SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online storage service, is one of the core elements of the company’s cloud strategy. Today, Microsoft is taking the wraps off a number of new SkyDrive services, including a Dropbox-like desktop integration for Windows and Mac (OS X Lion only). With this, SkyDrive will function like any other folder on your machine and any file you save to it will be automatically uploaded to… → Read More
Earlier today, Erick wrote about Windows Live Sync becoming Windows Live Mesh. Basically, it’s a service that allows people to sync files between PCs and with the cloud. As a product, it sounds great — as Erick says, there’s definitely a huge need for someone to do this right. But as usual with Microsoft, I have to ask: what on Earth is up with the branding?
Yes Microsoft needed to combine Live… → Read More
Oh, what could have been. Rahul Sood, of Voodoo PC fame (now at HP), says he’s heard from people in the know that Microsoft was working on a project that would have integrated Xbox Live with a sort of Windows Live. The end goal was to have been console gamers and PC gamers playing against each other on a combined Xbox Live+Windows Live service. The reason why this project never saw the light of… → Read More
Microsoft will soon be upgrading Office Live Workspace accounts to Windows Live SkyDrive accounts, the company has announced in a blog post and an email (screenshot below).
Office Live Workspace users will get many of the same capabilities they’re used to, plus a number of new features (e.g. the Office Web Apps, Web-based ‘companions’ to the software giant’s most popular business software… → Read More
With Bing stealing the online spotlight at Microsoft recently, Windows Live has been collecting dust in a corner. But Microsoft is preparing to update the core services that make up Windows Live over the next few months, and is refocusing what used to be a hodgepodge of different online services into three main products: Hotmail, Messenger, and Windows Essentials (which includes photo-organizing… → Read More
MySpaceID, the social network’s login platform that’s comparable to Facebook Connect, is coming to Windows Live and its sister properties, including Windows Live’s main portal, Windows Live Messenger, and Hotmail. In short, the new functionality will allow users to import their recent MySpace notifications into these Microsoft properties, which rank among the web’s most popular… → Read More
Mike Torres, Lead Program Manager on Microsoft’s Movie Maker team, has kicked off a series of blog posts about the upcoming release of Windows Live Movie Maker, which is supposed to replace the eponymous desktop video editing software that has come pre-installed on Windows machines ever since Windows ME hit the market.
So far, the application has been in public beta, but many have criticized the… → Read More
We’ll say it right off the bat: what the hell took Microsoft so long? Years after Yahoo and Google integrated web IM features into their free webmail services (Yahoo Messenger in Yahoo Mail and Gtalk in Gmail, respectively), Redmond is finally enabling users to log into their Hotmail accounts and converse with their contacts over instant messaging directly without the need to log on to Windows… → Read More
Windows Live Hotmail (former Hotmail) is one of – if not the most – popular free webmail applications on the planet, so naturally there’s a bit of an uproar (warning: highly emotional teenager grunts here) since apparently users have been unable to access their mail account for hours on end. We’ve been getting a lot of tips about this in our inboxes, and we ended up taking a look at the official … → Read More
Windows Live may seem like a failure in the eyes of many a TechCrunch reader, but there are a number of services that continue to thrive within the scope of a vast, mainstream audience. Hence it’s worth noting that Microsoft has released a new application for Windows Mobile devices that encompasses a slew of Live services used by dozens of millions of people every day.
The new version… → Read More
Windows Live Profile, the service that essentially turns Windows Live into a non-isolated social network centered around your Windows Live ID, currently pulls in a good deal of updates from third-party services Flickr, Pandora, Twitter, Yelp, and a couple more. You can also insert any RSS feed into the streams, for instance the one for your own blog, and add it to the mix. In case you don’t… → Read More
Today, Microsoft is rolling out some of the sweeping changes to Windows Live it announced two weeks ago. Windows Live seems to be gradually replacing MSN as Microsoft’s central hub for everything you do on the Web.
The new home page shows both your email and an activity stream of what your contacts are doing across the Web. It’s more FriendFeed than Facebook, with a little MyYahoo thrown in. … → Read More
Login standard OpenID has gotten a huge boost today from Microsoft, as the company has announced that users will soon be able to login to any OpenID site using their Windows Live IDs. With over 400 million Windows Live accounts (many of which see frequent use on the Live’s Mail and Messenger services), the announcement is a massive win for OpenID. And Microsoft isn’t just supporting OpenID – the… → Read More
I’m not sure how many BlackBerry users also use Hotmail, but the three or four of them will be happy to know that BlackBerry devices will soon support push Hotmail. Oh, and Windows Live Messenger, too. → Read More
We’re getting messages from users of Windows Live that the service has been down for about 11 hours — an eternity in Internet time. It appears that Windows Live is down. Been unable to log into email, windows live messenger or any other windows live service since about 8am GMT. Their service status says that “All systems go. There are no issues at this time”. However a… → Read More
Email remains one of the most popular of online services. Companies such as Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft have offered free online email since the earliest days of the internet. Google was late the party, launching Gmail in April 2004. Where as Google has come to dominate many of the verticals it enters, email hasn’t been one of them. This Christmas many more people will be using Yahoo! Mail to… → Read More
I know someone who’s running a flavor of Skype on his Treo, talking to friends and family without using minutes that eat away at his plan. It’s a great idea, if your phone supports it. For the rest of you, have a look at Nimbuzz. Nimbuzz is a Java-based program you load to your handset that allows you to initiate instant message conversations with others via Windows Live, bypassing… → Read More
Mobility Today has a video demoing the beta functions of Windows Live Search for Mobile. The video showcases many of the cool features the service will offer. Features like directions and traffic information. It’s still in beta, of course, but it looks promising. Be sure to head over to Mobility Today to read the rest of their comments on it. → Read More
Zoho, the online Office suite company, will launch a Microsoft Office plugin today that will allow users to save documents directly to their Zoho account from Microsoft Office and Excel. The company is also announcing open APIs and a partnership with Desktopize to create virtual folders that allow users to save files to their Zoho account directly from their desktop. Raju Vegesna, who calls… → Read More
Microsoft’s just launched their mobile version of their Live site, allowing Pocket PC and WM5 users to access Mail, Spaces, Local, Live beta, MSN beta, and Weather directly from their pocketIE or Opera Mobile browsers. The site has been redesigned for mobile devices – slimmed down the width and reduced the amount of images – so it’s easier to use. This Microsoft Live… → Read More
The first Windows Live product to leave beta status globally will be released tonight by Microsoft. Windows Live Messenger spent just six weeks in public beta. We reviewed most of the features available now when the beta launched. Most notable are the inclusion of voice calls through the interface and dedicated hardware, offline messaging and an easy system for file sharing. After years of… → Read More
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