Windows Live My Review of Microsofts Soon-To-Be Cloud

[Xalor 0]

Windows Live, is Microsoft's internet based service. Most of Windows Live was once owned by MSN, but now that MSN is owned by Microsoft, we have seen new labels and new themes for an old service. Windows Live Service is the newest thing by Microsoft. It seems to be very Microsoft Vista at first glance. It has a ribbon-like feel and the theme is gives it a good flow. I'll review today the parts of Live Suite that I've used and are internet-based.

Windows Live Mail (Hotmail)

Average Rating of 6.7/10

There are the positives to this feature, its abliity to use more than one email, and supports any email under the major providers. Folders are the best part of this service. You can easily organize your documents, emails, and files into seperate folders and save the ones you wish to keep and those to throw out. This is usefull for those who have the same home and work emails. The other feature is the update section, where you see the email that came in that day, so its good for those who check their email daily and don't go through the older ones. The negatives is the lack of searching. I am an avid Gmail user, so instead of organizing my mail, I just search for what I want and I've found a level of rapport with it. With Live Mail, you are forced to look through all your email and find the ones you want, its rather hard to find them, and it doesn't display very well in the confines. Its background and layout, is a peeve of mine when you read your email. Its rather annoying and doesn't allow you to concentrate

 

Windows Live SkyDrive

Average Rating 7.5/10

This is one of the best features Live Suite has to offer. It has a quick login, and uses your own live id, instead of making a seperate one they are all linked. The folders helps, to organize once again. The size is large, and you have public folders, and you can link your documents to other people. Its easy for newcomers and much more simpler than Google Docs. There are a couple of downsides, is the fact that you don't have the ability to edit the files, on the go, you need to download and upload, and instead of updating the old one it, uploads as the name with a (2) or a (3) next to it, depending on which it is, so its hard to organize there. The reason I enjoy is the speed of the upload and download, and the fact that I can link it to myself, so I can download it later.

 

Windows Live Search

Average Rating 2.3/10

This is a horrible search engine. There are few positives, to this search engine that cannot even be said. The only positive is that well, it has a better look than Google. It often renders most possible searches to sites that have little to do with it, and seems to have a small index, than anything else. I don't even know if someone could even use this site, if they didn't know about Google. It is just plain pointless and useless, and there is a reason why MSN Search dropped, in the first place. The funniest part is that it can't search its own site, at microsoft.com, I find Windows 7 on the first search on Google, and Live Search gives me a link to IE 7.

All in all, this is a failure of a search, and I hope no one resorts to this level.

 

Windows Live Messenger

The new Windows Live Messenger is an amazing new product from Microsoft. A huge improvement on the previous version.

It boasts several new feature which I cannot see how I did without.

 

A new groups feature that allows users to create a continuous group conversation between select contacts, newly redesigned and more easily identifiable status icons which now resemble small gems rather than the previous "Messenger Buddy" icons, a new default "Favorites" category in which you can place your favorite contacts for easy access to them, a new Photo Sharing utility that allows contacts to quickly and easily browse photos together, and a "What's New" section at the bottom of the contact list to outline recent contact updates. Display pictures have been moved over to the left side of conversation windows, and new colorful borders appear around display pictures to display the current status of that contact. Never new I needed it until I got it.

 

The new scenes are great. You can select from a gallery or upload you own image an customize they appearncce of messenger to suit you. Whats more is that othe users when chatting with you can see you personal scene. The layout is also greatly improved. It can be set to show display pictures along with contacts. Another genius feature!

 

There have been a few removals from MSN 8.5. Firstly the statuses such as Out to lunch, On the phone, etc have been removed. I really dont mind this as I find them unnecessary. Sharing fodler have also been removed, this also doesn't make much difference to me. However it has been replaced with an option to upload files online to share on Windows Skydrive

 

A few more games have been added and now you can watch MSN Videos with a friend from within a messenger video!!! Really useful where sharing videos no longer any need to post url links. For me I also find the new MSN is much faster than the old one. Or maybe that's just me.

 

Anyways I know this is a version that I love. What does everyone else think?

*Windows Messenger Review done by pheonixinno, thanks for letting me add it

Edited January 29, 2009 by Xalor (see edit history)

[chakri 0]

I got frustated with windows live after I realized that their listing does have many websites. Their ranking also seemed very weird. I think microsoft is replacing this with a new search engine. I dont recall the name but the website would mean a spider in japanese. Hotmail was my first email account provider. However I got tired of hotmail after I got high volumes of spam..

[Xalor 0]

That is true, Hotmail gives me a lot of spam. I quit since I got so much spam I couldn't get any of email through. It is slightly good, just because of the folders. I can't get folders on Gmail, so for an avid Google User, Microsoft takes some of the faults from Google, and incorporates it into their Live Suite. They just changed the name of the suite and made into their own. There are few indepth differences, but only the theme has changed now. It seems to me that it isn't useful for someone who enjoys simplicity and bare-bones. I find that a makeover, appeals to some, but that I'd rather have the substance beneath. On another note, I need someone to review Live Messenger, I don't really have much friends on MSN, so it wouldn't be practical for me to use.