There has been an outage affecting customers of Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail.  It lasted about one hour; people could not sign in using Windows Live ID during this time.  The Windows Live ID team has kept people up-to-date via their Twitter account and published an explaining post afterwards on the Inside Windows Live Blog. Arthur de Haan, responsible for test  and system engineering at Windows Live, says:

Due to the failure of one server, Windows Live ID logins were failing for some customers, and this increased the load on our remaining servers.  [...]  We identified the root cause and fixed it in less than an hour, but it took a while to resolve the logjam that had built up in the meantime, and to redistribute the load to normal levels.

More information and Live status information

• Windows Live Twitter account (http://twitter.com/windowslive)
• Inside Windows Live Blog (http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowslive/)

mynetx: Please tell me a bit about yourself. Is your life directly or indirectly involved with Windows Live?

Kip: I’ve been writing for LiveSide for almost 3 ½ years, since it started in Jan. 2006. Before that I was a beta tester for MSN and Microsoft products, was an original “MSN Butterfly”, and a 3 time MVP for MSN and Windows Live.

I use Windows Live products daily, mostly mail and messenger, and of course Windows Live Writer.

mynetx: Do you think the Windows Live team cares for their users’ demands? Why?

Kip: I think they are as responsive as you can be when your customer base is in the hundreds of millions of users. In some respects that many users makes it more difficult to make changes, as they affect so many people in so many different ways. I do think that Windows Live could do more to be a more agile team. Both the structure of Microsoft and the sheer numbers of users contribute to… make it very difficult to react quickly to market trends.

mynetx: Like a big vehicle is slow in turning around, unlike a small car?

Kip: yes exactly. Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President for Windows and Windows Live Engineering, is often said to “make the trains run on time”. Problem is, when everyone has cars and has already left, waiting for the next train, even if it is on schedule, might not matter.

mynetx: Though I think that Microsoft has had its big awakening sometime 2 years ago.

Suddenly Internet Explorer development was “restarted”, and the overall Corporate Identity was renewed, and I think this has also had consequences on Windows Live.

Kip: Yes. Ray Ozzie is working hard to change the culture, but Windows Live is still to slow to react sometimes. That being said, I use Windows Live products every day, and generally like them a lot.

mynetx: If Microsoft took over Facebook, would you be using it then?

Kip: I don’t see why not. I have no problem using Microsoft products.

mynetx: How do you think Yahoo!’s future would have been affected, if the Big Deal would have happened last summer?

Kip: If anything, Yahoo! had an even worse culture for quick reaction than did Microsoft. I think the combined market share would have shaken up the market a bit, but just getting the two companies to work together as one would have been a monumental task, and I think it would have caused a lot of problems.

The new CEO at Yahoo!, Carol Bartz, is working to change their culture too.

mynetx: Within the next five years, where could you picture Windows Live?

Kip: Windows Live is going to benefit from its relationship to Windows 7. But in 5 years I doubt that there will be so much emphasis on which platform you use: are you in the MSFT camp, the Apple camp, the Google camp, etc. Within 5 years the barriers to communicating with some one because you don’t have the same Messenger client should be gone.

mynetx: How?

Kip: Mobile will be much more prevalent; smartphones, data access on phones, etc. Just like now how ridiculous it would be if a Nokia phone couldn’t call an iPhone, it will be much easier to communicate between devices than it is now.

mynetx: Please provide two positive and negative comments about any outstanding Windows Live product.

Kip: Windows Live Mail is a great product, I think. I currently have 9 email accounts loaded, including non-Hotmail accounts and even a Gmail account. It loads them all quickly, presents them handsomely, and handles calendar, contacts, and newsgroups. I struggled before with trying to get Outlook to handle multiple Hotmail accounts (although the new Outlook Connector is better), but now I don’t worry about it.

As for a negative, while I understand the thinking behind Windows Live Essentials, I think tying the updates of all the Windows Live products together was a big mistake. In the last Messenger upgrade, in order to fix a small but somewhat important bug, users had to go through the whole Essentials installer “experience”. It sucked, and it’s stopping some Windows Live products from getting updates they need because of having to update everything at once.

mynetx: Do you run Windows Live Messenger 24/7? Do you have some kind of a routine with Messenger and the other parts of Windows Live?

Kip: Messenger is on when my computer is on, yes. I have the main messenger window open all the time, positioned as a right hand sidebar (where the Vista sidebar would be, which is the first thing I turn off when I set up a computer). Messenger auto loads when the computer is turned on.

mynetx: You don’t like Sidebar?

Kip: no

mynetx: Use your fantasy: how do you think Messenger will look like within the next five years? What new features could it present?

Kip: Well hopefully a much better interface for multiple conversations (tabs!). Also I would like to see the user interface around contacts improve: a better interface than a contact list that you have to scroll down to find someone, click on it, open a window to start a conversation, etc. And you should be able to start conversations with people not in your contact list, in some public areas… similar to what you can do in Twitter now, or even in the new Messenger web toolkit.

I expect that Messenger in general will get to be more phone-like, and phones will get to be more Messenger-like.

mynetx: Comparing these ideas with Messenger’s current features, which of these might be added in the next release, Wave 4?

Kip: I think we’ll see some improvements in Contacts. Somehow I doubt we’ll see tabs, although I could be wrong. Msgr users have been calling for tabs for years without success. Mostly I think you’ll see Messenger and the other Windows Live desktop apps continue to work toward sharing a common interface, and to share common parts.

mynetx: Why is the Windows Live team just ignoring the loud shout for tabs that tons of Messenger users shout since years?

Kip: I wish I knew, but I don’t.

mynetx: Are you satisfied with the Windows Live services that are provided to you?

Kip: Yes. I use multiple Live ID accounts (to separate the work I do on LiveSide from my personal stuff), and it is very easy to manage now. We use Custom Domains for our LiveSide accounts, and it’s great. I really like Windows Live Mail, and Live Writer. Of course I think there could be improvements, but overall I’m happy.

mynetx: What is your favorite feature in Messenger?

Kip: I will tell you about one feature I really miss, and that is the Live Maps activity. It was very useful to be able to share maps, to plan meetings etc. MSN China has recently re-released a version of it in China, so hopefully we’ll see it again.

mynetx: What was your first impression of Live Mesh? Could it be a new diverse method of file sharing among peers, or could it improve the current system at hand?

Kip: I use Live Mesh daily also. I think you will see Live Mesh integrated into Windows Live, and the plan is to introduce some of that in Wave 4. Could Live Mesh become a sort of torrent? I don’t know about that, I think that architecturally maybe it could, but I doubt that Microsoft would allow it to be used as a free form file share.

mynetx: Do you wish Messenger would have a feature that a third-party IM software already has? Besides tabs, that is.

Kip: I don’t use other clients much if at all, so I’m not one to comment.

mynetx: However, as Messenger user, I’m sure you’ve got a good tip that not everybody might know about yet.

Kip: Lol, to me Messenger is like the phone, I don’t think about it much, I just use it. I sure hope photo sharing is improved in Wave 4 though, I find the new way to share photos very cumbersome.

mynetx: And finally, are you working on any project related to Windows Live currently?

Kip: Well we are hoping to be able to integrate the Messenger toolkit into LiveSide. I am not a developer, but we have someone working on it for his site (also Community Server), and we will be working together to see if we can make it happen. Unfortunately Community Server is kind of complicated, and we want the experience for our readers to be a good one, so it’s going kind of slow at the moment.

mynetx: Who works at LiveSide?

Kip: LiveSide is run by myself, Chris Overd, and Harrison Hoffman. We get regular contributions from Sunshine (Cornelia Koopmans), and have a few other contributors as well.

mynetx: LiveSide is a very good news source when you want to be on top of the latest developments and Windows Live news. I want to thank you and the other contributors for the great amount of time, knowledge and research that you put into the site each day, regardless of vacations, making LiveSide what it is today—a must-read!

Is it the same fun for you people running the site as it is for us reading it?

Kip: Yes we have a lot of fun with it

mynetx: I hope the site will continue to do its best to inform us about anything interesting in the Windows Live world. Great that you took your time to discuss “Windows Live and You” with me!

Kip: Happy to do it!

mynetx: Sorry to steal your night, I find it good that you have some minutes nevertheless.

Picturepan2: No problem, haha.

mynetx: So, try describing yourself and your connection to Windows Live, in one sentence.

Picturepan2: I am Picturepan2, self-proclaimed Microsoft fanboy, from LiveSino.net where I blog about Windows Live and other Microsoft stuff.

mynetx: Fan-boy you say. There aren’t many such people in China, true?

Picturepan2: Yes, true.

mynetx: And how come you became a Windows Liver? Since when are you in the business? Tell me a bit about your story.

Picturepan2: I was a normal Windows Live user (or tester) since November 2005, when Windows Live was first announced. In summer 2006, I accidentally found a fatal bug which I could use to get any Windows Live Spaces users’ Windows Live IDs without tools or permissions. After that I contacted Kip at LiveSide and kept watching Windows Live until now.

By the way, I am also the LiveSide representative for China and this is why I started blogging at LiveSino.

mynetx: Ah, quite interesting.

Picturepan2: I didnt even know what Windows Live was when I found that bug.

mynetx: You’re using Windows Live Messenger since you got to know it?

Picturepan2: I think the answer is Yes. The first Windows Live Messenger I used looked cute and much more different than what it looks today.

mynetx: What version was that?

Picturepan2: Windows Live Messenger 8.0 Beta 1 in 2005 Dec.; http://livesino.net/archives/321.live.

mynetx: Do you think Messenger has improved from back in version 8.0 until today, 14.0?

Picturepan2: Hmmm. You can hardly say it has improved a lot, but I have to say some parts have.

mynetx: Like?

Picturepan2: Such as What’s New integration, user interface…

mynetx: Hmm. And what do you like most in Windows Live at all? Apart from Messenger, that is.

Picturepan2: What’s New! Actually there are some others.

mynetx: So, pick one.

Picturepan2: Windows Live ID infrastructure enables user login and using all Microsoft offerings.

mynetx: The unified login makes sign-in at Microsoft, wherever you are, easy. Right?

Picturepan2: Yes.

mynetx: What is the thing you’d love most to be added to Messenger?

Picturepan2: A Plugin platform. As you know, Messenger Plus!’s plugin platform is awesome.

I wish Windows Live Messenger could learn something from Messenger Plus!…

mynetx: Do you think the Windows Live Team is going to add support for a plugin platform in Wave 4?

Picturepan2: I don’t think so. There is still no strong reason for them to do that. lol

mynetx: So, what about your usage of Windows Live. Is Messenger always open and signed in? Maybe you’ve got kind of a daily routine with Windows Live.

Picturepan2: Yes, almost always. But I don’t use Windows Live Messenger when i am REALLY busy.

mynetx: When you’re using Messenger intensively, maybe you have a tip that not everybody knows about?

Picturepan2: I always use PhotoShare feature to show screenshots, though it is not clear enough.

To start using it, just press Print Scrn button then Ctrl+V when back to conversation window.

mynetx: Are you working on any project at the moment which is related to Windows Live?

Picturepan2: no, I am currently only blog about Windows Live and other Microsoft offerings at LiveSino.

mynetx: Any plans for LiveSino’s future?

Picturepan2: Of course, LiveSino will cover more stuff from Microsoft and other companies related to Windows Live.

mynetx: And I will be watching LiveSino for interesting news on Windows Live. Thanks for your time.

Picturepan2: You’re welcome.

Adding support for additional instant messaging networks has always been on a high place on the wish list for Windows Live Messenger. People were excited when they have to know that Microsoft and Yahoo would cooperate to allow using the networks in both company’s clients, back in 2005. People were even more excited when they learnt that the Windows Live team had not lied and integration really came true in 2006.

However, since then, not much has happened in relation to cooperation between big chat networks. Even the situation between Microsoft and Yahoo has become quite strange since last year’s happenings. For now, the latest report published on this blog as well as “Messenger Stuff” ( http://www.msgstuff.com/ ), about “New IM networks for Windows Live”, is a made-up story, as far as considering the planned cooperation of Windows Live with ICQ, AIM, Skype, Google Talk and Facebook Chat.

Microsoft landed a big coup with Windows Live Wave 3, adding social networking features and reinventing the world of Live Spaces as well as introducing new functionality like Windows Live Profile and Web Activities showing up in omnipresent “What’s New” feeds.

Sadly, implementing Facebook as a new Web Activity, something that had always been in the mind of the Windows Live Managers, took longer than expected, which is the reason why it is still not released to the public yet. From the latest news that I read, the release date for Facebook “What’s New” integration is already set internally, only not announced yet.

Adding support for all major instant messaging networks would make Windows Live Messenger the unquestionable no. 1, and we should really hope that Microsoft would finally realize exactly this. The tremendous amount of comments and enthusiasm about this news story, here in this blog as well as at the corresponding news posts at Messenger Stuff and at LiveSide, shows what Messenger users throughout the world think about such a universal Instant Messaging integration.

Dear Windows Live Team, do you see how much your users want it?

“We are currently aiming to achieve full integrative support for widely popular instant messaging networks. Therefore, we have started discussions with the back-end and front-end Developer Teams of AOL LLC, Skype Ltd and Google Inc. Furthermore, we have intensified our cooperation with Facebook Inc. for a similar purpose,” says Dharmesh Mehta, Windows Live Messenger Product Manager.

The integration of the chat networks powered by AOL, namely ICQ and AIM, has always been a big wish for Messenger users all around the world, and seems to be the continuing of what the Messenger team started when adding support for Yahoo, back in 2006. Skype integration offers interesting possibilities, such as video and voice calls right from Windows Live Call.

With Facebook, another social networking site enters the boat, and I think Microsoft is just happy about being able to continue their efforts to introduce social networking to Messenger; we have already seen the beginning of this in Wave 3 (Windows Live Profile, What’s New Feeds etc). Finally, connecting with Google opens another wide audience of Messenger users.

The current master plan for adding support for ICQ, AIM, Skype, Facebook and GTalk is Q4-2009, so it will probably make its way into Windows Live Wave 4, where ideas are currently gathered for and sorted.

“I can’t promise too much yet, but I think it’s just what Windows Live is missing currently,” states Dharmesh. “You’ll soon be able to add Facebook […] on Windows Live. This means that […], if you’re a Facebook user, you can choose to allow info and photos that you post on Facebook to show up in ‘What’s new’ for anyone in your network on Windows Live,” says Brian Hall, General Manager for Windows Live.

Adding support for all major instant messaging networks would make Windows Live Messenger the unquestionable no. 1, and it seems that Microsoft is finally realizing exactly this – if things are implemented the way they are announced.

Looking forward to hear your opinion on this!

• LiveSide.net: New IM networks for Windows Live?
• Messenger Stuff: New IM networks for Windows Live
• LiveSino.net: WL Messenger ?? AIM, ICQ, Skype, GTalk, Facebook ???
• Mess.be: Windows Live Messenger hot topic on April Fools Day 2009
• ActiveWin.com: New IM networks for Windows Live?
• Ditii.com: IM networks (ICQ, Skype, AIM, Facebook Chat and Google Talk) added to Windows Live
• WinAjuda: Novas redes a caminho do Windows Live Messenger
• TechBlips: New IM networks for Windows Live
• Windows Vista Magazine: New IM networks for Windows Live Messenger?
• SysAdmin.it: New IM networks for Windows Live?
• Vistaheads.com: New IM networks for Windows Live Messenger?
• Charged.co.za: New IM networks for Windows Live?
• Recursosvoip.com: New IM networks for Windows Live

The team reports some enhancements in its new Live Sync blog:

• Higher file limits—up to 20 synchronized folders (formerly known as libraries) with up to 20,000 files in each one.
• Integration with Windows Live ID.
• Integration with the Recycle Bin.
• Unicode support.
• More languages for Windows (46 in all).
• And lots of bug fixes.

Oh – I nearly forgot: There is also a client for Mac available on the download site. (Thanks Bram for reminding me!)

If you want to check out Windows Live Sync, go to http://sync.live.com/ , which is by the way still in Wave 2 design.

Thanks to LiveSide.

Microsoft has announced details on the future, the new, Windows Live, and I am bringing them to you like I promised.

Over the coming weeks, the next generation of Windows Live will become available at www.windowslive.com. The new Windows Live experience is enhanced by Microsoft partners with feeds from third-party sites that help you stay up to date on what’s new with friends and family, and see information from other online services such as Flickr, Pandora, Photobucket, Twitter,WordPress and Yelp. Refer downwards to get some details on this.

The Windows Live Web services and applications for the PC are now called Windows Live Essentials. Also Windows Live for mobile will get a revamp.

Windows Live Web services

• Windows Live Hotmail
  • Integration of “What’s New” feed
    After you send an e-mail to a friend, Windows Live displays a page confirming that the e-mail has been sent. If the friend is part of your Windows Live network, you will also see a concise update of the friend’s online activity, on both Windows Live and third-party services.
  • POP access
    You can access your Windows Live Hotmail inbox while offline using Windows Live Mail or Outlook with POP access. Anyone can use just about any e-mail application, whether it is from Microsoft or not.
  • POP aggregation
    This feature offers one place for your e-mail. With POP access in Windows Live Hotmail, any non-Hotmail e-mail account that is POP-enabled (such as Yahoo! Mail Plus, Gmail and AOL) can be imported into Hotmail for convenient, one-stop access. There are options to see all e-mail in one inbox or have each account filtered into a separate folder that users specify and label.
  • Instant Access
    Instant Access is a tool for quickly finding and embedding Web images, restaurant reviews, maps, directions, movie times and more into e-mail messages — without having to leave the compose e-mail page.
  • Instant messaging in Windows Live Hotmail
    The Windows Live Messenger instant messaging service can be used to send and receive instant messages from the Hotmail inbox.
• Windows Live Photos
  The home to your photos on the Web is at http://photos.live.com. You can create Web slide shows and share photos through Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Groups, Windows Live Events, Windows Live FrameIt and Windows Live Spaces. You can even see all your photos from Windows Live Photos on most Web-enabled cell phones. Windows Live Photos includes several tools and features such as these:
  • People tagging
    You can identify and tag people in your photos, and see other photos that they are tagged in.
  • Commenting
    You can add comments to photos and see comments friends make.
  • “What’s New” feed
    You can monitor the photos that people in your network post on Windows Live.
  • Shared albums
    You can create albums on Windows Live Groups and give friends permission to add photos, tag them, and collaborate to create a shared album that combines the best photos from all group members.

  

• Windows Live SkyDrive
  Conveniently access all your files with the increased ease and storage capacity from Windows Live SkyDrive, now offering 25GB of online storage and tighter integration with other Windows Live services.
  

  

• Windows Live Profile
  Broadcast key information about yourself from Windows Live and more than 50 partner sites to your Windows Live network. Anything that you do on Windows Live or on select third-party services is automatically reflected on your profile as well as throughout most other services in Windows Live — if you choose to share with your network. You are in control to broadcast your activities to the world, share only with some friends and family, or share with no one at all. The Profile page is also the place to invite your existing friends and contacts from your favorite third-party services, such as LinkedIn, to Windows Live so that they can see your latest updates. You can also choose to publish your activity on more than 50 sites into your Windows Live feed, to allow your network to see updates from all your online activities in a single place.
• Windows Live People
  The People page is for storage and management of your Windows Live contacts. It’s a central address book that contains your contacts from Windows Live Hotmail as well as all the people in your Windows Live network (Windows Live Spaces and Messenger contacts). With Windows Live People, you can invite your contacts from third-party services such as LinkedIn (and more services will be added over time), organize contacts into categories, and assign permissions that put you in control of what your contacts can see about you online. The People page is accessible everywhere in Windows Live through the header, so you can add, invite, follow or connect with your contacts wherever you are in Windows Live. You can also chat with your IM contacts directly from the page with Windows Live Messenger for the Web.
• Windows Live Spaces
  With the newest version, Microsoft has focused on improving the experience by making the fonts easier to read, removing advertisements and generally improving the user interface.
• Windows Live Sync
  Formerly known as Windows Live FolderShare, the new Windows Live Sync enables you to keep your files and folders synchronized across PCs and Macs. The new features include Windows Live ID integration for a unified sign-on experience and functional enhancements such as Recycle Bin integration for easy file recovery and Unicode support for working with files from an even broader range of formats.

Windows Live Essentials

• Windows Live Messenger
  There are some fresh images about the new Messenger. Look here:
  

  <a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=c1b27998-9f2a-4795-8f87-c034ca04a963" target="_new" title="Windows Live Messenger">Video: Windows Live Messenger</a>

Windows Live for mobile

• Windows Live Hotmail for mobile
  Some of the new features, scheduled for release in early 2009, follow:
  • Mail search
    Ability to search within your e-mail
  • Rich e-mail
    HTML rendering of e-mail, including embedded images and links
• Windows Live Messenger for mobile
  Web-, client- and SMS-based IM from your mobile device
• Windows Live Photos for mobile
  Web-based photo viewing, upload and sharing. Client-based photo upload.
• Windows Live Profile for mobile
  It offers Web-based access to view and update your information and connect with others.
• Windows Live People for mobile
  Integrated contacts in mobile phone address book for supported devices. Web-based hub to access contacts. SMS-based search for contact info.
• Contact search
  Search for contacts in your contact list using your phone’s Web browser.
• Get Contact Information
  Send SMS to a Windows Live SMS shortcode to look up a contact’s information (coming early 2009).
• Windows Live Spaces for mobile
  Web-based access to personal Web page and blogging
• Windows Live Calendar for mobile
  SMS-based access to today’s and tomorrow’s appointments
• Get calendar
  Send SMS with “today” or “tomorrow” to a Windows Live SMS shortcode and get your calendar for the day (coming early 2009).

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:ed82b0bc-81a1-417e-8db6-cedad0d078b9&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Windows Live">Video: Windows Live</a>

Images, Videos: LiveSide.net, Windows Live Wire