I’m Brian Hall, and I lead the Windows Live business group.
Today is a very exciting day for Windows Live – for the hundreds of people who work on building and delivering Windows Live, for the hundreds of millions of people who use Windows Live, and for the thousands of Windows Live advertisers and partners. Around the world, today is the day that we’re finally able to share the innovations in communications and sharing that we’ve been working on and will release shortly.
People sometimes ask me “What is Windows Live?” and “How does that relate to Hotmail, Messenger and Photo Gallery?” Historically, people have had entirely separate e-mail, IM, and sharing solutions – with different contact lists and totally different tools. But we’re now at a point where we can go beyond siloed communication tools that don’t work together – and start to integrate the best of them together with one contact list. In Windows Live, we’ve been working towards this for a while, but with this upcoming release, we’re taking a huge step forward in providing an integrated personal communication service – integrated across Windows Live and across other services on the web.
Quite simply, our goal with Windows Live is to help keep your life in sync. We do this by giving you great tools for communicating and sharing with the people you care about most. We help you bring together all of your digital stuff from across the web. And we optimize your experiences for where you are – on your PC, in Outlook, on your mobile phone, and on the web.
For those of you who already use Hotmail and Messenger, you’ll now be getting an integrated and complete communications solution with Windows Live, especially now that we’re bringing social interactions into many parts of Windows Live. This begins with a unified contact list where you control permissions – who can see when you’re online, whether they can view your profile, or which of your groups they can access. Anywhere you see people, you can e-mail them or send them an instant message. You’ll also have a simple and polished way to share photos and files. Since we’re all about connecting people, we’ve made groups part of your e-mail, IM, and photo experiences. Your group can have its own website, calendar, shared files, network, and other ways of keeping on top of what matters to the group. We’ve added calendars to Windows Live, in Hotmail, in groups, in Windows Live Mail, and even in Outlook. To combine all of these social interactions, we’ve built a “What’s New” feed that aggregates these social updates. And you won’t have to go looking for what’s new, it will be an integrated part of what you’re doing – so whether you’re in Messenger, Hotmail, on the new Home page, within Groups, or anywhere else in Windows Live, you’ll have the most relevant social updates from people in your network.
With this release, we’re also investing heavily in a broad range of partners to connect you with more of the places you share things online and keep them all in sync. We know that you probably have multiple accounts and use different companies for different Internet services. But you shouldn’t have to keep signing in to lots of different websites to keep on top of your digital life. With Windows Live, you can now pull in feeds from other websites, so the network of people you know on Windows Live can also see when you tweet on Twitter or share photos on Flickr. You can easily pull in your address books from places like Facebook, Hi5, and Bebo, so you don’t have to manage multiple networks of friends. Windows Live will bring it all together for you – so that you have one place to stay up to date and one easy way of sharing updates with your network.
For your Windows PC, we have a new set of programs that we’re calling Windows Live Essentials that connect your PC experience with Windows Live and the web. It includes tools to help you manage your e-mail and calendar, even when you’re offline, to edit and post photos with people tags to Windows Live, to compose and publish rich blogs, and more. These programs are great to use with Windows Live – and with with many other services that you and other Windows customers use. Windows Live Mail, one of several programs included in Windows Live Essentials, pulls all your e-mail accounts and contact lists together, including AOL, Gmail, Yahoo, and any POP or IMAP e-mail service. You can use Photo Gallery to post to one of many photo services that support our plug-in architecture. Or you can use Writer to post rich blog entries to any blogging service that supports Really Simple Discover (RSD). So every Windows user can communicate and share better with Windows Live Essentials.
There’s a lot here, so let me show you a few videos that give you a real sense of the new products:
http://images.video.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf
http://images.video.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf
http://images.video.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf
So, when can you get the new Windows Live and what does it include? In September, we released a set of beta programs for your PC. These programs will come out of beta soon – they’re the Windows Live Essentials. We also started rolling out updates to Hotmail customers. Over the coming months, we’ll release additional updates, as well as many new programs and services that we’re launching for the PC, web, and mobile phone.
Millions of you are already using the betas of our PC programs and have been providing us with great feedback. We’re hard at work on finalizing these products, and we’ll soon be releasing the final versions of Windows Live programs for your PC, known collectively as Windows Live Essentials. The Essentials include Messenger, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Mail, Writer, Toolbar, and Family Safety.
On the web, we’ll be updating Hotmail, Spaces, Calendar, SkyDrive, and Windows Live Home – your dashboard to what is happening across Windows Live. We’re also introducing new profile, groups, and photos experiences on the web.
For your mobile phone, we’ll be adding new web experiences available on any phone with a browser, and new SMS (text message) experiences – these will include the ability to easily upload and share photos, manage your e-mail and calendar, and send and receive updates from people in your network, all from your mobile phone.
Here are pictures of some of the updated programs and services that we’ll soon be releasing. Click each image to see all the details.
Messenger lets you have rich real-time conversations, express yourself with different pictures and backgrounds, and get real-time updates about what’s new with the people in your network.
Photo Gallery lets you tag people in your photos by selecting them from your Windows Live contact list.
You can also sort pictures in Photo Gallery according to who is in them.
Photo slide shows on the web have backgrounds that change to match your photos.
Writer lets you embed a photo montage in your blog post.
Hotmail will allow you to easily embed pictures and other info from a web search directly into an e-mail message.
Your profile page shows people in your network what’s new with you.
Groups can have their own discussions on Windows Live.
Windows Live Mail lets you easily embed pictures into your e-mail messages.
Windows Live Toolbar provides quick updates about what’s new with the people in your network.
A redesigned home page, with a header that changes depending on the time of day and your local weather. This one was during a recent, foggy evening.
It’s going to be an exciting few months as we put the final touches on this release. And we’ll be getting them out to you as soon as we can. As always, continue to send us your feedback, as we’d love to hear what you think. Also, if you’d like to keep up with our blogs using Twitter, you can follow us from here http://twitter.com/windowslivewire.
- Brian
i have an xbox live account under a different email (phdman6977@hotmail.com), which i forgot the password to. that email is listed under my current one, as an alternate email address. i need to get my old password. i dont remember the answer to my 5-year old secret question, and i need this password to use my xbox. how can i get the password emailed to this address?!@?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? there is no live help, only automatic help which BLOWS. please help!
Well, that\’s why you chose a password you can remember. The one I use for everything is "password" easy, impossible to forget, and works with email, windows live, everything.
sorry folks..but windows live sucks. FIX IT.
Hi, Drew. I think Windows Live is delightful—though some slight adjustments may help users. But most of the problems come from people trying to make it work like the old Hotmail or whatever and getting frustrated because it doesn\’t. At some point you learned to use Hotmail and you got to like it—and I suggest that if you\’ll give Windows Live a chance—take time and learn how it actualy operates—you may come to find you like it even BETTER. I have to say, the more I play around with it—making ittle adjustments to suit my own personal requirements—the more fun it is. I suggest you start HERE: http://www.windowslive.com/Home
Cassandra Morrison, your password "password" is just wrong. Sooooooo easy to crack. I think you should get a new one, eh? Not only that, but you just told everyone what your password is. Not that I would, but do you realise that I could access your account right this minute?!?!?!? You really need to change your password.
You\’re right, Core. Tel; you what—I\’ll change to "drowssap" that\’ll fool them.
hi
hi
Why do you keep saying "hi" this isn\’t a chat room it\’s a comments area for a windows technical blog
hi my mate sent me the windows live beta the other day however ive been unable to sign in. ive checked the error fixes for the code (80072efd) and nothing seems to work. i cant uninstall the program or anything. im having to use msn messenger. while iv been using messenger ive been unable to recieve items from my friends. can someone help me please!carl
Cassandra makes a good point below, take some time to learn the new features and you\’ll likely find this is a much richer user experience. Changes can be jarring and of course issues crop up, but ranting that someone should "fix it" implies it is broken instead of just different. Hotmail was in desperate need of a refresh and the new features and synergy with the Live services are fairly exciting if you even try a little to put them to use. Interfaces need to evolve, we did not hit the pinnacle of appliaction usability in 1997 and we still aren\’t close yet. Keep up the great work Live Team!
I HATE IT!!!!!!!!!! I CAN\’T OPEN ANY OF MY MAIL FROM HOME!!!!!! I HAVE DIAL-UP AND NEEEED CLASSIC HOTMAIL BACK!!!! FIX IT PLEASE!!!???!!!???
Cassandra – you\’re so right – this isn\’t a chat room but you seem to have made it YOUR chat room. You don\’t appear to be a Windows Live team member so why don\’t you quit forcing your inane opinions and advice on everyone here and go play with your Barbie dolls.
Could anyone tell me how to delete Live Call. It interfers with my help request page on my school site. It keeps trying to treat the request number like a telephone number.
Bob the Geek and Cassandra need to fly back to Neverland. Windows should have remembered the old adage: "If it ain\’t broke, don\’t fix it!!!"
Well, I\’ll tell you–no one has forced you to read my opinions so I won\’t apologize for giving them. The fact is that the new Windows Live is a great platform for a new century—as I have stated previously I\’m 58 years old and if I can move with the times and learn new systems I don\’t see why you younger people can\’t. You remind me of those people who never learned how to set the time on their VCR (remember those?). Windows Live isn\’t your enemy. As for Windows Live Call that\’s a part of the new Windows Messenger–turn off messenger when interacting with your school site.
I don\’t do chat rooms. Just pointing out that saying "Hi" and nothing else seems pointless. You will rarely get a response from a Windows Live Team Member these areas are where users can ask questions and others can advise based on their expreience with the product being discussed.
You have a choice here—they are not going to turn back the clock to suit those of you who don\’t like change. The world is changing and Microsoft will be changing with it. And, as with Windows Live–the computer experience will get more exciting. Now, you can either grow with the times or get left behind.
That\’s your choice. Microsoft will still show a profit.
At 55, I\’m clearly not as easily pleased as Cassandra; maybe my faculties will start going in the next three years and I\’ll think that a naff change of appearance represents progress. I don\’t see any progress in a system which now works so slowly. My actual question, which I don\’t expect to get an answer to, is why the appearance of messages changes between the writing and sending, particularly if you\’ve pasted some text in from Word. As a writer and editor, it\’s important to me that I what I send looks like what the recipient will receive.
If it works slowly it isn\’t Windows Live—it may be time to upgrade some of your hardware. As for text changing in appearance don\’t PASTE IN text from Word, you daft git—you APPEND the Word Document to your email message and that way it arrives as you intend it to look.
I\’ll bow to your advanced age and not insult you back but I judge your ability to assess this system on your need to resort to that sort of abuse. I don\’t believe that Microsoft are paying you to praise them because they\’d pay somebody with half a brain and an element of plausibility. If you had a life you\’re know when there are lots of reasons for needing to paste from Word – and if the facility is there, why isn\’t it usable as it was in the old Hotmail? I don\’t see any virtue in a system that limits your options. And don\’t you know a lot about computers? Big words like "hardware"! I look forward to being three years older and being fobbed off by shiny shiny.
A Processor is hardware and I suggested a faster one might be in order
Also it takes about two seconds to add an appendix to an email message
But for those of you who have systems that just can\’t handle the new hotmail (windows live mail) I have a suggestion. Move to Yahoo. They still support the "Yahoo Classic" email as well as their new version. Of course, there\’s always the chance Yahoo will fold over the coming year unless Microsoft or someone bails them out but it will be a quick fix for those of you with older systems and (gawd help us) DIAL-UP connections.
My question about pasting in emails (which you often need to do in submissions to publications) was to Microsoft, not you Cassandra; I don\’t want help from someone who learned about computing on a senior citizens\’ course at their local library. As far as your smugness and your down with the kids delight in superficialities of a new design go, if you can get past that and your downright self centredness, I think you should look at some of the earlier posts from people whose businesses and lives are suffering because they actually can\’t open their emails or send any. I\’m sure they\’re delighted to know that you love the new Hotmail because it looks pretty.
This changeover is STILL a nightmare … none of my address list contacts show up with the "QuickNames" I gave them in the old system. They only show up as e-mail addresses. THUS, I can\’t find some contact\’s e-mail addresses.When can this be fixed???
About 3 months ago our computer crashed, and when we got it back – our basic msn hotmail program was gone. It used to be we would leave open our hotmail email and new ones would just pop up as they came in. WHERE DID THAT PROGRAM GO??? Anyone know how I can get it back? My Live messenger pops up a screen letting me know I have new mail,but nothing is on my email screen. Can anyone help?
I hate this WINDOWS LIVE FORMAT and I want to go back to the old hotmail, how do I go about doing that? Is there a simple setting?
since the change i have not been able to receive my hotmail messages on my blackberry. was this due to the hotmail change and what can i do to fix it.
Since the change I cannot type in the main message box to compose email, replay to email, or forward email. I attempt to move the cursor into the message box, but it does not happen. I can do other things, such as fill in the TO: line, etc.
Well, actually—I didn\’t learn about it at either–I went back to college in 2000 to learn computers. Windows 95 was the operating system they were teaching us then. Since then I\’ve kept up with the new developments—why haven\’t you? ONE of the things I learned (which I am happy to pass on to anyone) is that almost everything you need to know about working with your computer you can learn in one of two places. 1. Your computer can tell you through the "Help" function. And , secondly, Microsoft has handy instructions on line for any and all changes, upgrades, etc etc. Like issues with Windows Live. If I wanted help from the Microsoft Team I wouldn\’t be here…I\’d be HEREl http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926374
This is a Community page where we all try and help each other.
But suit yourself, anonymous jerk
.
For the rest of you Tech Help begins HERE: http://support.microsoft.com/
One other thing—if you feel you really can\’t solve it yourself try contacting the Windows Live Team directly at http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=1&gprid=assistance
OK MI BIG PROBLEM RIGHT NOW IS THAT I CAN\’T SEE MY MESSEGES I FEEL VERY VERY BAD.
Will the new Live Mesh be integrated with Live Spaces and all of these other great apps?
Amazing..Still adding new features to something literaly thousands of people can NOT use!!!!!!
PLEASE FIX HOTMAIL>>WE CAN NOT USE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Would appreciate if anyone could help. I used to be able to chat with people with the web cam. Now the option does not even appear on my page anymore. My son is in Asia, I would love to communicate with him and be able to see him…
Don\’t like the new format at all – how can I go back to the old one? Not easy to navigate nor do I need or want all the stuff that appears. Want the OLD one back………..thanks.
If I\’d have wanted a Facebook clone, I\’d have joined Facebook. My initial impressions of the new look are not complementary
I like the new \’theme\’ features, although for some reason my one doesn\’t extend over to hotmail. I\’m using a dynamic theme for the \’home\’ page but when I click on hotmail I get a totally different coloured theme. Will anything be done to fix this?
looks cool… kind of easier to follow others update…keep it up!!
Do not like the new format at all – how I go back to the old one? It is not easy to navigate and I do not need or want all the stuff that appears. I do want de OLD one back………………thanks
Why can\’t I re-open my "Sent" messages, or "Drafts", but can messages in my "Inbox"??? I really don\’t like the new "face". Larry D. VanBeest, larryd1126@q.com
To be constructive, The photo area is a great improvement, however, there are some important features areremoved from the new look. I really really really like to know who visited my blog and how many times my blog has been visited. This great feature has been removed for some reason and I just don\’t understand why.
I love the changes you\’re making. I hope to see more dynamic themes and more integration with other services. The only problem is trying to get everyone to join yet another social networking site. It\’s obviously so much more than that, especially for those of us who use all the Live services, but I don\’t see this drawing people from Facebook or MySpace. Find a way to control sites like those from within Live and you may get them. Not having to visit Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace everyday to check things would be nice. I\’d also love to see messenger integration with AIM. It\’s hard to convince people to change when everyone they know is on AIM, but if they could use Messenger to talk to them and those on Live then maybe you\’d get them. All in all, good job. Keep the improvements coming. Maybe we should send a few of you over to Windows Mobile, they seem to be stuck in a rut lately.
The new live homepage is way too cluttered! The old layout was much easier to navigate. Who designed the new page? Mickey Mouse? Actually, I think it was more like Goofy designed it. GO BACK TO THE OLD HOME PAGE LAYOUT!
you gotta be kidding! this is terrible set up groups was far better .. I went to NING because they offer me way more than you do on this cheapo deal.. msn should be ashamed of self offered us mulitply as a way to do a group then you offer this deal of only When you start a group:You can choose a theme. Not many choices.The group can be public or private.There is a check box that will allow members to have group conversations using Windows Live Messenger. However, the members will be able to see the e-mail address and online status of other members in Messenger. If you turn this off, you can not turn it back on.You cannot have more than 20 members.Posts don\’t have the date on them and there is no option to add an image to the post. You can use html in posts. You have to add your last name to your profile and it will be visible to your contacts.======= that last one will be the death of groups .. better just stop wasting time with the idiots who designed this crappy deal .. I was smart enough to go buy my website and have more better and able to get my pages the way I wanted them .. this isnt a social network this is a farce ..
I actually pay for this service from hotmail! You HAD a great product the way it WAS!!i do not want this new format, so please tell me how to get the old format back.I already have facebook and myspace, so i dont need this overloaded crap on my screen when all i want is to check my email and browse the news.I am incredibly dissappointed at your new setup, please give me a link back to the old one!! If you cant provide me with this service i will be purchasing an account through your competitors.And i will be passing my thoughts of how SHIT your setup is to pretty much ANYONE who lends an ear!!PLEASE FIX!!!ThanksOverly Disappointed User
i hate this new release….it\’s orrible…
Why???? Why????? Why. when I print a copy of an email does it not print the entire line?? It cuts off the last 5 or 6 words of the message. Why can\’t I ever get an answer to my question? The only answer seems to change my hotmail service to one of your competitors. Who can I call for help???? dkcorbett@hotmail.com
Live Teamers, when are you going to move my.live.com to this new portal? Its seems like an orphaned child – I like the new layout and would like to get all my rss stuff on this instead of opening another tab and checking it out there.
All I want to do is send and receive emails as efficiently as before. I don\’t need my email system to turn into Facebook. About one in five emails fail to send and just disappear, so I have to waste time and write them all again.
do u want to make it a new hi5?
a new hi5 had been release !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BRING BACK THE OLD VERSION THIS IS TOO COMPLICATED AND I WISH TO SEE HOW MANY VIEWS I HADDURING THE DAY AS BEFORE, WHY DID YOU REMOVE THEM
Still have cluttered left side of email. Can see only the first three categories folders)Manage folders difficult as no nomenclature (still) next to check boxes.Unfortunately, long standing problems don\’t seem to get fixed.
After struggling and cursing the new interface. I went back over to my igoogle home page where I can happily add and remove anything I want, and drag and drop my modules on my page without having to go into some sort of customization mode ala 1999. Why oh why is it so hard for you to simply make small changes, allow total customization and ownership of people\’s home pages. What are you thinking?
i still prefer the old version. can\’t see how many views i have had in a day and i don\’t like the new version its too complicated. pls pls let all those who prefer the older version get it back.
When you mix everything together, It will be more complicated. So make it\’s simple that the best way to go !And you don\’t have to change everything you when mix them up.Especially Old Version of Space\’s Home page I love it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GIVE ME BACK THE LATTER LIVE SPACE STYLE!!!I HATE WHAT YOU\’VE DONE TO IT.It\’s worse than before. I find myself spend about 10 minutes just to get to my space to update a new entry.NEW LIVE SPACE SUCKS!!!
There\’s a T-mobile ad now blocking the whole of the hotmail screen. Reported, no reply. Why are you allowing this ? We can\’t insert ad blocking code from a public PC or service – get rid of it.
Hi I am soo annoyed that I cannot sync my windows live calendar with my nokia phone using the nokia suite while I can sync the local calendar, is there a way to that?
I have recently upgraded to the beta version of messenger, but I dont like it. Is there a way to downgrade to the non-beta version?Thanks
God ,I hate this new format with windows live.All my albums are now out of order,no way to put them back in order as I have more than 25 albums.Live now wants to create a "custom"album when tring to re-order them.What was wrong with the drag and drop feature that was so easy to use!?.Can\’t even rearrange my pictures.
Okay, I have read through many of the comments here and I am baffled. I really like the new Windows Live Essentials look and feel. The old format and feature set was good I thought, but the new version is so much more like Office in look and features. I am at a loss as to why everyone in this blog is hostel to the new products. As I get to know the product suite better, one feature I would wish for is the sharing of my calendar. The best scenario to me is that the WL Essentials calendar might operate like the Live Photo application. Here you can create folders and invite others to share. My preference would be that I could share my calender in exactly the same way, or create a new calender and share that calender with my spouse or friends. To achieve this, I created a group calendar, and I see that it automatically became one of my calender views in my Live Calendar, which was great, but required more effort and figuring this out was not straight-forward. This is certainly not a show stopper. The fact that you can manage multiple calendars in a web interface as seamlessly as this is pretty impressive to me. My other hope, albeit minor, is that someday you can have a home page like the prior Windows Live (http://home.live.com/) that takes you to the new Windows Live Essentials email, calendar, tasks, messenger, movie maker, photos, etc. Today, when I use my home.live.com home page, it uses the older version of Windows Live Mail, photos, ect.
Live is okay I guess but why I have received like 18 emails about in the past two days?
i have vista on pc and windows mobile on samsung omnia. I want to have all my contats and calendar synchronized with windows mail, windows live and pocket pc. Is that possible?
I believe that you can sync your email and contacts through Windows Mobile and Windows Live…… BUT you can\’t do CALENDAR. Many people have been begging microsoft to sync mobile calendar. They appear not to want to listen. They apparently are preparing to release ANOTHER set of sync programs for mobile, but I don\’t think it will be compatible with Live and you\’ll need to sign up for ANOTHER service. Why can\’t they just get it to Calendar to sync.. the way it should.
Not syncing Calendar into Windows Mobile is one thing keeping me with Gmail for now. http://www.google.com/mobile/default/sync.html to see how easy it is to sync the Google calendar with Windows Mobile. I switched to Windows Live recently – but because the Calendar is not yet functionally syncing to my phone, I am back with Gmail (for now). I do love the Windows Live features.
thanks alot this is great i love msn
I positively HATE this new version. I want my sharing folders back. I used to be able to send photostories that I had created to friends who lived far away. They were often to big to send via email. I hate the look of this new one too. Its terribly complicated. Bring back the fast and easy old messenger. Who cares about frills. That\’s what Facebook is for.
Why can\’t we sync the calendars and such with any calendar? I don\’t have outlook and I\’m not going to pay several hundred dollars for it!Also, messenger sucks. It\’s the most buggy chat program out there. Why not try to fix that instead of changing things that don\’t need to be changed all the time?
is it possible to syncronize calendars and contacts from my pc (outlook) to my pocket pc using windows mobile (i use both htc and nokia n95)? if not, as mentioned in some comments below, whats the point of advertising windows live as "keeping your life in sync"?
they want you to buy outlook and spent money….capitalism my pals
I want the calendar feature to be able to sync with my mobile phone. What\’s the point if you\’re not able to sync this?
I want the calendar feature to be able to sync with my mobile phone. What\’s the point if you\’re not able to sync this?
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