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Now this is very cool stuff

Wow. It looks like MS is finally getting it right in the third iteration. (On paper, at least.) It'll be interesting to see how all this is received by users.

This is remarkably progressive stuff from MS, especially considering that it's free! It seems like a shot across the bow of the iLife suite and MobileMe. One things I would like to see is integration with Windows Explorer, i.e. why not create a downloadable plug-in that will allow the user to drag and drop files into their SkyDrive account right from Explorer? Just a thought.

This is great, on paper. But as is their forte, Microsoft is always a tad too late to the party. They lost considerable ground to Yahoo's Flickr and Groups, and Google's Picasa for a long time.

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out, though.

@roblind

I do find the SkyDrive interface a bit clunky. I agree that it would be nice if there were a plug in to integrate it with the OS. Mesh does this but doesn't allow you to make folders public.

Looking forward to the review Paul, and I hope you talk about it on today's Windows Weekly.

I use a few Windows Live apps, so this is a good sign that Microsoft is making an already good product even better.

"Microsoft is always a tad too late to the party"

There ought to be a law that bans the use of the term "late to the party".

Technology, especially cloud tech, is not a zero-sum game. You can use more than one service at a time, and having new ones pop up only gives people choices.

I use Flickr, I also use Photobucket, and Photoshop Express, and I can use this as well.

"Microsoft is always a tad too late to the party"

As an old timer, I also remember those words being said about Microsoft's entry into applications in the late 1980s by WordPerfect, Lotus and Ashton-Tate who owned the word processor, spreadsheet and database markets to the point where nobody thought that even competing with them was an option.

Today, the cloud aware software market is still in its earliest stages, dominated by lots of little tools that don't work well together. There's still plenty of time to play in that market.

Mike and Master3:

For cloud based photo sharing services, it is not always the easiest choice to move to a different service. My family has photos strewn all over Picasa, Photobucket, DotPhoto (which is GREAT, and my fav, btw) and Yahoo Photos, the result of constantly discovering new services on the web. I am now at a point where I don't want my photos to be uploaded on yet another site (much less a paid service) and have to consolidate all my photos over there.

I wish there were an easier solution, but I guess I am not alone in this position. I know Microsoft has enormous resources at its disposal to make this kind of a service a success, but I just wish they would move into an area a tad quicker, and not forever be fashionably late to most parties.

Why was Google able to throw up a fantastic service like Picasa so much earlier than Microsoft? How about Yahoo with Flickr (albeit through an acquisition)? How many auxiliary services and applications/widgets/browser extensions have been developed for services like Picasa and Flickr that people have grown so accustomed to over the past few years?

I wish Microsoft much luck in this endeavor, but it's going to be a hard slog.

The only problem I have with this update fro the screen shots the Paul put up are the very large ads. One thing that makes facebook and iGoogle work so well for me is that the ads are non-intrusive. If they switch to text ads then I think that would be better in my opinion.

However, the idea of aggregating all my social content on one page so I can see what my network is doing is a really cool idea! I also think the Live Groups concept is interesting too.

@RAAJ,

"Why was Google able to throw up a fantastic service like Picasa so much earlier than Microsoft?"

I could be wrong but I think Google purchased Picassa.

RaaJ

"Why was Google able to throw up a fantastic service like Picasa so much earlier than Microsoft?"

They bought it from Idealab...

@Roblind

They already have a plug-in that allows you to do this

RaaJ

"...it's going to be a hard slog"

Absolutely. It already has been. Getting all those services not just talking to each other but integrating with each other has been a hard slog. And that integration now extends beyond Microsoft to include integration with other companies' services.

A lot of what you saw announced overnight is stuff that was already being worked on back when I was in the Live group two years ago. Doing a one-off service is relatively easy with the tools that are out there. Doing a well thought out system of integrated services that work well both with each other and with generic services out now and in the future is a lot harder problem.

From what I've seen, the key here is that the new Live Wave 3 releases are a perfect example where the whole is much bigger than the sum of all its parts.

So is the storage in Live SkyDrive and Live Mesh different?  If I post files in SkyDrive can I see it in Mesh?  If so they need to combine the two.  

These are the kinds of things that confuse at best.  I will say the new Live Hotmail works great on any browser.  I dont get that bar telling me I need IE to get the full potential.  Apple needs to take notice with Me.

Now if they could just give Hotmail/Live mail free IMAP it would be the winner in my book.  POP is lame when you use multiple devices to get at your email.  Then again who, would purchase hosted Exchange (outside of the corporate world) if Live did everything for free at the consumer level.

There ought to be a law that bans the use of the term "late to the party".

Lol to Joe User who picks one and usually never moves it means everything.  Getting a IT/Geek to switch is easy.

A perfect example of this is AOL email.  So many people, Joe User types, and wont move unless its shut off.

@Reddp

Isn't that just the Active X control for the IE browser? That does work quite well but it uninstalls whenever you clear IE's browsing history.

Sky Drive and LIve Mesh are different and you do not see things in your Sky Drive when in Mesh.

Generally the set of live applications is excellent and is available for Vista and XP, and that is very nice because I have an XP laptop and a Vista x64 desktop.  

@rjohn05:

Re: Ads - Yep. That's one thing I don't like about Live Calendar. It only has one ad, but it's big and at the top of the cal so it tends to "push down" the bottom end the calendar you someone with a small monitor can't see the bottom of the calendar w/out having to scroll down a bit (I use a 17" but still have to scroll down).

A text-based ad scheme would be good.

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techfan

They've been moving the ads to the side instead of the top so they are less obtrusive especially on wide screen monitors.

"A text-based ad scheme would be good."

It doesn't work for Paul.  Just last night I could pick up 3 malware-carrying sites rotating through the banner at the top of this one.

Gents, I have both the Google and Windows Live Calendar side by side and Live just wins hands down. There are more options and they are easier to use. However, Google does have a utility to sync with Outlook that works well. I need to export a file from Outlook, then import it to Live Calender, which is cumbersome, but it's beta right now. Therefore, I would expect the ability to sync in the near future.

Of note, there is a $10 iPhone app that syncs the Google calendar and has a monthly view with text, but I would bet that I'm one of the few that use such a view. I did not buy it as I have computer access all day [obviously] and Exchange, but the option is nice to have on occasion, and Windows Live wins, IMO.

It even works well on my wide screen $400 Acer Vista laptop :) Mike mentioned wide screen first, so I'm still OT.

DRWAM

I believe we've long ago reached consensus that you discussing your $400 Acer Vista laptop is always On Topic.

I think the decision had something to do with surrendering to the inevitable. :-)

OT but...

You can now buy your own "I'm a PC" t-shirts, mugs, hats, skateboards, etc at http://www.zazzle.com/imapc

@mikegalos: That's great! If Windows 7 comes out next year, I'll buy a new PC and will change my 17" flat panel for a 21" widescreen. I think the three panel look, like in Outlook and Windows Live Mail (email-client) works great in those monitors.

@Waethorn: And I thought the the only bad thing I've gotten from this site were popups. Luckily IE8 Beta 2 has been able to stop them. Strange, I don't remember getting popups before.

@DRWAM: I switched from GCal to WLCal once WLMail came out with a calendar. I like it. One thing that I don't like about WLCal is that it loads slower than GCal.

Techfan, I like the alphabet soup. I have notice some speed difference in loading, although it's not slow enough for me to care as it's only a second or three. I just like the WLCal look better, even there there's not much difference to the look. But the relate WL services such as Mesh and SkyDrive. I don't use hotmail since the iPhone doesn't support it or visa versa.

Thanks Mike. Now I feel accepted.

@DRWAM: Yep. Out of Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft, MS is doing some nice-looking Web apps. I don't use WLHotmail, but I think it looks nicer than the spartan look of Gmail and the okay-looking but something is missing look of Yahoo! Mail.

I'm on a 3.0 MB connection, slow for some, I guess, but it's good enough for me, and have noticed that a few times I have had to refresh the page for either WLCal or Hotmail to load. I don't know if it's because I'm using IE8 Beta 2 (ironic if two of MS' products aren't playing well with each other) or something else, but Yahoo! Mail loads faster.

LOL, with all the Windows Live-branded products, it's easy getting into the habit of just typing the first two letter and then a shorthand of the last. I'm sure it's going to get worst once more products come out.

Gmail works well on iPhone, but is limited, but Gmail through the web is crap. I'm thinking of paying for the premium [or whatever it's called] Hotmail to use on the iPhone, although there are free services that require your Hotmail password, which doesn't give a lot of comfort, of course. I'm getting closer to switching, as son as I dump Comcast for FiOS, and Outlook syncs with WLmail.

Mike found the sync app for Gmail and Outlook for me, so I'm good until the above is achieved.

Thanks again Mike.

Why do you need to pay for the premium version of Hotmail to use with the iPhone?

I don't know what it is, but there's something "fun" (for lack of a better word) about Gmail but I am not a big fan of using it on the web. There's something that just doesn't work, something is missing.

Gmail with POP3 and WLMail is the only way to go.

GMail has a much better interface than the other competing webmail services. Not to mention the terrible name that is HotMale. Just not a good name. Hi, I'm Steve@hotmale.com. AOL is a better option. And that's saying something.

robertsjoe, I think what you mean is they you like the interface of Gmail more than the others.

And why is Gmail such a great name when hotmail is not?

I've always imagined that Gmail would be a shorthand for men seeking men in personal ads. Maybe someone here could confirm that!

oh, and for the record, I do think that hotmail is a silly name for a service/address, but no worse than Gmail or Yahoo.