Microsoft introduces weblog service
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Microsoft&#39;s MSN division has launched a test version of a free blogging service aimed at consumers, its first attempt to provide this popular activity for the mass consumer market.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is using the same tactic for its online services that made its Internet Explorer browser ubiquitous among Internet users. With new beta technology it's releasing Wednesday, Microsoft is tying its Windows Live services directly to its Windows OS. A new unified installer for Windows Live services will help users download Wednesday's updates of photo-sharing, mail, instant messaging, online safety, and other services, the company said on its Windows Live Wire blog. The new installer also will automatically update those services on Windows Vista and XP going forward. "This new suite of applications is a new way that we can make connecting, communicating, and sharing anywhere a terrific experience on your Windows PC," according to a blog post by Chris Jones, vice president of the Windows Live team at Microsoft. "Together with our Web services, we have a complete suite that combines the best of the Web and the best of Windows and works the way you want." As Microsoft tries to catch up to rivals Google and Yahoo in building out a portfolio of online services so it can sell more advertising, it's no surprise the company is tying those services to what remains its most popular product, Windows. Most people probably don't need more than one set of free online services just as they don't need more than one browser, and the strength of tying IE to Windows was that people used the browser over Netscape just because it was there. But what worked for IE may not work so well in the world of Web 2.0, where things move much faster than they did 10 years ago. When Microsoft cut the frequency of IE upgrades and enhancements, customers became restless for a better product; enter the Mozilla Firefox browser two years ago, which now has a nice niche for itself. Microsoft also is fighting two well-respected and entrenched competitors that started their businesses on the Web and have loyal followings in their own right. Creating user-friendly Web-based clients for everyday applications also is more complicated than creating a browser --Â and not so easily commoditized, said Matt Rosoff, analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "With Internet services, there is a lot more differentiation possible," he said. Using the Windows Live unified installer also is still an option -- not a requirement -- of the OS, so the services are not as tightly linked to Windows as IE was, Rosoff said. While he would not be surprised if Microsoft eventually made integration between the OS and Windows Live services even tighter, the company must be wary of inciting the antitrust gods with such a move. "They have to be careful with that sort of thing," Rosoff said. In addition to tying Windows Live to Windows, Microsoft also added new features to specific services in Wednesday's beta refreshes. Windows Live Photo Gallery now allows users to share photos directly on its Windows Live Spaces social networking site and its Soapbox on MSN Video video-sharing service, the company said. It also enables people to import photos from digital cameras and have them automatically organized into events based on date and time within the service. In other enhancements, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 includes additions to security and performance, while the Windows Live OneCare Family Safety update extends support to its Mail, Messenger, and Spaces services. More information about the updates and the ability to download them is available on Microsoft's Windows Live services Web site.
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A new posting from Dynamically Typed - More on rich web UIs - has a few interesting links to share, as well as Harry's search for a XmlHttpRequest method.
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Blog: Microsoft said it is teaming with Website Pros to offer an $80 monthly service to help small businesses set up and maintain their Web site.
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Google has seen many benefits from its internal Web log system and may consider providing blogging tools and expertise to corporate clients, a company executive said.
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Featured posts from the Search Engine Watch blog, as well as our customary headlines from around the web.
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Software giant Microsoft is joining the ranks of companies offer blogs or online journals.
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Plus: Is Microsoft search engine crawling Google? [News.com Extra]
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Sharepoint is getting an open-source webpart.  This is good for Microsoft and for its customers.  It could be better, though....
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An environment blog at The Wall Street Journal?.
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A new version of WikyBlog was released today with new support for content includes and 304 responses. WikyBlog is a scalable CMS/Groupware application with an AJAX enhanced tabbed interface enabling users to view/edit multiple files within the same page.    Additionally, this release includes a complete Turkish translation, a few database modifications,  a google maps bug fix and sidebar search bug fix.  WikyBlog Home:   http://www.wikyblog.com     Get WikyBlog:   http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wikyblog/WikyBlog-1.3.zip?download     WikyBlog Features:   http://www.wikyblog.com/Help/en/WikyBlog/Features
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An enhanced multi-threaded syslogd, supporting reliable syslog over TCP and RFC 3195, writing to MySQL databases, fully configurable output formats (with great timestamps), ability to filter on anything, and on-the-wire message compression.   Hi all,  Rsyslog 3.11.2 has just been released. Now it has the ability to convert text files into syslog. This is done by the imfile plugin, which monitors text files. A new libdbi-based output plugin has been written. This adds six additional databases (including Firebird and Oracle) to the supported database set. Also contains small bug fixes. Version 3.11.2 is a recommended release for all version 3 users.  Doc for new Modules:    http://www.rsyslog.com/doc-omlibdbi.html    http://www.rsyslog.com/doc-imfile.html  Changelog:    http://www.rsyslog.com/Article175.phtml  Download:    http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-getit-lid-79.phtml  I hope this release is useful. As always, feedback is appreciated.  Best regards, Rainer Gerhards
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Since Microsoft officially announced the availablity of the MSN Desktop Search their blog has received over 100 comments which includes some interesting and useful feedback.
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com. Blog, noun [short for &#39;Web log&#39;] (1999): a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
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The O'Reilly Network has a new article posted for all of those out there that are looking to make writing large documentation/publications much simpler.
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Vox populi, 2004 style. Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) on Wednesday said it will offer blogging to the online many-headed.
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Blog: Web site lets people post classified videos