Windows live! Microsoft as created the Windows Live series in an attempt to bring everything a person would need on the Internet closer together and makes everything work faster together.

Integrating AJAX technology into practically every aspect of this new series, this makes everything on the web related to Microsoft a quick and easy user friendly environment.

Now i am currently a beta tester for Windows Live Mail beta and Windows Live Messenger beta, and in my experience i think Microsoft has definitely taken a huge step in the right direction.

The following information is whats supposed to come with the new year and each of their descriptions.

Information gotten from http://ideas.live.com

[quote]Windows OneCare Live beta
Windows Live Mail beta
Windows Live Messenger beta
Windows Live Search beta – mobile
Windows Live Custom Domains
Windows Live Local beta
Live.com beta
Windows Live Favorites beta
Windows Live Safety Center beta
Windows Live Expo beta
[quote]Windows OneCare Live beta:
What it is: An automatically self-updating PC health service that runs quietly in the background. It helps give you persistent protection against viruses, hackers, and other threats, and helps keep your PC tuned up and your important documents backed up. What it does for you:
• Runs quietly in the background, providing anti-virus and firewall protection
• Updates itself to help you keep ahead of the latest threats
• Runs regular PC tune ups [/quote]

[quote]Windows Live Messenger beta:
What it is

Windows Live Messenger will be the next-generation MSN Messenger. It will have everything you already love about Messenger—your contact list, emoticons, and instant access to your friends via text, voice, and video—plus new ways to connect and share documents with almost magical ease. As always, it will be free to download Messenger and use most of its features.

What you will be able to do with it

• Send all your familiar winks and emoticons, plus some cool new ones
• Have real-time text, video and voice conversations*
• Call your friends' mobile or land-line telephones by signing up for MCI Web Calling to make affordable domestic and international calls
• Easily share documents of all kinds with Sharing Folders
• Make free PC-to-PC calls with other Messenger users
• Provides one-click solutions to most problems
• Makes back-ups a breeze
• Lets you see the status of your system at a glance [/quote]

[quote]Windows Live Mail beta
What it is

Fast and simple e-mail that makes it easy to read, send and organize your messages. The "beta" part means it's a work in progress, so we need your input to make sure it's built right.

What it gives you

• Previews of your messages you can read without leaving your inbox
• Drag-and-drop organization
• One-click control over junk and scam e-mails
• Right-click power—reply, delete, and forward
• 2 GB of storage (2 GB = 2,000,000,000 bytes) [/quote]

[quote]Windows Live Search beta – mobile:
What it is

Windows Live Search beta for mobile devices lets you use your Web-enabled mobile device to search the Web for almost anything you’re looking for, just like on a PC. Search results are formatted to fit on your phone’s itty-bitty screen, so you can actually read them easily (a crazy idea, we know). With Local Search, you can find stuff in a specific location (Chinese restaurants in New York, for instance), and see maps with driving directions and phone numbers you can call with a single click. By the way, you need to have your own Web-enabled wireless device to use this service (you knew that, but our lawyers made us add it anyway).

What you can do with it

• Search the Web just like you would on a PC

• Save search results to your device

• Use Local Search to find the nearest gas station, the nearest restaurant, the nearest whatever

• See 10 results displayed neatly within your device’s screen

• See business names displayed with phone numbers, address, and approximate distance

• View an easy-to-read map to your destination, and detailed driving directions

• Click on any of the results to be connected instantly to their phone[/qoute]

[quote]Windows Live Custom Domains:
What it is

By signing up for Custom Domains, any Internet domain name owner can create a new Hotmail account with a unique, customized e-mail address such as sally@adventure-works.com.

What it gives you

• All the benefits of a free MSN® Hotmail® account with the distinction of a unique domain name • Up to 40 e-mail accounts under one domain name • 250 MB storage for each account* • Hotmail features like customizable junk e-mail filters, virus scanning and cleaning, cool ways to customize the look of your e-mail, and more • E-mail accounts that work easily with MSN products like MSN Messenger and MSN Spaces • E-mail access from almost any Internet-enabled computer in the world • Simple addresses that you choose and manage
*250MB inbox available only in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Eligible Hotmail users will first receive 25MB at sign-up. Please allow at least 30 days for activation of your 250MB storage to verify your e-mail account and help prevent abuse. Microsoft Corporation reserves the right to provide 250MB inbox to free Hotmail accounts at its discretion.[/quote]

[quote]Windows Live Local beta:
What it is

A free global mapping and search service. It helps you find stuff in specific locations—pizza in Pittsburgh, for example—and lets you customize your map views, see most major U.S. cities from the point of view of a low-flying plane, and explore your world in new ways.

What it gives you

Clear, detailed, clear driving directions and maps
Maps with regularly updated info on construction and other obstacles
The ability to get directions by right-clicking on a map (very handy when you don’t have an exact address)
Both map and satellite views of your destination
“Bird’s Eye” imagery that shows detailed, 45-degree angle views of most major U.S. cities
Yellow Page info that is fully synched up with U.S. maps
Custom “pushpins” that let you notate specific locations
A scratch pad to make notes and share your discoveries
Easy sharing of results and maps with Permalinks
The ability to cruise around and zoom in on areas of the U.S. you want to explore in detail
Search results that display both Web sites and physical locations
Auto Refreshed search results that update as you move around the map
The ability to see multiple destinations on one map
“Locate Me” feature that can show you where you are on a map[/quote]
[quote]Live.com beta:
What it is

Your homepage the way you want it: super clean and super fast, with the content and layout you choose. The weather in your hometown, headlines from across the globe and Web search results for any term you choose—all there the minute you bring up your browser.

What it gives you

• A fast, clean personal homepage

• The latest news from your favorite sources: news, sports, technology, you name it

• E-mail inbox preview

• Password protection of your settings and info

• Coming soon: access to services like instant messaging and PC protection tools[/quote]

[quote]Windows Live Favorites beta:
What it is

A service that lets you get to your Internet Explorer and MSN Explorer Favorites from anywhere you’re online.

What you can do with it

• Easily import your current Favorites to Windows Live Favorites and use them right away • Add new sites to your Windows Live Favorites with a single click • Collect and save new links even when you’re away from your home computer[/quote]
[quote]Windows Live Safety Center beta:
What it is

A free scanning and PC health service, to help delete viruses and other threats, and a support community to help keep you informed of the latest security issues.

What it gives you

• Quick, free scans of your system for viruses, and other threats

• On-demand tune ups of your PC

• No limit on the number of scans you can perform

• Security coverage that evolves to help you meet the latest threats

• Access to a support community for news and help [/quote]

[quote]Windows Live Expo beta:
What it is

An online marketplace and social networking site

What it gives you

• Free ads that are easy to post

• Browse through a wide range of categories ranging from merchandise,
events, personals and services

• Keep your dealings within a trusted network like your MSN Messenger Buddies, friends or co-workers; or open them up to anyone

• Find listings just in your area, nationwide or anywhere in between

• Add your listings to your MSN Space with one easy click

• Get detailed maps and directions for things like garage sales, homes for sale or concerts

• Communicate with people via MSN Messenger right from Expo’s site [/quote][/quote]

All the new live ideas are pretty cool, here are my views on most of them.

The Live Mail:
Its definetly much better, maybe gmail was insentive maybe not but this is definetly cool with drag and drop, and 2 gigs of space...definetly something to talk about.

The Live Messenger:
Also known as MSN 8, even though the butterfly is going to be retired soon i think WLM is pretty cool mostly because its more user friendly, you get to rename your contacts and put information included with thier contact to use in the contact search bar. It maybe a little crouded for my liking with the search bar and the movies display on the bottom but there are addons to get rid of those.

Those are the only two ive had personal experience with but im definetly intruiged as to what the other features have to offer, the custom domain and onecare have both caught by intrest and i will be checking into what i can do with those.

if anyone else has insight on thier experience with the new Windows Live Series im sure we would be happy to hear them.

3/4 of this article is pasted from live.com, but IMO, Windows Live Messenger looks weird, its orange!

xboxrulz

How many hosting credits did you get from copying and pasting all that rubbish? You could at least put in in proper quote tags!

What's the deal with Windows Live? What makes it different from services Google (for example) offer?

None, Its the same old services with a little extra features, that hopefully would need service packs and a different name. I am a beta tester at Live Messenger, Live Mail, and Live Mobile, I found live mobile to be a little helpful, but then even gmail has a mobile service now.

Live Messenger would be the start of a new era of instant mesaging between 2 IM Giants , Microsoft and Yahoo. Since yahoo joined with microsoft, Live Messenger is added with features that would set a foundation for the next version to impliment yahoo accounts. How? well yahoo IDs can be added, Offline messages could be checked, voice n video chat with MSN and yahoo users etc ..

Not a very helpful service, but out of all the live products, i am waiting to get into the office beta, hopefully office is said to be totally revamped and made much more user compatible. Lets see ..

Regards
Dhanesh..

i did copy and paste most of these, and put the appropriate credits and i even put the quote tags, insted of removing all the credits and more so gained from the post you couldve at leased fixed the quote tags so they would work properly

Wow! So it's kinda like online versions of Microsoft products that you'd normally have to install on your PC. I guess that would be really useful, especially for people that are on the move and might be accessing the 'net at a booth or cafe.

Is it true that you can invite people to Live Messenger? If so, could you send one to me - saxsux@gmail.com

Thanks :-)

not that I know of, try to apply one yourself.

I got my application through....

xboxrulz

If I had four thumbs, I'd put them all down. Most of this stuff is nothing new at all. Microsoft is just putting more hype behind technology that already exists.

Kind of like how you're supposed to be able to do more with your music in Windows XP, hyping up how you can store and play MP3 files, when you could already do that in Windows 95.

well i think its well worth it, microsoft always boasts thier products just to try and make them look better, but the truth is... it is better. before you had to buy programs or download and install them to alow you to do what microsoft has let you do online, i mean a pc health center that runs in the background and runs off thier serves and not off your computers resources.

yup, windows live messenger does give out invites, im not sure if live mail does because i havnt gotten any, but i gave out all my invites for messenger but if i get more ill get you one.

live mail, really whats wrong with it? google has drag and drop on thier homepage which i think is pretty cool but microsoft added the drag and drop feature to the mailbox, it makes things so much easier and faster and the page not having to reload every time you click a link as the site has complete AJAX integration...

there are a few features id like to see, like gmails access mailbox by your phone browser, and a few other things, but really whats that bad about what microsoft is offering with thier new Live Series?