Microsoft have finally started to give us “the goods” about what they have been working on with their next update to their Windows Live suite of software and services and I thought it a good time to share with you all the information and features we know, think and expect to see in Wave 4.
You can find new features to applications and services in bold and my expectations and thoughts in italics.
Applications
Microsoft have focussed on refining the interface of many applications in Wave 4 by adding the Ribbon to the applications.
They are also working on separating Messenger from the rest of the Essentials suite, possibly because Messenger will become more than just an application but a platform for sharing and consuming content from across the web both on and offline.
New:
Messenger
Microsoft have provided lots of information about the new version of Messenger with videos and images, a full list of new features and more at http://www.windowslivepreview.com/messenger/.
The best features of Messenger Wave 4 are:
- Tabbed Conversations
You can manage all your chats in one location so you can juggle multiple conversations in one place rather than having multiple windows popping up. - High-definition video chat
Meaningful conversations are enhanced by allowing you to see and hear your friends. The new Messenger now provides high-definition video chat, helping you experience video chats so you can share photos while chatting and see your friends’ reactions in real time and in full screen. - Messenger for the Windows® Phone, iPhone and Blackberry
Get the best mobile experience on these smartphones including access to all your contacts, seeing your social updates, starting a chat conversation, sharing photos and updating your status. Messenger often comes pre-installed on smartphones, but if it’s not on yours, just head over to the phone’s application marketplace. - Ultimate Social Dashboard for Staying in Touch While Eliminating the Noise
Because most people today use a variety of social networks and content sharing sites, with different sets of friends and acquaintances dispersed throughout these disparate networks, it can be challenging — and exhausting — to visit different websites and create different accounts just to keep abreast of your friends’ updates. But it isn’t just about bringing all that data together. What’s really valuable is helping you filter through the clutter and get to those updates you really care about — the ones from those people who you communicate with most frequently. There are a lot of intelligent algorithms and machine learning that can help in this, but we’ve found one of the best ways is to simply ask people. So, Windows Live Messenger will come right to the source — YOU — and ask you to specify your favorites.
And here’s a video showing some of the new features of Messenger in action.
I have had the fortune of using a version of Wave 4 Messenger and I have to say I found it very good. I was concerned that the “social” pane would take up too much room but I actually found it to be a very useful and efficient way to see what my contacts were up too. I can’t wait for Microsoft to release the final version of Messenger.
Microsoft have yet to share with us publically anything about Mail but from the leaked version of Windows Live Essentials we do know that it will support Conversation View and flagging, just like the new Hotmail. The user interface has also been refined with the application now featuring the Ribbon interface and a few quick access functions such as the calendar down the right hand side of the program.
From a leaked document it is expected Microsoft will also point out these new features when they announce Windows Live Mail:
- Efficient inbox management tools
Tools such as conversation threading give you the convenience of viewing your
messages in the way that you choose. Quick views organize and find selected
types of mail (unread mail from contacts only, flagged email, all mail across
inboxes, etc.) across your email accounts, newsgroups and feeds. - Slim Cal
Instantly view your calendar without navigating away from the context
of your inbox. - Photo email
Send photos in email without worrying about size restrictions. Add captions and
layouts and edit your photos from within Windows Live Mail.
I wouldn’t be surprised if, like Hotmail, Mail features Active View which allows users to see videos, photo slideshows etc when there is a link embedded in an email without having to leave the email.
Writer
Writer has received the Ribbon makeover and fins its self with lots of great UI tweaks but nothing major to speak of.
Movie Maker
Similarly to Writer there don’t appear to be any major new features just tweaks and additional options to edit, save and upload finished movies.
Both Movie Maker and Photo Gallery will see Facial Recognition which allows Photo Gallery to find pictures that have people in them and deduce who is in those pictures based on whom you’ve tagged in the past. The more you tag, the smarter it gets! Tags made in Photo
Gallery travel with the photo wherever it goes, and any tags you or your friends
make on sites such as Facebook also sync back down to your Photo Gallery.
Photo Gallery
Like the other Essentials applications Photo Galley is now equipped with the Ribbon interface but this application also has a few new features such as allowing users to Geo-tag photos and easily share them on social networking sites.
Photo Gallery will also feature:
- Multitouch Support Photos can be adjusted using touch on any touch-enabled Windows 7-based PC.
- Libraries support Photo Gallery now supports Windows 7 Libraries so you don’t have to manually import photos and videos again, it’s all done automatically.
- Photo Fuse
Allows you to take the best parts of multiple photos to combine them into one
“perfect” photo with an easy-to-use editing tool. - Retouch
Whether it’s a blemish, scratch, bruise or stain, Photo Gallery’s Retouch feature
enables you to make it look like it never happened, employing the same
technology that professional agencies use to polish photos.
Interestingly Photo Gallery and Movie Maker look to be treated as a “double act” when installing them as you have to have both or neither of them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a single application in Wave 5 for these two application that would allow users to create, view and edit photos and movies.
Sync
Sync is getting a much more prominent position within the Windows Live family as it will be the new Live Mesh which will allow files and folders to be synced across multiple devices and the cloud, remote access and and for program settings to be shared across a user’s connected PCs.
The below text has come from, what is thought to be, the official information about Sync.
With Windows Live Sync, your photos, movies, music and other files are synchronized across your PCs, and they automatically remain updated with the latest changes so you have access to your most current stuff when you need it. Set up Remote Desktop through Windows Live Sync and you can access your PC when you’re away from it, from any internet-enabled computer.
And with Sync, you can share settings for your favorite programs across your PCs, so programs work the same way on every PC in your home.
Some of the major features of Sync are likely to be:
- Sync folders across all your PCs (and Macs)
Windows Live Sync keeps your files and folders, such as Documents, Pictures and
Music, in sync across your computers so you can work or play wherever you want.
Update a file on one computer, and it will automatically sync to the rest. Once
your folders are synchronized, your files are available even when you don’t have
internet access. - Remote Desktop
Leave your PC online and you can access it from devices.live.com. Find your PC
among the list of devices on the website, and click Connect to remotely control
your PC.
New: It would seem that Sync will now use SkyDrive for the online storage aspect however it is thought that there will only be 2GB of storage and its unclear if it will integrate with other folders in SkyDrive.
New:
New: The remote desktop mode will look very similar to how it currently looks in Live Mesh, remote access will be accessed through the new Windows Live Devices service. The technologies of Live Mesh that were available through the Live Framework are thought to be forming a basis to the new Messenger Connect set of APIs.
I like the sound of Sync, I currently couldn’t live without Live Mesh and think it a great shame that nothing has happened with it for so long, however Sync looks set to trump in a few areas by being able to sync more than just files but also my settings on my PC. I hope this allows me to log into any PC which has Sync and quickly use applications that are configures to just the way I like them to be, something I have been waiting for for some time.
Companion
Companion is a brand new application to Windows Live but is only a small one that will make it easier for users to share online content with their friends from within their internet browser.
This piece of software looks to me to be like sharing something on Facebook but rather than having a share button on certain pages this will make it easy for any page to be shared. This application might actually be short lived if Messenger Connect takes off in the way I hope it will.
Bing Bar
Microsoft also plan to include the Bing Bar with the Windows Live installer which will allow people to keep an eye on their emails, the news and weather and other content quickly and easily.
I do not like toolbars in browsers and the Bing Bar hasn’t changed my opinion but I am aware that many other people do like this toolbar.
Services
Again with the services side of Windows Live Microsoft has worked hard on refining the user interface which now sees a revised, dynamic header with access to all the services and “glanceable” information about new emails and contacts.
Hotmail
Microsoft have provided lots of information about the new version of Hotmail with videos and images, a full list of new features and more at http://www.windowslivepreview.com/hotmail/.
The best features of Messenger Wave 4 are:
- Conversation View
We know how having a "conversation" with someone — or several people — via email over an extended period can leave pieces of that conversation haphazardly spread throughout the inbox in individual snippets. The new Hotmail brings all those snippets together so you can view the entire conversation in one place. (Note: Conversation view is an option that you can turn on or off because not everyone prefers to view their email in conversation view. This is flexibility that Gmail does not offer — Gmail has conversation threading permanently on — no way to turn it off, which many people told us they prefer.) - Sweep
Finally a tool that makes it super easy to get rid of the junk mail cluttering up your inbox — the No. 1 email annoyance — at least according to the thousands of people we’ve asked. Sweep is a virtual broom that lets you super easily "sweep" the mail you don’t want out of your inbox into either folders or oblivion, leaving your inbox clean. We’ll even offer to auto-sweep email you don’t want or want archived in the future if you’d like. Just leave the box checked when we offer to do that for you. No need to set up and manage rules (unless you’d prefer to do that). - Exchange instant messages and text messaging (SMS) with your Windows Live Messenger friends
With the new Hotmail, you can see who’s online and chat with your Messenger friends or even send an SMS message to their phone — all without ever leaving your inbox. - Send up to 10 GB of photos per message
Send virtually all the photos you want to without having to worry about attachment limits or clogged inboxes, either at your end or on the recipient’s end. Hotmail works with Windows Live SkyDrive, your free online storage space from Windows Live, so you can send up to 200 photos of up to 50 MB each (10 GB total) in a single message. It’s as easy as sending regular attachments, but we give you the option of uploading them to SkyDrive. This means the people you’re sending photos to get an email containing a preview of the photos, along with links to launch a slide show or download the photos to their hard drives — all in a single .zip file instead of painstakingly downloading them individually. Or they can even import them straight into Windows Live Photo Gallery. Sharing lots of large photo attachments has never been more easy or painless. - Exchange ActiveSync
Hotmail supports push email on the web, PC and now on mobile phones. Using Exchange ActiveSync, available on nearly 300 million phones, with the new Hotmail you can not only seamlessly synchronize email between your phone and the web, but also synchronize your calendar and contacts. This is a significant improvement over IMAP alternatives that support sync’ing of email only (not calendar and contacts).
And here’s a video showing some of the new features of Hotmail in action.
Messenger
As I pointed out earlier Microsoft are keen to take Messenger to the cloud and this can easily be seen in the Messenger service. Messenger in the cloud appears to be very much like the Home page today with a refined Hotmail highlights section showing interesting emails grouped by filters, Messenger social which is the latest social news and information from a user’s connected services and a list of a user’s online Messenger contacts on the right hand side.
Just like the Messenger application it is possible to add comments to the social updates.
By hovering over the Messenger name in the header a drop down list appears with all the online contacts, a search box and a few links to other Windows Live services. One major thing with the contacts list with Wave 4 is that it is a unified contacts list made up of all the contacts in both Hotmail and Messenger but also all the friends a user has on Facebook, Zune Social etc just by connecting their profile with other “activities”. As seen in the below image the Web Messenger also supports tabbed conversations just like the application version.
I think the fact that Microsoft are taking Messenger to the browser in such a strong way will be great, the current implementation of Web Messenger is pitiful but useful. However by being able to access Messenger in any Windows Live service rather than just Hotmail will be great and by having Messenger more social in the browser as well as the application should make for a better experience wherever someone is.
Photos
There doesn’t appear to be much changing with Photos in Wave 4 but it will be possible to watch videos in the service and not just photos.
Microsoft are also planning to tweak the great slideshow feature of Photos with controls in the top of slideshow to allow users to do more with the photo whilst viewing it. Another great feature of photo will be the ability to comment on a photo which will be seen on the service the photo has come from.
It doesn’t appear that Microsoft are planning to compete with YouTube with the addition of videos to the service but simply to just allow people to share and store their own personal videos. I think photos will now be appearing in Photos from across all the connected social networks providing users with a single place to view all their friends’ photos.
Office (formerly Docs)
Office is coming to Windows Live in a big way with a lot of integration across the service and the Office Web Apps. Users will be able to create Office documents by hovering over the Office section in the header and access their documents and groups. When creating a new Office document the corresponding Web App will launch that gives users a scaled back version of Office in their browser with only basic functionality, this document will then be saved on SkyDrive.
The Office page on Windows Live will allow users to access folders on their SkyDrive, quickly see recent documents, see what documents have been shared/edited by their contacts using a filtered Messenger Social feed and create new documents. Windows Live Office will also allow versioning support to allow users to quickly return to a previous version of a document.
Uploading documents will become easier than the current method as the uploader is going to be a Silverlight one which will allow it to be more functional and for it to work on a wider number of browsers.
Another way in which Office is being integrated with Windows Live is in Hotmail where users will be able to view and edit Office documents without having to have Office installed on their computer. By using the Active View in Hotmail it will be possible to quickly edit and save a document and then quickly return to the user’s inbox to reply to the original email containing the document with the newly edited one already embedded.
One final point to note is that Office Live Workspace will be moving to the new Windows Live Office service which should incorporate the Windows Live Groups seen in the list of items when hovering over the Office section in the header.
I think the integration of the Office Web Apps in Windows Live could well be the most useful feature in the entire Wave 4 update, I can just see so many uses for it and know I could have used it before.
Groups
Windows Live Groups are being slightly repositioned within the suite of services to make it more focused on collaboration. At launch it appears that only the Office OneNote Web App will available for the group collaboration with more Web Apps added over time. The limit to how many people can be in a group Messenger conversation will be upped to 40.
Windows Live Groups are an alright part of Windows Live and that’s about it, there are some good aspects to them and some weak areas, I hope that these subtle changes will make them more useful and its likely more people will use them for the Office integration alone.
Other Services
Obviously there are other services to Windows Live however very little is known about how they are changing in the next update, we will just have to wait and see for those.
Misc
Branding
As I mentioned near the beginning of this post Microsoft seem to be differentiating Messenger from the rest of the Windows Live Essentials package and the same is true of Hotmail from the other Windows Live Services. The reasoning for this is unknown but I think Microsoft are keen to keep its most popular services separate from any negative perception of the other Windows Live offerings and to try and create well known brands (which they are already) that the rest of Windows Live can built around.
This is most obviously seen in the new logo for Hotmail, before Wave 4 Hotmail’s logo was the same as the Windows Live Mail.
Microsoft may be separating the branding of Messenger, Hotmail and Essentials because Essentials are released in versions where as (Web) Messenger and Hotmail can be updated whenever with no real versioning involved. It would then go some way to explain why Windows Live Essentials’ branding is though to carry a version number in the way of “2011”. Why 2011? I don’t know.
Some of the Application logos will be:
Icons for applications and services within the suite:
- Sync
- Devices
- Family Safety
- Groups
- Profile (Favicon)
Mobile
You are probably thinking this is all well and good for someone who is sitting in front of a monitor who has access to the web or is using a PC but know this, Microsoft haven’t forgotten those many, many mobile users. They plan to offer a Messenger application for the iPhone and iPod that, obviously, will allow users to chat with contacts but also browse photos shared on SkyDrive and allowing users to take, edit and upload a photo to share with their contacts.
Microsoft haven’t stopped there though as they have made mobile and touch friendly versions of many of their online services too.
Microsoft will also be providing a way to access documents on mobile devices as seen in the screenshot below.
Messenger Connect
Messenger Connect is perhaps the most intriguing part of Windows Live that Microsoft will be releasing this year. I’m not sure if its part of the Wave 4 update but it is being rolled out around the same time. Its Microsoft’s attempt to compete with Facebook and become a bigger player in the social web without competing with any service as it provides away for website developers to add Messenger functionality (contact lists, IMing and social interactions) to web pages.
New: I have been informed that Messenger Connect will be a rebranding of current Microsoft APIs with some extra new features, these APIs are going to be the Live Framework ones, the technologies of Live Mesh which were opened up to all to use.
An image of what is thought to be Messenger Connect in action.
I am very interested to see how this can and will be implemented across the web and if it really will be a compliment to current social networks and a true platform to share anything with anyone.
I am excited for the beta and roll out of the applications and services, there is just so much to look forward to in Windows Live Wave 4 and still we don’t know everything. Clearly this is, without doubt, the largest update to the Windows Live suite ever.
It depends how much new information there is about Windows Live as to whether or not I update this post or create an entirely new one. If you think I have missed any major news or features of Windows Live out from this article please let me know.
Thanks to many sites for the info and images including LiveSide.net, LiveSino.net, Neowin.net and @FMartin_MS
