What’s new with Windows Live Wave 4?

Ever since the launch of Windows Live  in November 2005, Microsoft has been adding new set of services and tools to the Live suite. Windows Live suite is the brand name given to a collection of web services, desktop applications and mobile services. The set of desktop applications which is called as Windows Live Essentials includes Windows Live Writer (for blogging), Windows Live Photo Gallery, etc. The next version (code named as Wave 4) is expected to be released in the coming weeks. In the mean time, I had participated in the TechCrunch VIP access giveaway and got VIP access to Windows Live. Have been playing with the new services and applications. I am little disappointed to say that not many significant changes have been done to the web services. Different things have been tried to make the interface simple. But, still Google will win it hands down when it comes to simplicity and ease of use. On the Live essentials also, except for the few cool features like Photo fuse in Windows Live Photo Gallery, Auto Movie in Windows Live Movie Maker, not many significant changes are there.

Highlights:

• Photo Fuse in Windows Live Photo Gallery. This is the feature I liked the most about Wave4. It is an easy-to-use editing tool tool that allows you to take the best parts of multiple photos and combine them into one “perfect” photo. Check out the demo on Techcrunch.
• Auto Movie in Windows Live Movie Maker. Auto Movie will add a beautiful theme to your photos and videos in minutes that includes transitions, a title, captions and a music soundtrack. You can use these same themes in Photo Gallery’s slideshow mode.
• Remote desktop in Windows Live Sync. Enables you to remotely access the files and contents virtually from anywhere  via Live devices. Have not explored the technology behind this remoting.
• Sweep in Hotmail. Its a feature to keep your Inbox clean. In a few clicks, you can move the unwanted mails to Trash. You can even set up future rules that prevent unwanted mail from hitting your inbox in the first place. The interface of the new Hotmail is pretty neat. If you haven’t tried out Windows Live mail or Hotmail before, this is the time to.
• Office Web Apps in SkyDrive and Hotmail. Office Web apps enables you to access your office documents online. Documents can be stored online on SkyDrive which provides 25 GB of free storage. More details can be found here. Attachments on Hotmail mailbox can also be viewed online using Office Web Apps.

More about the Windows Live Essentials can be found here. To know about the current developments on Windows Live, check out Windows Live blog.

-- Varun