Set up Exchange ActiveSync in iPhone

1. On your SpringBoard, tap Settings.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap the Microsoft Exchange logo.

4. Fill the fields as follows:
   • E-mail: <Your Windows Live ID = Hotmail address>
   • Domain: (leave this field blank)
   • User name: <Your Windows Live ID = Hotmail address>
   • Password: <Your Windows Live password>
   • Description: (doesn’t matter; my suggestion: enter your Windows Live ID or the word “Hotmail”)
   • Use SSL: I = enable
5. Tap the Next button.
6. iPhone might ask you whether you want to trust the certificate. If so, confirm this.
7. An additional Server field appears. Enter m.hotmail.com.

8. Finally, choose to synchronize all three items: Mail, Contacts and Calendar.
9. Each time, iPhone asks you whether to delete or keep your existing iPhone contacts. Choose your answer carefully, based on your personal needs.

Done! Now press the Home button to return to your SpringBoard, then tap the Mail icon in the dock. When you receive new mail, your iPhone will vibrate. You can always check the number of unread mail in your inbox in a red balloon appearing on the Mail icon.

Therewhile, LiveSino.net has published a new screenshot of the Windows Live Mail Wave 4 main window, having the Ribbon incorporated along with more changes.

From the general look-and-feel, Windows Live Mail resembles Outlook 2010 much:

• The ribbon looks similar to the one in Outlook.
• The Calendar pane is on the right side, auto-linked to Windows Live Calendar.
• A new Conversation view is added, making possible to display and treat connected e-mails in a unity.

What do you think about Windows Live Mail Wave 4, from what we see until now?

• Invia e-mail con allegati di dimensione superiore a 25 MB (invece di 10 MB).
• Web mail: funzione Calendario e Note combinato.
• Aggiungi gli allegati trascinandoli direttamente dal tuo desktop al sito.
• Le immagini nelle mail vengono mostrate con un’anteprima, sono ridimensionabili e possono essere ruotate.
• Ordinare la tua posta in arrivo a seconda dell’importanza dei contatti.
• Yahoo! Messenger ora supporta le video chiamate a schermo pieno.
• Aggiornamento automatico dati profilo.
• iPhone ha la funzione Push per controllare i nuovi messaggi.

Suona comune per noi utenti di Windows Live? Hmmhm…

Questo è quello che ho visto sul mio schermo quando ho aperto Windows Live Calendar con Google Chrome. L’avviso mi dice di usare Internet Explorer 6 maggiori, Safari 3 o maggiore, oppure Firefox 2 o maggiore, in questo ordine.

Le domande che sorgono sono:

• Dove sono Opera e Chrome?
• Perché i browser sono ordinati in questo modo?
• Perché l’avviso chiede di utilizzare un browser differente?
• Calendar partecipa alla guerra dei browser in Unione Europea?

Il bello con questo avviso è che, quando clicco il link “continuare senza eseguire l’aggiornamento,” tutto funziona correttamente.
E allora?

This was what I saw on my screen when I opened Windows Live Calendar with Google Chrome. The alert advises me to use either Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Safari 3 or higher, or Firefox 2 or higher, in this order.

Questions arising are:

• Where are Opera and Chrome?
• Why are the browsers sorted in this order?
• Why does the alert call using a different browser “upgrading to” them?
• Does Calendar participate in the European Union browser war?

The fun with the alert is, when I click the link “continue without upgrade,” everything works just fine.
So what?

mynetx: Technogran, it is nice to welcome you as my guest! Please tell me a bit about yourself. How is your life involved with Windows Live?

Technogran: Thank you very much mynetx, it’s nice of you to invite me! I am very flattered to be asked, especially following others such as Angus!
I am on Windows Live and also use all of the Live Essentials Suite of programs on my desktop.

mynetx: Since when are you using Live? Tell me a bit about your history.

Technogran: Oh, I have been using all of the Windows Live applications and also the site itself since it was first thought of, although it doesn’t show that via my Space because I kept deleting it and starting from scratch. When the applications began appearing, they were all in beta, but I downloaded and tested them, and I loved them all.

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

Technogran: Tricky one this to answer, but I will be as frank as possible. I think that like a lot of Microsoft, the Live teams tend to listen to the wrong users. They take notice of the feedback from the more able user, such as the MVP’s, their ‘in-house’ users, and the more technically able, and the more ‘ordinary’ users views don’t tend to get heard. Microsoft isn’t alone in this, I hasten to add, lots of ordinary users just don’t know how to get their views across, because they are not as computer savvy as the more proficient user is. I am neither. I’m a sort of in-between user if you like, an ordinary user, but capable of making my views known on behalf of the ‘little everyday user’.

mynetx: You like posting tips and tricks in your Space using Live Writer. Do you think the software does its job correctly? Why did you choose Writer?

Technogran: LOL. What else is there? I love Writer, and in my opinion, Microsoft should be shouting from the rooftops about it! I have done my homework and tried to find an equivalent program that does everything that Writer does, and come up with zilch, so I consider it unique and for blogging (which let’s face it, every man, woman and their dog does these days) it’s a must have. I also like it because it’s on my desktop. I am a desktop person, that’s where I spend most of my computer time, and I love the way I can start a post, change it, save it to draft, and work on it at my leisure, only posting it when I feel it’s perfect.

mynetx: Any tip about Writer that you want to share with us?

Technogran: Hmm. Hard one because Brandon has been doing some great tips for Writer lately. My tip to anyone using it (because it annoys me more than anything that more users don’t make use of it) is to use the Margins feature to put a gap between a picture and their text. It tends to look so unsightly when the text ‘butts’ up to the edge of a photo or picture, and it’s so easy to do!

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

Technogran: I think it all depends on where the Live Teams want to take it, and which direction. There does seem to be a ‘mis-match’ between how they view Windows Live and how the majority of users view it, as was ably illustrated after the Wave 3 updates. Lots of users saw Windows Live first and foremost as a blogging platform and site which then produced a ‘blogging’ community, but it seems that the teams don’t quite see it as such, and to be honest, have never ever referred to it as such.

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

Technogran: Hmm, you ask some difficult questions mynetx! Let me see…
Positives. Windows Live Mail, its ability to set up your e-mail accounts quickly and easily. The way it can fetch down all your e-mails, RSS feeds, and Newsgroups all to one place! Love it.
Negatives. Live Calendar. Wish it had incorporated into it a ‘to-do’ feature. I’m not too keen on having all those different calendars either. And Live Photo Gallery, wish it let me ‘geo-tag’ my pics.

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

Technogran: Yes I do. Windows Live Mail is the first program I open in a morning to check my e-mails, then I check all my RSS feeds and read them all. Also most of the newsgroups (about Windows Live natch). Obviously I only open Gallery if I am doing something with my photos, and Writer is open when I am constructing a blog post.

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

Technogran: Hmm. Again a toughie because I think a lot will hinge on Google Wave, and whether or not us ‘ordinary users’ take to that or not. Mail has been around for a long time without really changing its format, and it IS based on the letters arriving on your doorstep. IF Google Wave does take off, especially with the ordinary user, then it’s ‘all change’ as they say, and Mail as we all know it will wither and die. It all changes so quickly these days, and change is speeding up, so who knows, but obviously as we have all seen with Windows XP and IE6, there are loads and loads of users who will resist change to the end, no matter how good the replacement is!

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

Technogran: Well, we know that Calendar is getting Alerts added—and hopefully for Gran, reminders or even better ‘pop up on your taskbar’ to-do’s. (to aid lousy memories! You’ll all get there some day!) I think the team will want to keep the clean interface, and I know that I am one of its fans, though many don’t like it and think it looks ‘washed out’. I would personally LOVE to see the return of Active Search which was in the old incarnation of Windows Live Mail when it was better known as Windows Live Mail Desktop (and was a pig to type each time you mentioned it!). I loved it but again, lots didn’t and it was eventually removed from the completed product, despite the fact that the team made it ‘choosable’.

mynetx: Windows Live Movie Maker—does its release, only some 24 hours ago, contain any surprises? What do you feel when thinking about it?

Technogran: I love the way the guys were brave enough to take Movie Maker (which was already well liked) and just begin again from scratch. I also love the fact that their new ideas all hinge around making Movie Maker easier to use for a newbie! This is an attitude that this Gran is all for, then everyone benefits! Sure if you are more technically able, there is all the features that you want, but for anyone who has never used a Movie making application before, I applaud their use of the ‘Ribbon’ interface, lovely large easy to see icons, etc. Bet you it won’t be long before we see the video out of a seven year old who has single handedly created a movie with his/her pictures! (Mind you, less of the youngsters, they should show one of a 80 year old Granny or Granddad using their apps as well!)

mynetx: Nice that you already tried the new version of Movie Maker and that you blogged about it.
—Are you satisfied with the Windows Live services that are provided to you? Why?

Technogran: Yes I am. However, I wish their was an easier way to give feedback, and to get feedback back. When the Essentials programs were first in beta all those years ago, I can remember conversing with the teams responsible for all of them via e-mail! Yes it’s true! And you really felt that your feedback was actually not only being read, but also being acted upon. I know it can be time consuming to sift through, but it just makes users feel closer to contributing to a program or application.

mynetx: What is your favorite feature in Photo Gallery?

Technogran: The fact it’s free! LOL. No, that’s difficult because I love all of it. As different features have been added over the course of time, it has become a really powerful photo manipulation program, and I just hope that this continues in the future. I love using the Panoramic Photo feature for example, I love how easy it is to edit your pictures and improve them as well. I would love it if Photosynth and DeepZoomPix were also added as well. That would make Photo Gallery really one of the most awesome free photo programs out there (although it already is in my book!).

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

Technogran: Yes I am beta testing Live Mesh and have it on my computer at all times. Trouble is, I don’t really have any other computer to sync with, but I tend to use it to allow my eldest son to access my files that I need to share with him. I have also used it with a few others who I needed to see a video for example.

mynetx: Do you wish one of the Live Services/Essentials would have a feature that a third-party service/software already has?

Technogran: Yes! I wish Windows Live Mail had a reminder feature such as the one for Thunderbird/Firefox called Reminderfox! I love that program, and found it almost indispensable but no one has ever made one similar for IE or Live Mail. Drat!

mynetx: What is your intention behind talking with everyday users in your section “Living with Live”? What inspires you?

Technogran: Why the newbies of course! It has always annoyed me that we ‘ordinary users’ don’t get heard. Especially this applies to what has become known as ‘silver surfers’ meaning us users who are now retired and now beginning to get to grips with using computers for the very first time. All of the coders, engineers, and those who work in Information Technology as a whole tend to forget that we didn’t have computers at school, no one taught us how to use them, we don’t know you can ‘right click’ to find another menu list, we are of a different mindset and age where we have always used pen and paper, and full words, not all this ‘messenger speak’ that the younger end use today! (I have to often ask my grandchildren to interpret most of what they send in a messenger conversation! In fact my messages usually consist of ‘what does that mean?’) So getting back to your question about what inspires me, it’s that someone has to try and help those users in an easy to understand manner, and as it’s not all that long ago since I was in that position of not knowing anything about using a computer, it’s still all pretty fresh in my mind. Besides, they might listen more to someone who is just an ordinary user like themselves. My ‘how-to’s’ on the Clubhouse are often posted in response to someone on my Network having trouble with either the Windows Live site OR one of the desktop applications.
When Wave 3 was launched I was at my busiest, trying to do posts to help users find their friends, or find their Space etc.

mynetx: Are you working on any project related to Windows Live currently?

Technogran: Not at the moment, although it’s the ‘lull before the storm’ of course, as we all wait for the Wave 4 updates to arrive. I shall most likely be glued to the keyboard night and day when all that occurs as users post up with ‘can’t find this’ or ‘can’t find that’. I would rather do a post to help than give an answer in a forum, simply because you can illustrate the steps to take with pictures and it’s easier then for a user to follow. Also they can always print it out to follow it as well. It’s time consuming doing them, as I like to get my ‘how-to’s’ just right, and make them as easy as possible, but I love doing it and being helpful to other users on here. After all, the last thing we want is users getting so frustrated that they either don’t bother joining and using Windows Live or they just give up because it’s all too much trouble.

mynetx: Technogran, seeing Windows Live from your point of view was very interesting. Thank you for sharing this all with us!

Technogran: No problem!

You liked this interview?

Technogran and me have started a cooperation—look forward to regular rant conversations about the most recent news and happenings in the world of Windows Live!

More about Technogran

• Follow her on Twitter
• Read her Windows Live Space

Windows Live Events

We’ll be retiring Windows Live Events and allow you instead to plan and manage social events all in one place through Windows Live Calendar. […] In 2010, we’ll retire Windows Live Events entirely. At that time, you will no longer be able to get to any of your old events, and you won’t be able to download and save old event photos and videos.

How-to: Back up your existing Events and associated data

Saving photos

1. Go to http://events.live.com/ and sign in with your Windows Live ID.
2. Click View your events at the top of the page.
3. Click the event you want to save photos from. and then click the Photos link on the left side of the event page.
4. Select the photo album that you want to save, and then click More at the top of the page.
5. In the More dropdown menu, click Download, and then click Download with Photo Gallery.
6. Select the photos that you want to save, and then click Download.

Saving files

1. Click the SkyDrive link on the left side of each event page.
2. Select the Documents folder.
3. Click the specific file that you want to download.
4. Click Download, and then open the file or save it to your computer.

Marking mail as junk

The Junk filters in Hotmail are very good, as they filter most unsolicited e-mail I receive. However, some e-mail gets delivered to my inbox nevertheless, and when I try to mark it as junk, it just—fails.

See yourself:

Wrong character encoding

Also, Hotmail fails to display some non-English mail correctly, and I don’t know why. Here you see an example, sent from Microsoft Outlook:

The question is: why doesn’t Hotmail display a “Character encoding:” dropdown, as usual?

Fonts in the Rich text editor

Being able to edit the body of my messages in a WYSIWYG editor is great—but why so few fonts? Having few fonts is something I could live with; what I do not like at all though, is that there is no option for “Segoe UI”. Come on, Windows Live Wave 3 introduced Segoe UI as successor of Tahoma, why can’t I use it for my mails as well?

Calendar language

Multi-language support in Windows Live is well implemented. But not in Windows Live Calendar. On opening Hotmail with a browser whose language is set to English, displays Hotmail in English. I open “People”: English. I open “Windows Live Home”: … English.

Then I hit “Calendar”, and what do I see? German. Cool.

Your problems

You are using Windows Live Hotmail as well, and there is something that annoys you in it?
Let me know.

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: Nice that you got some minutes for this interview. For the beginning, describe yourself and your connection with Windows Live, in one sentence.

Mauro: Since the Windows Live program began (yet at ideas.live.com) Messenger has become part of my daily life, as the whole Live suite.

mynetx: Yourself?

Mauro: So, it has became part of my life =P. I now use it to connect with friends instead of using a telephone, also meet some people from foreign countries, and get the best of internet, especially with the integration between WLMail and WLMessenger, which includes calendar sharing (nice to plan meetings) and easy emailing (when Instant Messages aren’t enough).

mynetx: So we’re right into the topic! What is your favorite feature in Messenger?

Mauro: Video conference. It’s gorgeous! Especially when in High-quality full-screen mode. I’ve got some distant relatives which I barely talked to before Messenger, now it’s pretty nice to be able to just talk over Messenger as if I were face-to-face with them.

mynetx: And what do you like most in Windows Live at all?

Mauro: Integration. You can have everything in the touch of a button, like sync all email accounts, calendars and feeds from Windows Live Mail.

mynetx: And you use that frequently?

Mauro: Sure. Messenger and Mail are programmed to automatically open after Vista has me logged in, and from those two only I can get to everything I’d use, like Calendar from Mail and SkyDrive from Messenger.

mynetx: Great combination, hmm?

Mauro: Sure =P. SkyDrive is pretty better than those old sharing folders (which I only used once, when testing Messenger 8), since they don’t need both contacts to be online.

mynetx: Now, turning from what exists, to what doesn’t exist yet: What is the thing you’d love most to be added to Messenger?

Mauro: Better integration with people from other services, like GTalk. Also, improved stability wouldn’t hurt….

mynetx: Do you think Windows Live Wave 4 will feature such improved integration?

Mauro: Not sure… They’ve been promising it since the beginning, and there has been some years since the first time I heard it.

mynetx: I wonder if you heard of my April Fools joke…

Mauro: Which one? =P

mynetx: This year’s one, “New IM networks for Windows Live”.

Mauro: Oh =P, yes, I did.

Mauro: At least they seem to be trying to do something better. This month for example, I noticed Messenger could be acessed directly from Hotmail.

I was in a friend’s house finishing a short movie, schoolwork, when I was uploading it to my mail, it was right there =)

mynetx: True, Messenger in Hotmail has rolled out to more markets last days.

Mauro: Yep I had that before in GMail, it’s nice.

mynetx: Over to your schedules. Are you running Messenger whenever your PC is on? What are you doing, with Windows Live, usually after your computer has started?

Mauro: Yes, it’s always on. Messenger and Mail are always there, ready to use, so whenever I need them, it just works. (As Vista was promised to…)

After I’ve been logged, I’ll just hide it’s windows, and let things happen. The offline message toast panel appears, so I can restart last day’s unfinished conversation, and soon Mail will alert me about received emails.

While nothing happens, I’m looking for anything, from school subjects to mere curiosity things.

mynetx: And the What’s new lists date you up?

Mauro: Not really… In fact, I’ve turned it off. It seems to not work really well. All updates I get are old (like 1 week old) and not interesting, only things like “Someone played with other one and someone won (few days ago)”.

mynetx: Heh. Did you know you can edit the settings of what shows up in the What’s new feed?

Mauro: I do =P, but it acts as if I didn’t change it. In your case for example, there is “45 Minutes ago: updated Twitter”, while twitter updates are turned off.

(And looks like I finally got something new…)

mynetx: Since when are you in the Live business? Tell me a bit about your history.

Mauro: Well, I first knew about Messenger with an uncle, the same who introduced me to graphics editing. It was MSN Messenger 6.2 yet, wasn’t really good, but I really liked it.

mynetx: When was that?

Mauro: I think it was about 5 years ago, not sure.

Then a friend told me about an add-on, Messenger Plus!, which extended its functionality. I installed it, liked, but like many people who just trust everyone, uninstalled it thinking it had ad ware.

Then everything was renewed by Live; a friend of mine got an invite from another friend.

mynetx: When was it when you discovered Messenger Plus?

Mauro: It wasn’t instant. First I got used to Messenger. then after the 7.0, I discovered Plus!. Dial up internet ;p, forgot how slow it was?

After I got the Live invite, and installed the new Messenger, I started looking for what was new. The look was gorgeous, Sharing folders kind of worked with the only one I knew to have the beta, and the Live concept was beginning to take a form. First, it was only Messenger. Then there were Spaces. Then a new Hotmail, then everything just came in a big bang.

After Messenger 8.5, I was thinking about buying Vista, and so did I some time later, only then I discovered how nice the Live suite was. Everything worked better than with XP, everything seemed more natural, and got even better after the 14.0 update. In the meantime, I was beginning to learn English. I first started using Messenger to actually use it in the 8.1 edition… When I had enough knowledge, I downloaded Plus! again, by that time I knew how to check if it would be safe.

I loved it! Seemed much better than the one I had used in MSN Messenger times…

mynetx: It had become Messenger Plus! Live 4

Mauro: Yep =P It was MPL 4.21, I remember that well. After some time, I decided I’d help people who built it all, started to submit feedback about Messenger, some things were really fixed.

Then I’d be amazed at a new Messenger Plus! functionality, the one that made me be what I am today. I started to skin Messenger, a friend had just installed the 4.50 version and asked if I could build a skin for him as he didn’t like any of the ones there were available. Well, so did I. Ev0 was way too dark, and Apple Live was nice but it didn’t fit Windows, sorry =P

mynetx: Haha, Apple Live is my skin!

Mauro: That was the time when everything merged. The whole Windows Live suite, Vista, and Messenger Plus! were working together.

mynetx: When you’re using Messenger intensively, I’m sure you’ve got a breaking tip for an “aha” effect. Give me a tip you consider precious

Mauro: Don’t ever use network intensive stuff when video calls are active – your messages start to have a HUGE delay.

mynetx: And finally, what’s the Live-related project you’re currently working on?

Mauro: Do skins count? =P

mynetx: Sure!

Mauro: So, that’s all I do for Messenger by now. There aren’t any interesting betas right now, and the best I can do are them. I like to give people power of choice, so make skins which can change Messenger only a bit: there’s always a “return to default” option.

That power of choice was the same one I like to be owner of when I got the chance to test Live, and now I just want to give people that same feeling.

mynetx: Any details of your current skin in development?

Mauro: Sure =) It’s the light counterpart of “The Favourite”, which I think will be named Clarus. (To be the opposite of Darkus, both not yet definitive.)

I think you’ve already seen them, a skin based on different tones; dark overall with light details, and the inverse in the counterpart.

The next one will be a minimalistic skin for those people who still prefer low resolutions, so they’ll be able to save some space.

mynetx: Great! Looking forward to your contributions . I really appreciate that you took a few minutes to talk with me about Windows Live and You.

Mauro: My pleasure! ^^

Recently Microsoft came out with the new Windows Live Groups, and I have found a similar service to compare with it from http://groups.im/. Both of them are used by people all around the world and both came out to the market at 2008, Groups.im is a third party platform for group chat. There are differences and some similarities in both of them.Windows Live Groups support up to 48 different languages, Groups.im has only 8 different language packs. Groups.im have a great advantage, which is being able to work with various instant messengers, but the Windows Live Groups only run with Windows Live Messenger. So the advantage of Groups.im is that it will support all mainstream instant messengers on the market, so far it allows users to sign up with their Windows Live ID or Yahoo account for free and soon most of other instant messengers like Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, etc. will also be able to sign in with their account and use the service for free.

Groups.im allows a revolutionary new chat experience. It will have the ability to let people chat through the platform and actually have a boundary-less communication between different instant messengers.

Update: Numerous sources confirm that the Web Services (not the Clients) will roll out from December 1st until December 8th, 2008.

What does this Wave 3 phase 3 feature?

• Applications (“Windows Live Essentials”): Full release
• Services: All released, except Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Calendar

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

We’re reading all of your comments, and we’re working on fixing many of the issues that we’re hearing matter most to you. […] we are working on fixing the problems you are reporting just as quickly as we can.

While the Live Hotmail team is addressing the issues, Ellie suggests a few temporary workarounds to access Hotmail nevertheless:

1. Try Windows Live Mail, a program you can install on your computer from http://get.live.com/wlmail. This is free, it works on Windows XP or Vista, and it will let you access your Windows Live Hotmail and contacts, plus you can add other e-mail accounts and view them all in one place.
2. Try the Outlook Connector to read your Hotmail if you already use Microsoft Office Outlook. You can download the Outlook Connector for free to access your Windows Live Hotmail, contacts, and calendar.
3. If you are a Linux user, or if you need to access Hotmail from the web, try the mobile version of Hotmail on the web at http://mobile.live.com/hm. It doesn’t have all of the features of regular Hotmail, but it may help you get to your inbox and other folders.

The next weeks will show which of the many issues with the new Live Hotmail will actually get fixed, or at least changed in a way so Microsoft won’t lock out their own users.

What do you think about the new Hotmail?

We can thus look forward to some 4 months of beta testing the Wave 3 client programs (namely, Messenger, Mail, Toolbar, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety and Outlook Connector) and to report any bugs we find, before their final is being released to the public.