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Windows Live

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Windows Live

Screenshot of Windows Live Home, which served as a central location to access all Windows Live services

Type of site

Software plus services
(Web applications)
OwnerMicrosoft
URLArchived official website at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
CommercialNo
RegistrationRequired
Users330 million
LaunchedNovember 1, 2005; 20 years ago
Current statusClosed

Content license

Proprietary

Windows Live is a discontinued brand name for a set of web services and software products developed by Microsoft as part of its software-as-a-service platform. Chief components under the brand name included web services (all of which were exposed through corresponding web applications), several computer programs that interact with the services, and specialized web services for mobile devices.[1]

According to Microsoft, Windows Live was "a way to extend the Windows user experience".[2] As such, Windows Vista's welcome screen provides a link to download Windows Live Messenger or to subscribe to Windows Live OneCare. Also, Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker were not offered with Windows 7 and became an exclusive part of Windows Live.[3] Microsoft announced that Windows 8 would have Windows Live apps included out-of-the-box, and would include built-in synchronization technologies powered by OneDrive (then SkyDrive).[4] The Windows Live brand was phased out during August 2012, when Microsoft released Windows 8 to manufacturing. Active Windows Live services remained active but were gradually renamed. The "live.com" domain, however, continues to be used in the URLs for Outlook, OneDrive, and the Login and Signup pages.

Windows Live was first announced on November 1, 2005. In its initial release, several Windows Live properties were rebranded and enhanced from Microsoft's MSN set of products and services. However, MSN still exists alongside Windows Live as a means of delivering content (as opposed to customized content and communications).[5] In May 2012 Microsoft began renaming Windows Live services, partly in anticipation of Windows 8, which integrates many of the Windows Live products and services into the operating system.[6]

The following services were once part of Windows Live but are still online.[7] Outlook.com and OneDrive still use the "Live" branding in the URL even though the brand name is dropped.

The usage of the Live.com domain was later extended to consumer versions of Microsoft Teams, Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Lists, to distinguish them from the enterprise versions.

My Windows Phone was a free online companion service for Windows Phone mobile devices that provided users with a free mobile phone back-up solution by wirelessly synchronizing contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and OneNote notebooks with a password-protected online portal. Users could access and manage their information stored on their Windows Phone devices via the online portal using their Microsoft account, as well as accessing a set of features for remotely ringing, locking, mapping, and erasing their lost phones. This service integrated tightly with other Windows Live services including Hotmail.com People and Calendar, and SkyDrive.[8]

Microsoft released a Windows Live Messenger application on the iOS App Store, which allowed users on mobile devices running iOS to communicate with their contacts via the Microsoft Messenger service. In addition to the instant messaging functionalities, the application also allowed users to view their Messenger social feed, view their friend's Profiles, and integrate with Hotmail and Photos.

Windows Live also provided customized services specifically created for feature phones. It was offered via three channels — through Client-based (for Windows Mobile and other supported mobile devices such as Nokia phones), Web-based (for WAP or GPRS-enabled mobile web browsers), or SMS-based services.[9]

Microsoft Bing, a replacement of the search engine Live Search, was originally named Windows Live Search (and MSN Search prior to that) and was once part of the Windows Live family of services. Windows Live Search once occupied the homepage of Live.com, the domain for all Windows Live services. However, on March 21, 2007, Microsoft decided to separate its search developments from its Windows Live services family, forming part of the Live Search and Ad Platform. As part of this reorganization, the new search brand, Live Search, was consolidated with Microsoft adCenter, a part of Microsoft's Platform and Systems division.[10] However, Microsoft recognised that there was a brand issue as the word "Live" continued to remain in the brand.[11] As an effort to create a new identity for Microsoft's search services, on June 3, 2009, Live Search was officially rebranded as Bing.[12]

Live Connect is a collection of APIs and common controls that allow developers to have a deeper control and offers access to the core Windows Live services and data through open and easily accessible application programming interfaces (APIs). Live Connect is built on standard web technologies such as OAuth 2.0, Representational State Transfer (REST), and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), and is designed to work with any technology or device. Live Connect unites the previously separate APIs of Windows Live into a single API that is based on industry standards and specifications.

Discontinued services

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Microsoft has released several computer programs with "Windows Live" brand, a summary of which is included below. All except Windows Live OneCare are freeware and published in a software suite called Windows Essentials (formerly Windows Live Essentials). Essentials programs are designed to integrate well with each other, within Windows, and with other Windows Live services such as OneDrive and Outlook.com.[14] Windows Live OneCare on the other hand, was a commercial consumers utility marketed with a software as a service licensing model.

Service Description Fate
Family Safety Parental controls similar to Windows Vista's Parental Controls feature Integrated into Windows 8 and later[7]
Mail Desktop mail and calendar client designed to succeed Outlook Express on Windows XP and Windows Mail on Windows Vista, with full RSS support Integrated into Windows 8 and later[7]
Movie Maker A video editing program for consumers Discontinued, most functionality integrated into Photos app, a feature which was called Windows Story Remix (later Video Editor)
Messenger Instant messaging app Replaced by Skype
Messenger Companion An add-in for Internet Explorer that allows users to share a webpage with their friends on Windows Live, see links to webpages the user's friends have shared and comment on these shared pages. Discontinued
OneCare A suite of computer security programs with antivirus program, backup utility, and a personal firewall. Discontinued; functionality is partially offered by Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows Defender, System Center Endpoint Protection, Windows Backup and Windows Firewall.
Toolbar A toolbar plug-in for Windows Internet Explorer, which allows quick access to a user's Windows Live Spaces, Hotmail, Favorites and Live Search from a button on the toolbar. Replaced by Bing Desktop and Bing Bar
Photo Gallery Image organizer that makes posting photos to SkyDrive and Facebook easier Discontinued; functionality is partially offered by Photos app in Windows 10, and OneDrive app.
Writer Desktop blog publishing tool that can publish to popular blogging services and make use of SkyDrive for photo storage. Discontinued; open sourced as Open Live Writer in late 2015.

Windows Live Butterfly

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The Windows Live Butterfly awards program (formerly the MSN Butterfly program) was a program whose members were given the benefit of new Microsoft software to test before the beta releases went public and they were in direct contact with the program managers for Windows Live products.

Microsoft had initiated the Windows Live Butterfly program in order to recognize the contributions made by exemplary beta testers. Prospective 'butterflies' were selected by the Windows Live product team and were nominated for a term of one year, after which they could be renominated.[15]

The Windows Live Butterfly program was closed in June 2009.

All Windows Live websites sported a common theme. Different themes have been used on the sites with each phase of product release, called "Waves". Each Wave had a set of online services and desktop programs (Windows Essentials). The web services are labelled by each Wave, for example, Hotmail Wave 4. The programs from Windows Essentials are usually called by a year number, for example, Windows Live Messenger 2011. The design of the themes highly resemble the themes of Windows Aero.

Blue Vapor/Flair/Wave 1

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The Windows Live Flair header

Most original Windows Live applications and services used a visual theme known as Blue Vapor or Flair. The header consisted of a turquoise blue gradient that softly fades to white downward, with bright, curved, energy lines inside to create depth.

One can click on the silver orb at the left of the header to access every Windows Live service from a drop-down list. The header also contained a search bar for Windows Live Search.

With the public release of the Windows Live Wave 2 Suite,[16] a new visual theme was released to resemble Windows Vista’s theme, Aero.[17] The header is especially reminiscent of File Explorer’s command bar in Windows Vista, and the silver orb’s drop-down menu is themed off of Windows Vista’s context menu.

The header’s navigation menu left of the search bar contained shortcuts to four services. From left to right: Windows Live Home; Windows Live Hotmail; Windows Live Spaces; and Windows Live OneCare.

Windows Live received a complete overhaul as Microsoft released a set of new themes for their Windows Live Wave 3 services, which allows users to customize their pages on Windows Live using a set of predetermined background pictures. Several of these themes are dynamic and change according to the time of day and the current weather condition of the user.[18]

The default header theme is a bright sky blue that fades to white downwards, with energy lines inside to create depth. In addition, The header’s navigation menu was reorganized to include the following services, from left to right: Windows Live Home; Profile; People; Hotmail; and Photos. The silver orb from previous designs was also replaced by the More and MSN drop-down lists.

Windows Live Wave 4 header

In addition to the themes provided in Windows Live Wave 3, the release of Windows Live Wave 4 provided additional themes for users to customize their pages on Windows Live, with several dynamic themes that changes according to the time of day and weather conditions at the user's location. Several of these newly added themes are similar to wallpapers originating from Windows 7.[19]

In addition, the Windows Live Wave 4 header features a reorganized dynamic navigation menu that displayed the number of the user's current online contacts and the number of unread e-mails,[20] as well as an in-built Windows Live Web Messenger service allowing users to connect to the Microsoft Messenger service and Facebook chat service to chat with their online contacts while browsing any Windows Live properties using a web browser.[21] From left to right, the dynamic navigation menu contains: Hotmail; Windows Live Web Messenger; Office Web Apps; and Photos.

In addition to Windows Live, which is mainly aimed at individuals,[5] Microsoft brands other properties as "Live", including:

  1. ^ "Windows Live Wave 3 Reviewers Guide" (PDF). News Center. Microsoft. 2008-11-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 1, 2010. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  2. ^ Thurrott, Paul (2006-01-18). "Windows Live Preview". SuperSite for Windows. Penton Media. Archived from the original on 2007-05-27. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
  3. ^ "The Complete Windows Experience – Windows 7 + Windows Live". The Windows Blog. Microsoft. 28 October 2008.
  4. ^ "Windows 8 Developer Preview Guide" (PDF). Download Center. Microsoft. 2011-09-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  5. ^ a b "Microsoft Previews New Windows Live and Office Live Services". News Center. Microsoft. 1 November 2005. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  6. ^ Stross, Randall (May 27, 2012). "Goodbye to Windows Live (and Whatever It Meant)". New York Times. Archived from the original on January 13, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "Cloud services for Windows 8 and Windows Phone: Windows Live, reimagined". Building Windows 8. Microsoft. 2012-05-02. Archived from the original on 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  8. ^ Woodman, Aaron (13 July 2010). "Windows Phone 7 – Getting Connected". Blogging Windows. Microsoft.
  9. ^ "Windows Live for mobile Wave 3 – take your social life on the go". LiveSide.net. 2008-11-14. Archived from the original on 2008-12-05. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  10. ^ Foley, Mary Jo (21 March 2007). "Microsoft severs Live Search from the rest of the Windows Live family". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Keynote with Kevin Johnson at Microsoft". seroundtable.com. 3 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2018-06-24. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  12. ^ Singel, Ryan (2009-05-28). "Hands On With Microsoft's New Search Engine: Bing, But No Boom". Wired. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 2012-04-29. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  13. ^ plugins.live.com/developer/information
  14. ^ Foley, Mary Jo (25 August 2006). "Microsoft Seeks Testers for 'Windows Live Essentials'". eWeek. Quinstreet. Retrieved 2023-10-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  15. ^ "Excerpt of Windows Live Butterfly Acceptance E-mail from Windows Live Beta Team". Archived from the original on January 4, 2009.
  16. ^ "Windows Live 2.0 Release Notes". Microsoft. Retrieved 2008-06-06.[permanent dead link]
  17. ^ "The Death of Flair – Windows Live's New Look". LiveSide.net. 2007-06-15. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  18. ^ "Windows Live Wave 3: New Header UI". LiveSide.net. 2008-06-05. Archived from the original on 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  19. ^ "Recapping the rumors: what we 'know' about Wave 4". LiveSide.net. 2010-01-04. Archived from the original on 2010-01-08. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  20. ^ "More information about Windows Live Wave 4's dynamic header". LiveSide.net. 2010-01-21. Archived from the original on 2010-01-28. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  21. ^ "A new wave, a new look: First look at the Windows Live Wave 4 header". LiveSide.net. 2010-01-04. Archived from the original on 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
  22. ^ "Looking ahead and bringing you even more". Office Live Workspace Team Blog. Microsoft. 2009-01-23. Archived from the original on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-01-24.