this update largely affects the back-end, it also adds several new emoticons and integration with Windows Live OneCare Safety Center. You can expect performance enhancements in there as well.

Windows Live Mail

As mentioned before, Windows Live Mail is the successor to Windows Mail in Windows Vista (and Outlook Express on Windows XP). Windows Live Mail is also the successor to previous betas of Windows Live Mail desktop. It sports a brand new UI that more aligned with what's being adopted across Windows Live. Windows Live Mail will allow syncing with Windows Live Hotmail, serving as a client-to-service bridge. The first beta of Windows Live Mail will offer:

Offline mail
Windows Live Hotmail account aggregation
Additional account aggregation for POP3 and IMAP mail accounts
RSS feed aggregation
More advanced photo-sharing capabilities
More advanced search via integration with Windows Desktop Search
Additional safety measures (AV scanning, anti-phishing, anti-spam protection across aggregated accounts for customers who do not have an AV product)
Additional integration with Windows Live services including Windows Live Spaces

And, there will not be any graphical advertisements in Windows Live Mail at this time.

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer is a tool for composing blog posts and publishing them on several of the web's biggest blogging platforms (such as Windows Live Spaces, Community Server, WordPress, and TypePad). Windows Live Writer allows for custom plug-ins to be installed from Windows Live Gallery that extend its publishing abilities amongst blogging platforms. Today's new beta of Windows Live Writer comes with features like inline spell checking, the ability to add categories, table editing and easier image insertion. Windows Live Writer’s new beta will be available in the following markets: US (English), US (Spanish), India (English), UK, Spain, Germany, Japan, China and France.

Remember, these applications being released today are betas and not final versions. You can submit feedback on any of the betas at feedback.live.com.

And lastly, I expect Brandon will have screenshots on his blog soon.

Comments

Condor

Posted on: May 31, 2007 at 4:44PM
@Brandon

I can get all betas, but not Messenger 8.5 beta. Currently I am using 8.1, just like ThomThom. I can only get to a page that links to 8.1, and installing that gets me the option to repair or remove.
Condor

Posted on: May 31, 2007 at 4:58PM
@brandon

It could not be a cookie-related issue, could it? I always have my browser block 3rd party cookies. when i click the messenger 8.5 beta link given by nick I get to a Windows Live home page showing a privacy block of something like "http://msnmercustacqprod.112.2o7.net/..."
Brandon LeBlanc

Posted on: May 31, 2007 at 9:10PM
Could be a cookie issue. Try unblocking 3rd party cookies and see if you can access the sites. Not sure what else to suggest.
Nish Vamadevan

Posted on: June 01, 2007 at 5:41AM
Is it me or the new Live Mail Desktop 12.0.1184 has a problem ticking emails... How are you ment to select them without using the keyboard
jchandler

Posted on: June 01, 2007 at 12:23PM
These betas are looking great, I am using the new Windows Live messenger and I just love the new graphical interface you guys have used, it just works.

All the best

Josh Chandler

http://www.windows-media-player-updates.com
Nick White

Posted on: June 01, 2007 at 10:08PM
Hey Condor: I've gotten a couple of similar reports; I'm looking into it.
Sebastian_Foss

Posted on: June 04, 2007 at 6:24AM
Thanks for the links - Just installed live mail - looks really promising!

Sebastian

---------------------------

http://www.sebastianfoss.com

http://www.etrinity.com
thomthom

Posted on: June 04, 2007 at 1:22PM
These links at NeoWin worked for me at last:

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=40634

Whatever is on MS's sites doesn't work for me.
markm66

Posted on: June 05, 2007 at 6:48PM
I tried Live Mail for a few days on a new laptop with the intention of installing the copy of Outlook 2007 I had. I installed Outlook 2007 and then uninstalled Live Mail and this is when the fun started. Trying to launch Outlook after the install I found it wont because of a now missing DLL (It was running fine before live mail was removed). A repair install allowed outlook to launch but when I started a new email it went thru up a "doing some configuration dialog) a few minutes later this went and an office Install dialog popped up and wanted the office 2007 disc which I gave it but the problem persisted. However now I would get the same dialog if I launched Word or Excel. I had to remove both Outlook and Office 2007 (Home and Student ed) and reinstall them to get them to work. Needless to say a few expletives were used during this time period :). So I suspect if you are going to try this remove Live Mail before installing Office/Outlook.
J3551C4

Posted on: June 08, 2007 at 5:13PM
Hi,

Loveeee the new Windows Live Mail. The only problem I have had so far is that I cannot print emails from the window where you actually write the email. The print option is disabled in the file menu, and the control + p function does not work.

Thanks!

J

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Posted by: Craig Nicholson on May 31, 2007 at 3:17AM
According to the Windows Vista team blog post over here there are some new betas available. The most
Posted by: Microsoft News Tracker on June 01, 2007 at 12:12AM
Last night, Microsoft rolled out 3 new Windows Live betas as Nick White reports at Microsoft’s Windows Vista Team Blog: Today our Windows Live team is releasing new betas for several Windows Live applications: Windows Live Messenger 8.5, ...