14 DAY TRIAL // Once a forbidden term on the Redmond campus, open source has become a priority for Microsoft, with the company looking more often into this world and trying to appeal to the community with projects that are based on its products.
The latest example is the Open Live Writer, a desktop blogging application based on the famous Windows Live Writer that was developed by a team of volunteers as part of the .NET Foundation.
For those of you didn’t know, Windows Live Writer was originally a blogging solution that allowed users to write and publish posts on their blogs straight from the desktop. It was included in the Windows Live software essentials pack and offered support for the most popular blogging platforms, including WordPress and Blogger.
Missing features in Open Live Writer
Open Live Writer comes without some features that were previously available in Windows Live Writer and that have been removed from this new app because of the open-source license.
For example, spell checking is not available right now, but the team of developers has promised to introduce it at some point in the future on Windows 8.
“The implementation was super old and used a 3rd party spell checker we didn’t have a license to include an open source release. Going forward we will add Spell Check using the built-in spell checker that was added in Windows 8. Open Live Writer on Windows 7 probably won’t have spell check,” Microsoft’s Scott Hanselman explains.
At the same time, the devs have also removed the “Blog This” API because it came as a plugin for IE and Firefox and worked really bad, but also the Albums feature.
In the coming updates, there will be support for Blogger’s new OAuth 2 authentication system, as well as for plugins, which will be developed based on user feedback.