Microsoft launches Windows Live file sharing beta
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(InfoWorld) - MicrosoftÂ on Wednesday started limited beta offerings of Windows Live file andÂ photo sharing services. Along with others that have recently been rolled out, they will be part of a suite of services making up the second generation of Windows Live, said Brian Hall, general manager of Windows Live at Microsoft. Windows Live Folder, available to select beta users Wednesday, is meant to allow file sharing without relying on e-mail, external USB devices, or public sharing sites. On the Live Folder page, users first create a new folder and then choose from a list of contacts or enter an e-mail address of a person with whom to share a file. Next, the user adds a file, such as a video or document, to the folder. Clicking on "send a link," opens up an Outlook Mail message that includes a link to the file online. Users can then send an e-mail to the person with the link. While the service uses e-mail to share a link, users don't actually send the files in order to share them because the files are stored and accessed online. In addition, it restricts viewers only to invited guests, as opposed to public sites where users may post video, for example, that can be seen by anyone. As part of the beta, users will be able to share files up to 50MB and will have 500MB of free storage. Users can allow others to alter the shared files or restrict them to read only. Other online services offer similar functionality, sometimes as part of online storage offerings. Xdrive, Box.net, and Omnidrive all offer services that let users store content online and share the content with invited guests by e-mailing them links to it. Microsoft is also launching a controlled beta of Windows Live Photo Gallery, a photo service that upgrades the photo gallery capabilities in Vista, Hall said. One new feature is the ability to stitch photos together into a panorama. In addition, Windows Photo Gallery users can more easily share photos via Windows Live Spaces. Rather than hitting an upload button and scrolling through folders to choose a specific photo, users can select the photo in a file and quickly share it to Live Spaces. For now, the betas are only available to users Microsoft has invited. The company plans a more open public beta in the third quarter. The services will be part of the second generation suite ofÂ Windows Live servicesÂ that will all become available in the fourth quarter. The goal of this new generation of services is to offer a cohesive feel for Windows Live, Hall said. Key to all the second-generation services are allowing users to share content, access content anywhere and feel confident that the services are secure, he said. These new Windows Live services, which also include Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Writer, embrace Microsoft's "software plus services" vision. That's because they combine software components with online services.
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New beta of blogging tool Windows Live Writer joins updates to Microsoft's Windows Live instant messaging and e-mail apps.
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Microsoft is now seeking beta testers for its Windows Home Server software, which was unveiled last month at the Consumer Electronics Show and is set to ship before September.
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Earlier this week, Microsoft Windows watcher Winbeta.org posted an e-mail from the software giant&#39;s Windows Driver Kit team that ended up launching a media feeding frenzy on news sites around the world. According to Microsoft&#39;s e-mail to the site, the release of a beta version of the first service pack for Vista was available for download.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft&#39;s first server OS aimed at helping Windows users organize and share files on a home network is nearly ready for prime time.
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Microsoft gives us an update on Windows Home Server
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AOL debuted a beta of BlueString on Tuesday, a new service which would allow consumers to upload and share digital media at no cost.
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Microsoft is launching free software to make it easier for developers to create software compatible with Windows Server 2008.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft released a beta version of its next-generation Windows Live OneCare 2.0 desktop security and management package on July 11, touting a number of improvements made to the product, including the ability to monitor multiple PCs on a local network. Available for free download on the company's Web site, the combined software and service offering -- which is aimed specifically at consumers and small businesses -- also adds new functionality for backing-up data and protecting against malware attacks. Introduced roughly six months after the launch of Microsoft's OneCare 1.5 release in January 2007, the beta -- which like its predecessors includes firewall, AV (anti-virus), backup, and anti-spyware programs -- boasts security improvements, including new tools for locking-down wireless networks and an automated, self-adjusting firewall. Among the new management features being introduced in the product are support for the sharing of printers among multiple computers, a start time optimizer for speeding computer boot cycles, and an online backup system for photos and other images. As part of the service portion of the offering, Microsoft said it has added more proactive system fixes and end-user configuration suggestions to the package along with monthly reports on important computer events or recommended upgrades. The centralized backup feature claims the ability for users to configure and monitor automated storage controls for all PCs covered under a lone OneCare subscription -- which can cover up to three machines -- in a single network location. The newest iteration of the package also adds support for 64-bit PC systems. Microsoft, whose security software product business remains in its early stages, is the third major company to release a new version of its consumer endpoint protection tools in the last month alone as both McAfee and Symantec have also revamped their competing applications. The software giant gave no indication as to when it might push OneCare 2.0 from beta into production but said it is actively seeking feedback from users who decide to try out the package. Since its initial launch in May 2006 OneCare has drawn mixed reviews from end users and security researchers. While many experts have said that the product's pricing -- $49.95 for protection and management of up to three PCs for one year -- has drawn the interest of many consumers, the product has fared poorly against its rivals in some head-to-head bake-offs. In such a comparison study published in March 2007 by researchers at AV-Comparatives -- a project based in Austria and overseen by security researcher Andreas Clementi -- OneCare performed poorly next to similar products made by Symantec, McAfee, Kaspersky Lab, BitDefender, Fortinet, F-Secure, and several other anti-virus providers. According to the report, OneCare ranked last among the products tested in detecting Windows viruses, worms, macros, scripts, and other OS threats, detecting 91 percent of the threats. In stopping systems intrusion through backdoors, Trojan viruses and other malware attacks, OneCare also ranked last out of 13 vendors with 79.6 percent detection. Despite any perceived shortcomings in OneCare, at least one industry analyst said that Microsoft has had a significant impact on the consumer AV landscape for its relatively short run on the market, specifically around pricing. By offering coverage for multiple PCs for much less than it would have cost using older products from market leaders Symantec and McAfee, Microsoft has forced those companies and others to drop their own pricing and changed consumer perceptions about the cost of AV tools, said Natalie Lambert, analyst for Forrester Research. "The market is dramatically changing, and Microsoft is part of reason for that," Lambert said. "If you look at demand, consumers are not willing to pay for security software as they were in the past, they've found ways to get these programs for free, and Microsoft started some of that activity by driving prices down." In terms of functionality, Lambert said that OneCare 2.0 appears to have pulled Microsoft closer to some of its rivals, although she does not believe that most consumers are ready to use all of the tools, such as centralized backup for multiple PCs. Instead of buying off-the-shelf AV products as they may have done in years past, the analyst said that consumers are increasingly using programs bundled for free in their PCs or signing up for services offered by their ISPs, many of which are offered at no charge. "Partnerships are more essential than ever before in this market," she said. "Winning this space will come down to who has the most and best partnerships in the future; consumers want full functionality, but they don't want to pay for it, and the vendors will need to get money from someplace, and it will be from the PC manufacturers and ISPs."
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Microsoft is launching an online video-sharing service to compete with YouTube.
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Facebook has quietly started offering beta testers access to the latest version of a new storage service.
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Microsoft Corp launched the beta version of its new MSN Toolbar Suite on Monday, with what it calls is &#39;breakthrough desktop search functionality&#39; that will help users quickly find virtually any type of document, media file or e-mail message on their
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Microsoft's beta version of its Windows AntiSpyware application is available for download.
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Microsoft is releasing a new application for delivering &quot;snippets&quot; of data to Windows Mobile devices, one of several announcements planned for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.Microsoft plans to announce that it will offer software for Windows Mobile users based on MSN Direct, a service it developed to deliver data snippets to watches. The new application displays small bits of information like weather, stocks and news on the home screen of the phone. &quot;This is an innovative take on how to get information in a glanceable way on handsets,&quot; said Brian Arbogast, vice president of mobile services at Microsoft.Windows Mobile users can download the application, which will initially be offered as a beta.Microsoft and its competitors Yahoo and Google are jockeying for lead position in the mobile market. Each is working to draw mobile users to their services in hopes of ultimately establishing a revenue stream from mobile advertising. So far, the market is relatively open.Microsoft also said it is offering a new software development kit that will give developers access to additional Microsoft mobile services protocols. With the new tools, Microsoft&#39;s software vendor partners will be able to build richer clients that access additional Windows Live for mobile capabilities. For example, a developer could make an application that lets a user click to record a voice clip and send it to an MSN Messenger buddy, even if the sender is using a Windows Mobile phone and the recipient has a Nokia S60 phone.&quot;These are rich and fun and engaging features in Messenger that we had on some of our top-end platforms that are now opened up through this protocol,&quot; said Arbogast.Microsoft also introduced a new program, Windows Live @mobile, aimed at making it easier for operators to quickly begin offering Windows Live and MSN mobile services across their device portfolios.While Windows Mobile has been seen primarily as a product for business users, Microsoft is increasingly trying to push it into the consumer market. &quot;This is about us really extending our focus to be, instead of predominantly on the work part of life, to be about delivering phones for your entire life,&quot; said Arbogast.Microsoft also recently hired a new marketing executive tasked with positioning Windows Mobile to appeal more to consumers.Still, Microsoft isn&#39;t shifting away from its business customer focus. It is stepping up its efforts to sell mobile products to small businesses. Through a new partnership, Brightstar and TechData will sell Windows Mobile phones to small and medium businesses in Europe. The companies will offer a portfolio of products and services to customers, including servers, devices, services and support.In the U.S., Microsoft said that Cbeyond, a provider of communications services for small businesses, will offer a new hosted Exchange e-mail service that supports mobile devices for small and medium businesses.
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Microsoft is continuing to flesh out its Windows Live strategy, on Wednesday releasing beta versions of Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Folders. The additions will join Windows Live Mail Desktop, Windows Live Writer, and a number of other applications as part of the Windows Live Suite.
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Microsoft Corp introduced on Wednesday  a suite of Windows Live online services bundled into a single  download in its latest effort to compete with Google Inc&#39;s  growing array of applications delivered over the Web.
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As expected, Microsoft on Wednesday released its Windows Live software suite, including the global betas of several of its desktop products.