14 DAY TRIAL // Jump into Windows Live is the invitation that Microsoft is sending out to users with the launch of the Windows Live Installer. In an initiative similar to what the Mountain View search giant had to offer with Google Pack, Microsoft is offering a single point of access to its suite of Windows Live products and services. The official webpage for Windows Live Installer is now up and running and you will be able to experience the new offering from the Redmond company yourselves. Additionally you can also watch the video fragment embedded at the bottom in order to make a general idea of the unified installer experience for the Windows Live suite.
"Windows Live makes it easy to store and manage your communications and information, and share what's going on in your life with the people who mean the most to you. Many of you have already tried out new versions of our web services - Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live SkyDrive beta, and the new Windows Live Home page beta. These have been designed to work together with a common navigation, so it is easy to switch between your e-mail, your space, your files, and your photos-from any browser," explained Chris Jones, Vice President Windows Live Team.
Building the bridge between the Windows client and its cloud operating system, Microsoft is accompanying the delivery of the new Windows Live Installer with a collection of new betas for the Windows Live set of software services and products. And this is the main difference between Microsoft's Windows Live unified installer and the Google Pack. While Google makes available not only its own but also third-party services and products, Microsoft is focusing exclusively on the Windows Live offerings.
"This suite of software includes e-mail (Windows Live Mail), photo sharing (Windows Live Photo Gallery), a great publishing tool that lets you post directly to your blog (Windows Live Writer), parental controls (Windows Live OneCare Family Safety), a new version of Windows Live Messenger (8.5) [download separate here], and more," Jones added. "Starting today, you'll be able to install the entire suite of these downloadable Windows Live services at one time, from one place, instead of going through separate installations for each service. Of course, if you don't want the entire suite, you can still get each application individually."
The Redmond company even promised to correct one major caveat of the Windows Live Installer. As the product is still in beta stage, it does not support 64-bit operating systems. But Microsoft revealed that support for x64 platforms will be added in the final build of Windows Live Installer.