Screen Shots: What Windows Live Is (and Isn't)
by ZDNet Author | February 25, 2007 9:03am PST | Image 1 of 27
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Windows Live Alerts
Confused what Microsoft's Windows Live is -- and isn't? This gallery is designed to help demystify Microsoft software services initiative, as well as to capture for posterity the rapidly changing Live family.
It is easier to show than tell what Microsoft's Windows Live is -- and isn't. Here are as many screenshots as I could round up of some of the shipping, beta and still-officially unacknowledged set of Microsoft software services known as "Windows Live." Because Microsoft is in the midst of a rebranding campaign and strategy shift in the Live space, any of these services could disappear at a moment's notice. You've been warned.
First up: Windows Live Alerts. Still in beta, this free instant-notification service is currently free and available in the U.S., Canada and China only.
"However, some content providers may charge for using their content with our service. Wireless service charges may apply for receiving or replying to alerts on wireless devices. Check your wireless service plan for details," Microsoft cautions testers.
It is easier to show than tell what Microsoft's Windows Live is -- and isn't. Here are as many screenshots as I could round up of some of the shipping, beta and still-officially unacknowledged set of Microsoft software services known as "Windows Live." Because Microsoft is in the midst of a rebranding campaign and strategy shift in the Live space, any of these services could disappear at a moment's notice. You've been warned.
First up: Windows Live Alerts. Still in beta, this free instant-notification service is currently free and available in the U.S., Canada and China only.
"However, some content providers may charge for using their content with our service. Wireless service charges may apply for receiving or replying to alerts on wireless devices. Check your wireless service plan for details," Microsoft cautions testers.
Credit: Microsoft
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A thumbnail so small that you can see nothing is a waste of web page space. Maybe you didn't understand but a thumbnail is a preview of the image, not page decoration.
Maybe they've made changes now or it's a client configuration on your station that makes it so you can't see. Such as resolution or something. Just guessing here.
Over the story from a well-respected person in the security field in IT saying that Vista is not worth upgrading to.
Once the shock is over he'll be back to his usual shilling.
Once the shock is over he'll be back to his usual shilling.
I like No_Axe this way much better . I hope he doesn't recover . I noticed how he couldn't stick to the subject , instead he focused on the thumbnails . That is CLASSIC .
No_Glasses_to_See_With
No_Point_to_Make
Pretty much sums up No_ax.
No_Point_to_Make
Pretty much sums up No_ax.
That pretty much sums it up.
Unlike the offering from Microsoft, another desperate attempt to lock in their customers wanting the greater flexibility and reduced cost of live applications.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Infotech/Hardware/IBM_aims_to_lower_cost_of_using_Linux_Apple_PCs/articleshow/1594892.cms
Only with Microsoft they charge you to be locked in to their product. Another great deal from Redmond.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Infotech/Hardware/IBM_aims_to_lower_cost_of_using_Linux_Apple_PCs/articleshow/1594892.cms
Only with Microsoft they charge you to be locked in to their product. Another great deal from Redmond.
Firefox 3 to support offline web application support
Posted in Tech, Cool by Derek at 5:00 pm
Read/WriteWeb [via] has an interesting and promising article that supports the
idea that Firefox 3 will offer offline support for everyones favorite web apps
including Gmail among others.
An interesting tidbit came out of the recent Foo Camp New Zealand (which
unfortunately I wasn?t able to attend). Robert O?Callahan from Mozilla, who is
based in NZ but drives the rendering engine of Mozilla/FireFox, spoke about how
Firefox 3 will deliver support for offline applications. This is significant because
you?ll be able to use your web apps - like Gmail, Google Docs & Spreadsheets,
Google Calendar, etc - in the browser even when offline. I deliberately mentioned
all Google web apps there, because of course this plays right into Google?s hands.
Looks like Firefox is going to play an integral role in squashing the idea that
consumers should have to pay for productivity software. Farewell Microsoft Office,
I won?t miss you. Will anyone else? Aside from the corp. zombies forced into using
the MS line, who else is going to miss being locked to an application?
The story can be read here at UnEasySilence
http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2007/02/9594/
Posted in Tech, Cool by Derek at 5:00 pm
Read/WriteWeb [via] has an interesting and promising article that supports the
idea that Firefox 3 will offer offline support for everyones favorite web apps
including Gmail among others.
An interesting tidbit came out of the recent Foo Camp New Zealand (which
unfortunately I wasn?t able to attend). Robert O?Callahan from Mozilla, who is
based in NZ but drives the rendering engine of Mozilla/FireFox, spoke about how
Firefox 3 will deliver support for offline applications. This is significant because
you?ll be able to use your web apps - like Gmail, Google Docs & Spreadsheets,
Google Calendar, etc - in the browser even when offline. I deliberately mentioned
all Google web apps there, because of course this plays right into Google?s hands.
Looks like Firefox is going to play an integral role in squashing the idea that
consumers should have to pay for productivity software. Farewell Microsoft Office,
I won?t miss you. Will anyone else? Aside from the corp. zombies forced into using
the MS line, who else is going to miss being locked to an application?
The story can be read here at UnEasySilence
http://uneasysilence.com/archive/2007/02/9594/
The thumbnails are fine , I see you aren't . :^) Finally your BUBBLE has been bursted ! ROTFLMAO ,,,
I agree with No-Ax, those web page images were barely discernable and then only for the larger words. As I have not used any Windows Live Services I still have no idea what it is and isn't. What bothers me is all those webpage images, how long do they take to load. Without a T1 line how is Windows Live going to improve my Internet experiences.
It appears that Microsoft is marketing, under the "Live" umbrella, a hodge-podge of different apps, each app designed by a different committee, each committee determined to tell us how we think when we use an app.
If the overall theme is "live communication\access" then surely there is a way to have some common intuitiveness shared across this jumble of tools.
If the overall theme is "live communication\access" then surely there is a way to have some common intuitiveness shared across this jumble of tools.
I didn't know what Live was, but now I know I can't wait to use the "Windows Live
Voicemail Messenger Center Search Alert Favorites Gallery Storage Gadget for MSN
Live Hotmail for Windows Live Mobile (beta)" (also known as
WLVMMCSAFGSGMSNLHWLM) (code name "MacKiller"). This is great stuff! Still not
sure if the desktop or the online version will work better for me.
Voicemail Messenger Center Search Alert Favorites Gallery Storage Gadget for MSN
Live Hotmail for Windows Live Mobile (beta)" (also known as
WLVMMCSAFGSGMSNLHWLM) (code name "MacKiller"). This is great stuff! Still not
sure if the desktop or the online version will work better for me.
I can't understand why a technology company would come up with a branding scheme and then have so many different widgets they put into it in such a chaotic manner. It makes Microsoft look really, really stupid. They are acting just the like actor that parodies them in the Apple commercials.
Let me clarify why I am saying this. I am not anti-microsoft. I use Windows and Office daily. I dual boot XP and Vista. I was puzzled by Microsoft pushing, "Get Live," without making it clear just what live is. I had the urge to grab someone and tell them to tell me, "WHAT IS IN LIVE?: They are clearly fishing, throwing a bunch of stuff in, hoping people will play with it and that by sheer shotgun method, something in there might become a killer app.
Let me clarify why I am saying this. I am not anti-microsoft. I use Windows and Office daily. I dual boot XP and Vista. I was puzzled by Microsoft pushing, "Get Live," without making it clear just what live is. I had the urge to grab someone and tell them to tell me, "WHAT IS IN LIVE?: They are clearly fishing, throwing a bunch of stuff in, hoping people will play with it and that by sheer shotgun method, something in there might become a killer app.
The title to every "service" is 4-6 words long (I count ONECARE as TWO words). Look, nobody says Microsoft Windows Excel. Drop the word Windows from all titles--we know it's Windows from all the logos. Consolidate all the searches and IM apps together.
Oh, what does LIVE mean? If I mention any of these titles to a friend that's the first question I get. Maybe we should nail that first!
JerryS
Oh, what does LIVE mean? If I mention any of these titles to a friend that's the first question I get. Maybe we should nail that first!
JerryS
THAT THEY ARE STILL ALIVE AFTER THE BIG QUAKE OF GOOGLE SHAKING THEM UP
LOL...Alas the Giant won't lose so easily...Google has a long long way to shake up The Empire... I love Microsoft
I dont have much to add to the debate about windows live - I would prefer to have windows Alive - meaning it would not crash - ever!
However the actor portraying MAC in the adverts comes across (in the UK) as a rather smug clever know it all , exactly the sort of person most of us find quie unpleasant - the bumbling family man with the big grin is probably how most of us see ourselves in reality.
Why arent MACS gaining dominance - simple, there policy of not allowing third party cloning and self build, keeps the pricing at a level that most ordinary people will walk away from.
The truth is the MAC does not want to replace the PC they prefer to sit in a niche specialist marketplace, along with high end HiFi and expensive TVs - which are the toys that people who want to show they have more money than the average person, buy to make themselves feel good!
However the actor portraying MAC in the adverts comes across (in the UK) as a rather smug clever know it all , exactly the sort of person most of us find quie unpleasant - the bumbling family man with the big grin is probably how most of us see ourselves in reality.
Why arent MACS gaining dominance - simple, there policy of not allowing third party cloning and self build, keeps the pricing at a level that most ordinary people will walk away from.
The truth is the MAC does not want to replace the PC they prefer to sit in a niche specialist marketplace, along with high end HiFi and expensive TVs - which are the toys that people who want to show they have more money than the average person, buy to make themselves feel good!
It's not just the UK, the "Mac Human" comes off precisely that way to me too here in the good ol' Yew-ess-ov-ay.
Maybe I'm just too stodgy (not to mention OLD) to comprehend how undeniably cool and with-it Macs are (or so they would have us believe) and are naturally entitled to every bit of the smug arrogance the ads portray.
To me they just appear like yet another post adolescent slacker with an attitude problem.
Stephen Posey
slposey@concentric.net
Maybe I'm just too stodgy (not to mention OLD) to comprehend how undeniably cool and with-it Macs are (or so they would have us believe) and are naturally entitled to every bit of the smug arrogance the ads portray.
To me they just appear like yet another post adolescent slacker with an attitude problem.
Stephen Posey
slposey@concentric.net
Live shimive, I'm still having problems with MSN Explorer. Had the problem on my old computer, updated to XP Pro. from '98' thought it was due to an old graphics card. Now I have a fairly new sysrem running XP Media Edition and it still happens. I get artifacts from the page or desktop below popping through to the page I'm viewing. I contact MSN and I wait for ever for a response, Then I get to send them Screen shots, now I'm still waiting to hear back. Vista, Upgrade to Vista? Don't see how that would help MSN Explorer. Now they want to through in a bunch of other stuff to make my life easier? Get what ya already got running properly first, before you move on to some other project. I hate it when someone leaves a job half done amd moves on to something else leaving others to figure out what to do next. But that seems to be their forte'. And I pay extra for MSN Premium? What for? Sure isn't for the service.
I remember when Microsoft was advanced as "the standardizer." As long as
everyone used Windows, then everything would work together. As a corporate
strategy, it worked. But now, it's becoming clearer and clearer that Windows
shouldn't have fought its breakup by Judge Jackson. It has become too large to be
a coherent company. Windows, Inc., Office, Inc., and MS Hardware in its own
corporation looks good, now.
Windows Live is one of a number of recent projects that say, to me, that MS is
losing its corporate DNA. I remember seeing an illustration of Roman coins from
the second century CE. The coins from Rome had a clear picture of the emperor,
but once you got to Asia minor, the emperor's image looked like it was done by
Picasso. The outlying areas had nothing to do with the center. Microsoft should
break up, not for a federal judge, but for its own corporate health.
everyone used Windows, then everything would work together. As a corporate
strategy, it worked. But now, it's becoming clearer and clearer that Windows
shouldn't have fought its breakup by Judge Jackson. It has become too large to be
a coherent company. Windows, Inc., Office, Inc., and MS Hardware in its own
corporation looks good, now.
Windows Live is one of a number of recent projects that say, to me, that MS is
losing its corporate DNA. I remember seeing an illustration of Roman coins from
the second century CE. The coins from Rome had a clear picture of the emperor,
but once you got to Asia minor, the emperor's image looked like it was done by
Picasso. The outlying areas had nothing to do with the center. Microsoft should
break up, not for a federal judge, but for its own corporate health.
I could not agree more. Keep in mind that MS has added more products every year while tring to shrink the development shipping window. It doesn't work that way and as a former MS consultant I can say that the only culture left is the Management "We're rolling in casH" culture. Those in the trench will never see the benefits that existed years ago and customers are receving shotty code and expanded delivery windows.
MS should be cutting the cost of their EA's and expanding the window to include 5 year delivery on products while support needs to be 7 years.
Did anyone else notice that MS shipped a new Desktop and some clients on EA's have paid nearly 2 full EA's and not seen a new and stable desktop OS. MS was set to expire XP this year, just 6 months after shipping Vista. Hmmmmmm. Makes you wonder.
MS should be cutting the cost of their EA's and expanding the window to include 5 year delivery on products while support needs to be 7 years.
Did anyone else notice that MS shipped a new Desktop and some clients on EA's have paid nearly 2 full EA's and not seen a new and stable desktop OS. MS was set to expire XP this year, just 6 months after shipping Vista. Hmmmmmm. Makes you wonder.
A hackers dream?
My problem is with MS's track record on security....
Would you want all your eggs in one basket for hackers to violate?
PASS!!!
My problem is with MS's track record on security....
Would you want all your eggs in one basket for hackers to violate?
PASS!!!
Microsoft, for all its faults, still gets a B+ to A- from me overall. They provide a powerful, useful platform with relatively prompt attention to problems.
Take everything you hate about Microsoft [overpriced, heavy-handed, unresponsive to their base users, arrogant, manipulative, explotative, etc...] and multiply it by 3, and you get Apple Computer. All us old-timers remember living in Apple2/Lisa/Mac hell. I will never, ever, never, ever go back to them, no matter how slick their latest computers are. I would rather sit in the corner and lip-strum with Linux before giving in to them. All I can say is, Thank God Apple didn't get 90% of the computer market share.
Take everything you hate about Microsoft [overpriced, heavy-handed, unresponsive to their base users, arrogant, manipulative, explotative, etc...] and multiply it by 3, and you get Apple Computer. All us old-timers remember living in Apple2/Lisa/Mac hell. I will never, ever, never, ever go back to them, no matter how slick their latest computers are. I would rather sit in the corner and lip-strum with Linux before giving in to them. All I can say is, Thank God Apple didn't get 90% of the computer market share.
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