We Got Served

I just got this email about 15 minutes ago.  Windows Live Team email?  I never get emails from the Windows Live Team.  I open it and then I see; a Newsletter.  When did I sign up for another newsletter that I will never read?  Who knows, but it does have some interesting stuff in it.

Like new Live features:

• Chat from within Hotmail
• One calendar for everything
• Find the right info fast

Ok, #1.  Chat from with Hotmail.  Isn’t that what Messenger is for?  I suppose if you use Windows Live Mail, yea, that would be nice versus having to open up another program.  But wait, doesn’t Windows automatically auto-install and auto-open Messenger (at least in the U.S.)?

#2. One calendar for everything.  hmm, that sounds promising.  I wonder how well that might work within Windows Home Server?  I use and like very much Outlook (which includes a calendar), but Windows Live Calendar is free, it is web based, accessible by more than one user (I hope), and more?  This sounds promising!

#3. Find the right info fast.  hmm, for some reason, this sounds a bit like a Twitter clone.  I “cringed” when I had to sign up for a Twitter account to review Donavon’s add-in.  Please, let me have my personal privacy!  I could care less what you do every 10 minutes and I’m sure you could care less what I do every 10 minutes.

Well, that is what they sounded like from the newsletter.  So, it was time to find out more.  I clicked on the first link and this is what came up.

Ah, I get it.  I am a little slow at times, but this does have potential.  Quite often, I am doing email and IM’g at the same time.  Most of the people I IM with at this time are from Live accounts, so this could be nice.  I have my my main accounts on Outlook.  However, I do use Windows Live Mail for my “lesser” accounts and my wife’s email account.  As well as for the newsgroups I peruse.  For some reason, Outlook does not have that particular ability.

On to the second link and this is what came up.

Yea!  It had the words I wanted to see: “share” and “sync”.  It seems like it would be a neat thing to have your Windows Home Server provide a centralized calendar, but I like this one.  Web based which means when I kill my WHS (I’ve been influenced by Drashna), I won’t kill my calendar.

And, finally, on to the the 3rd link.

Ok, this sounds nice also,  You’re writing an email and you need to add something like a map, picture, or something else to an email.  Bing (MS’s new search engine) is integrated right there to help you find what you need.  All from one application.  I like this!  Or at least the potential.

The Windows Live programs consists of the following:

• Windows Live Mail
• Windows Live Messenger
• Windows Live Writer
• Windows Live Call
• Windows Live Family Safety
• Windows Live Photo Gallery

These are a very decent set of programs.  Windows Live Writer, for example, is the blogging software I use right up to the point where I am ready to upload to WGS for final editing.  These new features appear to be an indication of the type of program integration that makes sense.  One application with many related features inside that one application.