Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Preview

At the end of May 2010, it became clear that Microsoft was on the verge of unveiling the last part of the Windows Live Wave 4 evolution, which it was still keeping under wraps. After delivering official details on Windows Live Messenger Wave 4 and Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4, it is now the turn of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 to take center stage. In this regard, the Windows Live Preview website was updated with information on what Microsoft considered to be the essential pieces of software for Windows, namely Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Sync and Family Safety.

“In the upcoming release, we focused on achieving two important goals with Essentials: 1.Making everyday tasks simpler and enabling new possibilities on your PC. 2.Connecting Windows 7 to the cloud,” Brad Weed & Piero Sierra, group program managers, Windows Live Essentials, revealed.

As it is the case with Messenger, which, although marketed separately, is still very much a part of Windows Live Essentials, the rest of the rich clients are not available for download at this point in time. However, the promise from Microsoft is that customers won’t have to wait much longer before they get their hands on Windows Live Wave 4 Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Sync and Family Safety.

And when they do, they’ll be able to enjoy a range of enhancements, such as deep Windows 7 integration. “Windows 7 also allows us to unleash a new set of possibilities that weren’t available before. We’re taking advantage of GPU-accelerated graphics and animations, using the new Windows 7 ‘ribbon’ user interface, integrating jumplists into the Windows 7 taskbar, and much more to provide you with a great experience,” Sierra stated.

Connecting Windows 7 to the Cloud also implies that users get more chances to keep in touch with their friends via a range of social-networking websites. “The new Windows Live Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Mail, and Messenger connect to photo and video sharing (SkyDrive, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, SmugMug), social networking (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn), email (Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo! Mail), blogging (Spaces, WordPress, Blogger), and document productivity (Office Web Apps) services,” Sierra added.