Wave 3 is the latest stage in the evolution of Microsoft's online suite of services and applications offered under the Windows Live brand umbrella. According to Chris Jones, program management team lead for Windows Live, while Wave 1 and 2 were representative of Microsoft just starting to bridge the desktop with the Cloud, aligning the two in a common Software plus Services business strategy and vision, Windows Live Wave 3 is designed to synchronize the life of end users, well beyond the PC. On September 17, after a year of development, Microsoft went live with Windows Live Wave 3 beta.

“This wave is part of our ongoing work to build a great set of communication and sharing experiences that help keep your life in sync. This wave includes significant updates to our software applications for your Windows PC, and in the next few hours, we will release public betas of the latest version of the Windows Live suite of PC applications, including Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Toolbar, and Family Safety. You’ll find new features across the products and most notably, Windows Live Messenger has been almost entirely redesigned,” Jones stated.

For Microsoft, Windows Live started in 2006. At that time, the Redmond giant had to centralize a set of disparate online services and desktop clients under a new brand. Windows Live evolved at the end of 2007 with the availability of Wave 2. 2007 signaled Microsoft's move beyond the PC, and an increasing focus on the Cloud and on Windows Mobile. This was the year the company introduced clients such as Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer and Windows Live Mail, but also services including Events, SkyDrive, Calendar, and Family Safety.

“Our goal with Windows Live is to build a suite of software and services that help you get to your information from any device and keep up with the people you care about, using a variety of services. We recognized from the start that this journey would take several years to complete, and would require coordination across our products in a new way to bring them all together. As a result, we decided to plan and release updates to Windows Live in waves,” Jones explained.