Windows Live Wave 4 Milestone 2... Some screenshots and info


Recommended Posts

The Windows Live Team is currently working on Wave 4, that is, the 2010 versions of Windows Live. This includes both web services and Windows Live Essentials. Let?s take a closer look at Windows Live Messenger 2010 Milestone 2. We can expect the final result to look somewhat different, but what we?re going to look at gives you an idea what the focus is on in the 2010 version.

All info and screenshots ony in my page: http://spain08.deviantart.com/ :D :D Microsoft Gold Certified

wlmwave42watermark.png

wlmwave4watermark2.png

Main window

First of all, we notice that the window is now wider and separated into two columns. The left column contains social news and activity streams, including the What?s New Feed, while the right-hand section includes your Windows Live Messenger contact list and an advertisement area. This window split can be reverted using the button on the top right edge.

Several details are interesting:

Social streams

There are several streams shown, including the What?s New Feed. It is split into a ?highlights? section and a timeline, ?recent.? The menu design of these streams resembles Microsoft Zune-style.

More networks addable

Looking at the bottom right corner, we see: ?Connected to: Windows Live | Add.? Whether you can add more IM networks there or whether you can use it to connect to social networks like Facebook or Twitter, remains to be seen.

Contact list revamped

We still see the same square status indicators and the same wavy default scene, but there are overall less icons and more text indicators. Take a quick look at the menu bar above the contacts?we see the category filters and an Add menu.

Bigger advertisement area

Instead of the flat ad area in Messenger 2009, we have a huge ad there in the format 300?250 pixels. I wonder whether that generates more revenue, or what the decision was about.

Tabbed chats

We waited for it for ages, now we get it: Chat windows are tabbed. No more 7 independent windows to handle with, but one with 7 tabs. Other chat clients had this function for long, and for years it was Messenger Plus! Live that added tabs to Messenger. In fact, the tabs design reminds me of Internet Explorer.

wlmwave4m2watermark3.png

Summary

Several expected elements are missing in these previews. For example, Live Mesh is expected to integrate into Windows Live SkyDrive, and along with Office Web Apps, file and document sharing should be a visible part of Messenger as well.

Windows Live Messenger is going through the same metamorphosis that Internet Explorer has gone through. With IE, this phase had started some years ago when the IE team got up and started development of Internet Explorer 7. Suddenly all interesting features that other browsers had, became part of IE as well. With Messenger it is the same: It all started with Windows Live Wave 3, and Wave 4 continues this. Strange, isn?t it?

All info and screenshots ony in my page: http://spain08.deviantart.com/ :D :D Microsoft Gold Certified

Edited by spain08

Collapse time baby! I will NEVER have all that on screen. I am all for ads, and revenue for the company as I get Live Messenger for free. I think it's only right I should see ads. But all that extra crap? No way. I hide tabs, hide favorites, groups etc ... I will not be viewing any of that stuff. lol

I really wonder if that social stream on the left will even be optional. Microsoft are on a social course with Windows Live so it wouldn't surprise me to see it pushed hard like this.

The one thing I do like is copying the Zune UI design, very clean and clear.

whish they merged the log in (profile pick) and the contact window into one (shown on windows 7)

wlmwave4watermark2.png

^ that bit

I wish they would just merge those 2 windows.. It is very annoying having two.. and one of them is very useless.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • This seems backwards. You should have to explicitly authorize files for outside use. It shouldn't be the default.
    • Wow you are right, I never even noticed this until you said it! (870E Aorus Master) Before testing this card I had a TP-Link tx401 10GbE PCIe card in that slot (now using XikeStor 310 Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter).
    • Lack of 5.1 makes this a no sale. What I really wish creative would make would be a USB version that supports 5.1 analog audio for speakers, can switch to headphone mode, and matches the specs of their top tier cards. The current X870E AMD motherboards dont have a great option for adding a PCIE x1 card without cutting down pcie lanes to the graphics card.
    • The Microsoft Office feature that time forgot by Usama Jawad I have been actively using Microsoft Word for the past couple of decades in academic, professional, and personal capacities. Although I used it through the perpetual version of Office apps at the start, I have been an active subscriber of Microsoft 365 Family subscription for over five years now. This means that my Word installation is regularly updated with new features, some of which I don't really like, but that's beside the point. As new features get continuously added, old ones that used to be a staple of Word have started to take a backseat. While I was reminiscing over my Windows experiences from my childhood today, I suddenly remember one such capability that I heavily used in my younger years but have not really touched in over a decade, and haven't seen in documents created by others either. That feature is WordArt. Just to clarify, WordArt is not a Microsoft product specific to Word, and is included in other Office apps like PowerPoint and Excel too. However, Microsoft Word is the app that I used Word Art in heavily, while making assignments or other deliverables for school. If you're unaware, WordArt offers a collection of styling techniques for text, introducing 3D effects like shadows and reflections in the text. It used to be one of the coolest things ever when I was at school and me and my classmates would often compete to ensure that our assignment's title in WordArt was truly the best and stood out above the rest. See some examples of WordArt, still present in the latest versions of Word below: Although WordArt is undeniably cool, it has taken a bit of a backseat, and has been relegated from the Home tab to the Insert toolbar, along with a bunch of other utilities, making it very easy to miss. This isn't exactly surprising because WordArt doesn't really have a place in academic and professional documents anymore, and while I have seen some creatives using it while developing promo material, even that sector has gravitated more towards dedicated graphic designing tools in the past years. For the vast majority of us, WordArt doesn't really exist, and that's alright. At least, it's still an option that can allow us to reminisce our childhood or even make some quick text stylization, if we really need it. Perhaps its usage has waned over time or the novelty has worn off, but I haven't even seen children use it in their academic assignments anymore. In fact, many don't even know that it exists. Maybe that's the fate of every beloved feature. What once felt cutting edge eventually becomes a relic, quietly tucked away as tastes, trends, and technology move on. WordArt may no longer dominate school assignments or decorate the covers of classroom projects, but for those of us who grew up with it, it remains a colorful reminder of a time when making text glow, bend, and cast giant shadows felt like the height of creativity. Hidden behind a few clicks in modern Word, it still survives not as a productivity tool, but as a small piece of computing nostalgia that refuses to disappear.
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      DrWankel earned a badge
      First Post
    • Reacting Well
      DrWankel earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      Supreme Spray LV earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Genuinetonerink- Dubai earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Genuinetonerink- Dubai earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      158
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      88
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      74
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      70
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!