Microsoft has made available for download version 12.1 of the Beta build for the Outlook Live Connector. Designed as an add-in for the email client that ships as an integral part of the Office 2007 System, the Outlook Live Connector is set up as a bridge between Windows Live Hotmail and Outlook. With version 12.1 Beta, which went live at the end of July 2008, Microsoft added Windows Live Calendar Beta to Windows Live Hotmail for the Windows Live services supported by the solution for Outlook. In this regard, the Outlook Live Connector Beta 12.1 will synchronize not only Windows Live Hotmail email data and contacts for free, as well as the calendar (for Premium users), but also the content on the Windows Live Calendar Beta service. However, there are a few problems.

"There is a known issue with non-Western European character sets that can cause this error, and will be fixed in an upcoming Beta 2 release of the OLC. For now, avoid categorizing/flagging your mails with these character sets. If you are already in a state where you get the 4102 error, the easiest way to fix it is to re-sync your mailbox by removing your account and then re-adding it," revealed Kristel Leow, Software Development Engineer in Test, Microsoft Office Outlook.

Outlook Live Connector Beta 12.1 will not offer synchronization of tasks and notes. Additionally, Outlook running on a device powered by the Windows Mobile operating system will not sync with Windows Live Calendar Beta via the Outlook Live Connector. And on top of it all, the Redmond giant was informed of the existence of more issues related to the msncon32.dll, but only in scenarios where Outlook is launched following the deployment of the Connector.

"This can occur when the OLC is installed in your default profile, so the account is still present in Outlook but the OLC components are not. You can fix this by going into the Mail control panel and removing the Hotmail information manually. See the above link for instructions on using the Mail control panel," Leow added.

The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta is available for download here.