So far I have looked at working with core applications in the Windows Live Essentials suite: Photo Gallery, Messenger, Mail and Writer. I want to take a little time out to look at how you get the suite of these free applications installed on your PC.

Windows Live Essentials Download web page.

One thing users must note is that Windows Live Essentials is free! The only thing required is an Internet connection and going to the Windows Live Essential’s home page and download it. Microsoft recently created partnerships with PC OEMs such as Dell to have Live Essentials bundled on their systems world wide.

The 1 MB Windows Live Web installer makes it easy to install just the applications you need.

What’s included in Windows Live Essentials?

• Windows Live Mail – For sending and receiving email and managing it off line, includes support for HTTP, POP3 and IMAP along with support for popular mail services such as Hotmail and GMAIL. Live Mail also features an integrated Calendar that supports synchronization with your Windows Live Calendar.
• Windows Live Photo Gallery – For managing photos, videos and publishing to online services, includes basic photo editing tools.
• Windows Live Messenger – Instant Messaging client with support for video conferencing and support for Yahoo! Contacts.
• Windows Live Writer – Blogging tool for publishing content to online journals such as Windows Live Space, Blogger, Live Journal and more.
• Windows Live Movie Maker – Still in beta, this simple video editor features basic capabilities for putting together short movies that can be published to MSN Soapbox.

Those five core applications make up a complete experience, but the suite goes beyond that. Windows Live Essentials includes add on’s for Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, and file synchronization and collaboration.

System Requirements

Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit edition only), Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions), Windows 7 Beta (32-bit or 64-bit editions), or Windows Server 2008. Note: Windows Live Movie Maker is not supported on Windows XP

• Processor: 1 GHz or higher for Windows Vista; 800 MHz or higher for Windows XP
• Memory: 128 MB of RAM (256 MB or more recommended) for Windows XP; 512 MB for Windows Vista
• Resolution: Minimum 1024 x 768
• Internet connection: Internet functionality requires dial-up or broadband Internet access (provided separately). Local or long-distance charges may apply.
• Browser: Windows Live Toolbar requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later.
• Graphics or video card: Windows Live Movie Maker requires ATI Radeon 9500 (or higher) or nVidia GeForce FX 5900 (or higher). I have Live Movie Maker working with a nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP, but if you like the Photo Gallery collages, you will need a video card that supports pixel shader 3.0.

Additional requirements

The following components are needed for specific Windows Live programs, and may be installed for you if they’re not already on your computer.

• For Writer: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher*.
• For Photo Gallery: SQL 2005 Compact Edition and Windows Imaging Codecs*.
• For Photo Gallery and Movie Maker: Some components of DirectX9.
• * Not required when installing on Windows Vista.

Note: To install or uninstall Windows Live products, you must have administrator rights on the computer.

Setup: After launching the Windows Live Essentials setup, the Welcome Screen is displayed, next is the Service agreement page, which you must agree to then the programs page which list all the programs that come with Windows Live Essentials.

Checking for open programs: Before Windows Live begins the installation, you must ensure that certain programs are closed such as Internet Explorer which installs add on programs such as the Live Toolbar, Silverlight for viewing dynamic content on web pages and for persons who use Microsoft Outlook, the Office Outlook Connector for managing your Live Hotmail email, Live Calendar and Contacts.

Installing the applications: During the install wizard, you are given a quick over view of some of the capabilities of Windows Live Essentials.

Completing Setup: Once installation is completed, you can have Live do some post setup task such as default your Search provider to ‘Windows Live Search’, set your default home page to MSN, submit feedback when you encounters an error using Windows Live Essentials applications and help improve Windows Live Search results – all of course optional.

Accessing your Windows Live apps: You can start using your Windows Live applications by going Start > All Programs > Windows Live or click Start and type ‘Windows Live’.

There are two ways of installing Windows Live Essentials, you can download the 1 MB web installer from http://download.live.com then pick and choose what you would like to have installed. You can run the program at a later date if you decide to install more applications. If you are on a slow connection and would prefer to avoid killing your bandwidth, you can download the full suite, but there is a bit of trick to doing so, I honestly wish Microsoft would just provide a direct link to the full installer, someone with 4 Windows based PC’s is not gonna want to run the web installer on all 4 when they could easily download the entire package and run it across three. Here’s how you get the full suite. Click the download link for the Live Suite, and then cancel it when the 1 MB download option appears. Click the Try Again button and you will be presented with the 134 MB installer, this option includes everything.

The Microsoft App-V folks are really listening, after having some early hiccups with the App-V beta for Vista and getting to submit my rants about my experiences with setting up the product, I got some good and bad news today from the Windows 7 Team Blog. One issue in particular for me was, no support for the Windows 7 BETA, but that's changed today Oh the bad news? Its for subscribers of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) :

“Our MDOP customers have told us that they want to see Windows 7 Support for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) so that they can move ahead with their application testing for enterprise deployments of Windows 7 early on. We heard you loud and clear. Today we are announcing the availability of App-V 4.5 CU1 with support for the Windows 7 Beta.”

Learn more here

Register and Download the BETA here

Check out my rant feedback about the App-V beta here

MED-V still needs a lot of work, it needs to be more cohesive. It needs to focus on the user experience. It needs to support Windows Vista and Windows 7 64 bit. The requirements need to be more prepared. I should not be downloading additional software to get this thing up and running. Setup is still frustrating, I expected a product like this to come ready to go, I discovered I needed to downloaded .NET 2.0 and not just any .NET 2.0, I had to get the one with SP1. I gave up on it immediately, it was just not a straightforward experience. I wish it was just a process of loading the Virtual Machine/Workspace, installing the appropriate environment to run your desired software and done.

The only thing the user should have to worry about is the legacy Windows environment they plan on running this in. Have everything ready set to go. Have a straight forward installation.
1. Setup
2. Select your environment for Legacy app
3. Install
4. Done
5. Install Legacy app without any problems

Previously:

My Thoughts on Upgrade Eligibility to Windows 7

I started blogging back in late 2004 when Microsoft launched its MSN Spaces online journal platform now Windows Live Spaces. I have stuck to the service ever since because of its simplicity, ease of use and continued improvements over the years. Back in the early days, most of my blogging was done through the MSN Spaces ‘Add Post Blog Form’, which is limited in what you could do and still is. Then around 2006 Microsoft introduced Windows Live Writer beta and it was like a breath of fresh air to my blogging exercise. Blogging for me became a much richer and enjoyable experience because of what I could now do; images with wrapped text and tags made it a definite asset for my blogging journey.

Setting up Windows Live Writer (click image to enlarge)

Setup:

One of the things I immediately find frustrating about Windows Live Writer is the process of setting it up and connecting to your site and re-downloading information, especially if you blog from more than one computer. I wish there was some way to backup and export your profile settings and just import them as a part of the setup process, in fact, it would be great if you could travel with your Windows Live Writer profile on a thumb drive. Alas, it’s still a straightforward five step process, of entering your email address and password, selecting your blogging platform and let Windows Live Writer Connect to your blog and downloads the necessary information. During the wizard, Live Writer downloads your blog style and layout so writing content can adhere to its natural look and feel in addition to seeing WYSIWYG previews before you publish to the web. After this is completed, you are prompted to confirm your blog name and you off to expressing yourself.

Windows Live Writer 2009

Supported blogging platforms:

• Windows Live Space
• SharePoint blog
• Blogger
• WordPress
• TypePad and more...

Windows Live Writers interface if you have never used it before is word processor oriented. Still it lacks some of the traditional functionality and finesse of Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, but is perfect enough for what it does. Writer 2009 does include familiar tools like Word Count along with Auto Link glossary support. Interestingly enough, I am surprised the Windows Live Writer Team didn’t apply the Office Fluent UI which was introduced in Office 2007 to this update since Writer has been through a few versions of the traditional standard and formatting toolbar UI already and it would be a natural improvement to the application. Writer is not really major in changes and it still lacks some common functionality you get for free in Word Pad, options like keyboard commands for aligning text or images. The ‘Open’ dialog does not feature the bread crumb menu improvements and search facility of Windows Vista (interestingly its supported under Windows 7 BETA).

Photo Albums are cool for professional layouts and you can link to a full slideshow

More Multimedia Support

Writer handles multimedia much better, which makes it easier for users to publish videos and photos to their blogs. A new Photo Gallery feature displays your photos in casual thumbnail preview with links to a full size slideshow when inserted onto the blank canvas. You also have the ability to post photos from existing albums on your Windows Live Photos page. New photo options include, border effects, crop and tilting. Videos is especially improved, the new Insert Video dialog features options for publishing videos to both MSN Soapbox and YouTube while submitting a post to your blog at the same time. Options include insert an embedded URL, locally, or from your account on both services, very convenient!

Formatting

Writer 2009 could work better with Microsoft Word, I notice I lose formatting when I copy over content from Word documents with Bullet points and tables. I don’t like the limited capabilities of Tables either, you can’t centre them, the formatting options are lack lustre, there could definitely be more capabilities. I am limited by what I can do with pictures in Writer too, as you can see in this blog post, image captions are below the photo, centred. I would like the ability to have text wrapped images with captions to display a more professional look. Photo Albums are too rigid, I wish they could be more scalable with the ability to resize using anchor boxes. Also, the Photo Album dialog could feature more customization, such as the ability to rearrange pictures, my work around for that is to continuously click in the Album Style: list box on the chosen layout until the desired image in the album comes to the foreground.

There is some inconsistency between between the ‘Insert Picture’ dialogs for Writer 2009 on Vista (top) and Windows 7 (bottom) – hint, I prefer Writer on Windows 7.

Plug in Architecture

What makes Windows Live Writer especially powerful is its Plug in architecture which allows third party developers to further enhance the application. Live Writer 2009 includes SharePoint 2007 support, new APIs enabling custom extensions by weblog providers, automatic synchronization of local and online edits, integration with Windows Live Gallery, and support for "Blogger Labels" are some of the features new and existing users can look forward to. Here are links to some popular ones you can add to your web log post.

FLICKR UPLOAD (Download)
Uploads an image to your Flickr account and inserts an inline picture into your post.

DIGG THIS (Download)
Automatically adds a DiggThis badge to your blog post after you publish it from Writer.

TWITTER NOTIFY (Download)
Automatically generates a tiny URL and sends a Tweet about your blog post after you publish it from Writer.

Windows Live Writer supports the new ‘Jump List’ feature of Windows 7, although I notice, there are a lot of duplicate post in my ‘Recent’ items.

Publishing

Sending your content to the web could be more informative. The same Publishing to ‘Blog Name’ displayed on a dialog doesn’t give user much to chew on, a progress bar would be a nice addition. The reliability is improved too, past versions of Writer often generated unrecognizable errors during failed uploads. I still encounter them, one in particular is when I am publishing post with .PNG files. Speed on my GPRS connection is quite good, I use to encounter numerous failures with previous versions, although sometimes I will still get a few, I have worked around it by ‘Saving Weblog Post’ as a draft to my Live Space and publish at a later date from Live Space summary page.

Conclusion

Windows Live Writer continues to improve rapidly and the new features will make publishing to the various supported blogging services and social networks such as Twitter more fun and easier. What I would like to see one day is a web based version of Live Writer so I can have access through the web browser on any PC instead of having the software installed locally. It would be great especially for environments where you cannot just install stuff without the Admins permission. Live Writer makes sharing your words and media with your audience attractive, that’s been the core focus of the program since its debut and that theme continues with this update.

Resources:

A Look at Windows Live Mail 2009

Instant and Social Communication with Windows Live Messenger 9

Managing and Sharing Digital Memories using Windows Live Photo Gallery 2009

From Arstechnica

“In addition to an update to IE8, Microsoft has also released an application compatibility patch via Windows Update for the beta operating systems it released to the public on January 9.”

From Microsoft Download Center:

“Install this update to resolve issues with non-compatible applications for Windows 7 Beta. For complete details of this update, see Knowledge Base Article KB967062. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. This update is provided to you and licensed under the Windows 7 Prerelease License Terms.”

Downloads:

Windows 7 x86 here
Windows 7 x64 here

Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 here
Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium Systems here

Previously:

IE8 Reliability Update for Windows 7 Beta Now Available
Microsoft Hardware Support for Windows 7 BETA

Windows 7 Team Chaitanya Sareen member details some of the improvements since the Beta that are coming in the Release Candidate.

“This blog post talks about a few of the improvements that will be in our Release Candidate (RC) based upon customer feedback. There are many under the hood changes (bug fixes, compatibility fixes, performance improvements, and improvements) across the entire dev team that we just don’t have room to discuss here, but we thought you’d enjoy a taste of some changes made by three of our feature teams: Core User Experience, Find & Organize and Devices & Media.  The comments in this article come from a variety of verbatim sources, with identifying information withheld.” 

Read the entire article here

The changes are too numerous to mention here, which include under the hood, user interface, new keyboard shortcuts, better compatibility with devices and applications make this milestone in the Windows 7 BETA well anticipated. I am looking forward to giving it a spin when its released.

via ActiveWin.com

“If you are running the Windows® 7 operating system beta, the following information will help you select the correct beta software to download for your Microsoft Hardware product.

Important: This table contains the Microsoft Hardware support information for Windows 7 Beta. Please read the release notes before installing the software.”

Learn more here

My Windows 7 FAQ and Quick Started Guide is now up on ActiveWin.com with more content to get you started with the BETA:

“We have just posted our comprehensive Windows 7 FAQ / Quick Guide, with over 55 questions covering all Windows 7 topics. Check it out!”

Check it out here

Previously:

Windows Vista RTM FAQ and Quick Start Guide.

From the IEBlog via ActiveWin.com

“We wanted to let you know that an update was released earlier today that will improve Internet Explorer’s reliability for users running the Windows 7 Beta. The update is now available via Windows Update, and can also be downloaded via Microsoft Update.

In this post we’ll discuss how we used the information that we’re receiving from Windows 7 Beta customers to determine the reliability fixes to include in this update.

We use the term “reliability” to broadly encompass all types of stability problems including crashes, hangs, memory leaks, etc. When we measure reliability we rely primarily on instrumentation built into Internet Explorer 8 and Windows 7. For example, the Customer Experience Improvement Program enables us to better understand how customers use our products, and Windows Error Reporting provides detailed information about the problems customers encounter. Shortly after the Windows 7 Beta became publically available these systems began to send information back to Microsoft.”

Learn more here

Just saw this via Richard (Windows Observer) on Twitter.

Hotmail now supports POP3. What is POP3? According to Wikipedia:

“The Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP3 and IMAP4 (Internet Message Access Protocol) are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support both.

POP3 has made earlier versions of the protocol, informally called POP1 and POP2, obsolete. In contemporary usage, the less precise term POP almost always means POP3 in the context of e-mail protocols.

The design of POP3 and its procedures supports end-users with intermittent connections (such as dial-up connections), allowing these users to retrieve e-mail when connected and then to view and manipulate the retrieved messages without needing to stay connected. Although most clients have an option to leave mail on server, e-mail clients using POP3 generally connect, retrieve all messages, store them on the user's PC as new messages, delete them from the server, and then disconnect. ”

The website Windows Mobile Cool provides details on how to set it up in your favorite email client here.

Previously:
Windows Live Hotmail – New Improvements!

Resources:
A Look at Windows Live Mail 2009

For years Microsoft has offered a free email client with Microsoft Windows, once called Microsoft Exchange in Windows 95, then Outlook Express in later versions, the program was updated as Windows Mail with the release of Vista. Since disbanding from the operating system, versions called Windows Live Mail Desktop were released as alternatives to what was included in Vista with more modern functionality such as RSS Feed support and integrated Calendar and Contacts. I have been using Windows Live Mail 14 on Windows 7 since the pre-beta build. My experiences so far have been more of a wanting for the old Windows Mail at times, although the suite offers a standard set of email tools and some unique features that I would have loved to see in Windows Mail.

Adding and configuring your email account in Windows Live Mail (click to enlarge)

Setup:

Launching Windows Live Mail for the first time, you are presented with the Add an Email Account Wizard, which is very simple and straightforward. Just enter your personal information, click next and Finish, Mail starts downloading your messages right away if you choose to do so. The Windows Live Mail interface I must say is more aesthetically attractive compared to its predecessor, featuring a much lighter palette and degree of customization options, such as the ability to choose a colour scheme which is synergistic with Windows Live services such as Hotmail. Mail focuses on disabling certain functions it seems for the sake of form over function (we’ll get into that more as we go along).

The Command Bar features text only buttons that are also updated to look the same as Windows 7 Explorer Command Bar which shows the close ‘aesthetic’ relationship between the two. You can still invoke the classic drop down menus by pressing ALT on your keyboard. Common options such as New, Reply, Forward, Delete, and Junk are all there with the addition of new ones such as Add to Calendar and Sign in to Windows Live button to gain immediate access to additional services through your account. Various parts of the interface are setup to look more like Microsoft Office Outlook, with a Task pane on the extreme left, Messages in the middle and a viewing Pane on the extreme right. The Task Pane is divided in to five categories: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, RSS Feeds and Newsgroups.

Live Mail 2009 interface

Mail:

The Mail pane is made up of different folders for viewing, sending and receiving your messages. The Quick Views folders displays quick access to messages you might not have gotten the chance to look at in all your accounts aggregating them into one location, you can even filter messages according to Contacts (very nice option). Unread RSS Feeds can also be managed and viewed from here too. If you have an account setup in Windows Live Mail (which I am sure you would have), you get access to your traditional Mail inbox folders. I have my Hotmail account setup and I have access to all my messages like I use to in Outlook Express or if I were running Microsoft Outlook with the Outlook Connector. Outlook Express users in particular can rejoice since Hotmail HTTP Support ended with Outlook Express when Microsoft discontinued Web DAV support in 2005. Only Premium subscribers to Windows Live Plus were able to use the HTTP functionality of Hotmail under Windows Mail in Vista. In addition to HTTP support, Mail also supports the POP3 (Post Office Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) messaging standards that users expect. Another nice addition for Windows Live Mail users is support for other Web Mail services such as Google’s Gmail and Yahoo!’s Mail. Unfortunately when I tried to setup my Yahoo! Mail account I got the following message:

“You must have Yahoo Mail Plus to use this e-mail client with your Yahoo Account. Please go to the Yahoo site to find out how to become a Yahoo Mail Plus User. Http://mailplus.mail.yahoo.com”

Live Mail features rich options for sending photos by email (click to enlarge)

Photo Mail - Integration Across Windows Live Essentials

Emailing photos is just a click away, I selected 3 images from my Live Photo Gallery library and immediately a Windows Live Mail window popped up. The 'Attach files' dialog is now handled by Live Mail, such as resolution and size; images sent can be reduced to 512 K or the highest 5 MB for best quality. You can add photo effects such as a frame, colour border and even choose how your photos are presented to the recipient in different layouts.

Storage Folders

In Windows Live Mail 12, Microsoft introduced Storage Folders which is a repository for email, folders created by the user, accounts, newsgroup and other data. It’s very handy for backup purposes when you are transferring your messages to another computer. There really is no change in this update except being visible in the Mail Pane itself.

Integrated Calendar (click to enlarge)

Calendar

Windows Vista included its own built in calendaring application, which I kind of liked, it was something most users who install Windows with basic needs could easily benefit from to manage their schedules. Featuring options available for publishing and subscribing to .ics calendars, which includes settings for controlling how often it gets updated with new event dates, were some nice highlights. Windows Calendar although capable lacked better integration with Windows Mail apart from a link to launch it. With Windows Live Mail, Microsoft has melded the two together and it looks like a success! The Calendar interface is superbly beautiful and features much of the standard functionality of Windows Calendar. The Navigation Pane displays quick access to a ‘Date’ calendar with options for creating new calendars and groups. Calendars interface is customizable to an extent; you can view your information by Day, Work Week, Week and month. For persons who subscribed to .ICS calendars, that direct functionality is not available in the UI itself, but you can still access them by logging into http://calendar.live.com, click ‘Subscribe’ > Import from an .ics file. When you start Windows Mail from then on, your Calendar will automatically be synced. There still is no support for Hotmail’s Calendar, but I hope that gets updated as soon as possible.

Windows Live Mail Contacts interface

Contacts

To access your contact data, you must be signed into Windows Live (Windows Live ID required), this allows you to utilize the same Contact List available in your Hotmail Contacts to see who is online and sync with your Windows Live Calendar. The interface integrates heavily with your Windows Live Messenger contact list, so, dependency on it for me is not recommended, since I don’t have my entire address list stored in there, a unified data store would really come in handy here. Windows Live Contacts supports all of the standard features you would find in Windows Contacts explorer such as creating Groups, organization, sharing and printing. You can import your contact database from a number of formats including .WAB, .VCF, Outlook Address Book and .CSV, it supports exporting in .VCF and .CSV. The only drawback, it’s not integrated into the Windows Live Mail interface, opening a separate window instead. Also, it would have been nice to have synchronization between the Windows Contacts and Windows Live Contacts list instead of keeping two separate databases.

Subscribed Feeds can also be viewed and managed in Live Mail 2009

Feeds and Newsgroups

One of the hit features over the past few years is Really Simple Syndication. RSS allows a user to subscribe to their favourite Website’s and receive notifications of updates to those subscribed sites without the need to individually browse each to check for new information. Windows Live Mail makes managing those subscriptions easier with its familiar email oriented approach. Feeds you subscribe to through Internet Explorer are automatically synced and updated in Live Mail. Newsgroups are pretty much the same as previous versions of Microsoft Mail clients.

Conclusion

Windows Live Mail is robust and very easy to use. However, I miss functionality like Send All which ensured that Messages were sent if you had a connection issue. What I notice happens is, when my messages are not sent off immediately and I open the Drafts folder and open the unsent email or newsgroup post, it doesn’t always start sending right away. I will at times have to close Live Mail, reopen the program and the unsent messages will begin sending again (but not always). Also, there seems to be no option to turn off ‘Check for New Mail’, I am on a slow connection and I notice if I am not in Mail and I start doing some surfing it will slow down as Live Mail is checking for email in the background. I just want to check for email if I want to. Live Mail works quite well on Windows 7, although there could be more integration with the OS similar to Live Messenger. I hope in a future update I will see a Jump List update for New Message, Events and add contact type contextual options. Overall, it’s a strong release and will definitely be an asset for Windows 7 users who depend on Windows Mail.

Resources:

Instant and Social Communication with Windows Live Messenger 9

Managing and Sharing Digital Memories using Windows Live Photo Gallery 2009

Windows Live Messenger 2009 just alerted me about a new version that is available. I hope this update corrects some reliability issues I am experiencing on Windows 7. I notice it sporadically logging me out for some unknown reason. The build number for this update is (14.0.8064.0206). The update seems to be mandatory before you can sign back into Messenger.

If you have difficulty signing in to Messenger after the upgrade, please visit here.
For help with webcam connectivity in Messenger, see this blog post: here

Previously

Talking about Windows Live Messenger update notice

Resources:

Instant and Social Communication with Windows Live Messenger 9

Zack Whittaker over at ZDNET takes a look at the next generation of Microsoft Exchange web mail service Outlook Live (formerly Outlook Web Access). Currently in testing, the service is available to students at college campuses around the world, faculties can sign up through the Live@Edu Program. What's great about Outlook Live is, you get the full richness of Outlook Live across different web browsers, 10 GBs of storage, built in collaboration (Instant Messaging, Threaded view for emails) and the option to keep your account after graduating. The Microsoft Exchange Team is focused on making the Exchange ‘14’ release more service oriented while still providing the traditional on premise capabilities and experience. The ability to manage millions of inboxes is also a major focus of this release.

Check out Zacks review here

Learn more here about Microsoft Outlook Live

Microsoft Outlook Live

Microsoft Outlook Web Access, part of Exchange Server 2007 (click to enlarge)

Recently I setup an Exchange Server 2007 installation for testing purposes and was really impressed with the rich functionality of the improved Outlook Web Access. Its basically Office Outlook in the browser. I hope to have a tutorial posted soon, so stay tuned for that. Its great to see how Microsoft is continuing to innovate and make collaboration more open with the next generation of Exchange and it looks really cool too.

Thanks Corrine over at Security Garden!

The Windows Team is preparing to release security updates for the Windows 7 BETA released in January. Here are some details about the update:

Dear MVP Community,

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

Abstract

We are sending you this communication to inform you that on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, Microsoft will be releasing five test updates to Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) computers. These updates are being sent in order to verify our ability to deliver and manage the updating of Windows 7 in certain scenarios in the future.

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

Background

The updates will be clearly described as a test update in Windows Update, and they will not install automatically.

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

Rationale

The updates will be offered interactively. This means that users will be notified of available updates, but they won’t install automatically. Users will need to go to the Windows Update control panel, select the updates, and manually start installation.

These updates will simply replace system files with the same version of the file currently on the system, and will not deliver new features or fixes.

You can learn more here

Windows Live features a lot of rich social networking features more than ever. Tightly integrated across services such as Windows Live Spaces, Messenger your Windows Live Profile and third party services such as Twitter, you can keep everyone in your network ‘in the know’ about your activities on the web. However, there are some issues I discovered thanks to Brandon Leblanc in a blog post he made last December about ‘Duplicate Entries’ on your Windows Live Profile Page.

“Not to pick on Andre Da Costa here but I’m noticing that he and a few others have duplicate blog entries hitting What’s New on my Windows Live Homage page. It appears folks are adding their Windows Live Space as a Custom Blog activity for What’s New. Because Windows Live Spaces is part of Windows Live – you do NOT need to add it as a Custom Blog as it will automatically appear in What’s New by default. Please remove your Windows Live Space as a Custom Blog activity for What’s New. Thanks”

LOL! Thanks Brandon! Just to make it a little clearer how to avoid this, here is a quick tutorial:

1. On your Windows Live Profile Page, click Options > More Options

2. Under Notifications, click the ‘What’s new with you’ link

3. Under Web Activities, you will see a list of Custom Blog RSS Feed, click Edit

4. Under ‘Settings:’, uncheck ‘Show Updates in the what’s new list.

Personally, I never realized that setting up this option would already conflict with the Show Blog updates for Windows Live Spaces on your ‘What’s New’ page. I thought that exposing updates to your Live Space was not a part of Live Profile page options in the first place, so I added an RSS feed. Sorry for any confusion caused.

Greeted by a new Welcome Screen today when I went to http://mail.live.com, users can expect some welcome changes to Hotmail.

To help you get started with Windows 7 beta 1, TechNet Magazine is bringing you Windows 7 Tips throughout the month of February.  Here's what we posted in the first week of February.

Work Faster with New Hotkey Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 7 beta 1
Windows 7 beta 1 includes new keyboard shortcuts that allow you to navigate and manage the Windows workspace more efficiently. Here are 10 shortcuts you should know.

Burn a Disc Image from an ISO or IMG file in Windows 7
Windows 7 beta 1 introduces the built-in ability to burn discs directly from ISO and IMG files. Find out how you can easily burn ISO and IMG files to disc.

Check out the other tips here

Don’t forget to check out ActiveWin’s Windows 7 FAQ which also provides some useful tips and tricks for new Windows 7 users here

Microsoft has announced the availability of their Windows Live ID utility which handles username and password management of various Windows Live Services such as Windows Live Home, Hotmail, Spaces to name a few.

What's new?

Through the online provider, the Sign-in Assistant helps a Windows 7 application running on one computer identify and communicate with other computers that are associated with the same Windows Live ID. Just by linking your Windows Live ID to the user account on each Windows 7 computer you own, you enable those computers to identify each other and work together more easily than has been possible in the past.

You can download it here

Windows 7 currently includes a new Credential Manager Control Panel item which handles username and password credentials for various websites other than Windows Live and computers that you may access on your network. I will take a look at it later this week, its very handy and is a cinch to backup and restore on new PC’s running Windows 7.

So its official, I think? Microsoft is planning to build their own retail stores and brand. Its an interesting move taking into account the current global economy. But its still an important one because of the potential opportunity to interface with the Company’s customers. I thought of suggestions on what a brand experience should be in a Microsoft store.

• First of all, don’t call it the ‘Microsoft Store’, my suggestion for a retail brand is, the ‘Windows Live Style Store’. Get it? Windows is an ecosystem and the Windows brand is still powerful and should be something to build from for a consumer running Windows. The Live evokes a connection with the customer, that brand is the people who work at the store, the people who talk to customers, engage with them, help them answer questions, solve problems and help get the most out of their Windows PC.
  
• Showcasing the ecosystem. I know the Windows Live Style Store will have a lot of Microsoft branded software and hardware. But the great part of it is show casing the OEMs who make great hardware devices that utilize Microsoft software and technologies. It should be one of the first places to go to see the latest Netbook, Gaming PC, Tablet, Business PC’s, Consumer PC’s running Windows. Looking at Engadget is great, but getting to experience the devices first at the Windows Live Style Store will be even greater.
  
• Solutions, I mentioned the Windows Live Style store being a place where Windows users can go to get answers to their questions or solve their problems. I believe this is where building confidence in the brand will definitely come in. Users should be able to bring their Windows PC to the Live Style Store, have technical experts fix their Computer while they are educated about their PC and the great things they can do on it. Whether its learning about new products, getting working done or utilizing the consumer features of Microsoft services such as Windows Live Essentials.
  
• Live Projects and Scenarios. The store must be a place where you can come and do things. Microsoft should setup class room training, help customers, schools that have classes and need to get projects done. In fact, consulting should be one of the hallmarks, whether you want to get your school reports done, how to use Windows Movie Maker to create that great cinematic experience or how to start a small business.
  
• Entertainment. I think this is a key differentiator for Microsoft from Apple. Microsoft has the potential to draw customers into their store and the innovations exist to do it, the Surface, the XBOX 360 and Windows Live should be ways of expressing to customers the fun side of doing things on the Windows platform. Some of the key elements include Game Parties, where persons can come down to a Live Style store on the weekends and play on the XBOX’s, families can show off their home movies on big screen TVs in the store. Have local bands come and play at the store in Jam sessions. Really make it an experience. Connect with the users.

Am I thinking too big? Maybe! But I think Microsoft needs to stand out on the retail experiences. Its gotta be more than just having a store thats filled with Microsoft. Its gotta be a people place, a social experience, a way of showing the human side of Microsoft.