Round And About Windows Live 

Movie Maker

Windows Live Movie Maker is launched!

Last week, Windows Live users were pleasantly surprised when a newly completed version of Live Movie Maker was suddenly made available to download.

The previous version which was a very ‘bare bones’ version had been available to users as a beta when downloading the rest of the Windows Live Essentials suite of programs, but many users were very disappointed with its lack of a timeline and general lack of features.

The Movie Maker team had taken the very brave decision to take the original Movie Maker and start right from scratch, not an easy decision to make as it was a popular and well used program. They also decided to use the Ribbon Interface, famously employed in Office 2007 in Word and Excel, and also now used in Windows 7 for Paint and Wordpad.

The idea of using the Ribbon Interface is to try and make a fairly complicated program which contains lots of choices for the user easier to get to grips with, and it certainly fulfils this remit in Live Movie Maker.

It will now receive frequent updates alongside the other applications that make up the Live Essentials suite of programs. This reporter has already been trying it out for herself, and loves its AutoMovie feature which allows you to let the program make a video for you with just one click!

Get the new version HERE.

 Is Captcha the only Answer to Spam Comments?

If you have been a resident of Windows Live for quite some time, you will be well aware of the Spam comments that we are all prone to from time to time, usually in our Spaces blog comments. The Windows Live teams have tried everything they can to put a stop to it, but it still continues to occur.

What is the answer? Well, I do know that other blogging sites use Captcha in order to try and put a stop to ‘spam bots’ being able to infiltrate your comments area, so could this be introduced here on Windows Live? This would mean that every time you wanted to make a comment on someone else's blog post, you would have to fill one of these in.

Captcha

The drawback could be that if Captcha is used, it might put other users off from bothering to make a comment on your blogs when they have to constantly fill in a Captcha, and as many users will no doubt be aware this would be a real shame as many an interesting ‘chat’ session has taken place in the past via comments on Windows Live users blogs. 

What do you think? Is using Captcha the only answer?

Feedback via the usual channels.

This Week’s Windows Live User.

Jamie Thomson

My Windows Live User interview this week is with our Clubhouse All Star winner Jamie Thomson! First of all Jamie, congratulations on winning the Clubhouse All Star Award, and thanks for taking the time to let me do this interview with you.

Thanks TG. It was a great feeling to win that All Star award - knowing that people have actually taking the time to vote for me was pretty humbling.

 

For the readers, can you tell me a little bit about yourself, where you live and what your job entails in IT? Plus I know you are a Yorkshire lad, so maybe a snippet of why you left there?

 

OK, well I live in South West London (UK) with my wife, Helen (you can find her at http://twitter.com/mrs_tommo). We've been married about 11 months now although we've known each other for nine years so I think our marriage was a little overdue!!
And yes, my day job is working in IT - I'm basically a data geek that tries to build database systems for people.
I left Yorkshire to come down south 11 years ago just after I graduated from university - basically because all the jobs I wanted were in London (and still are). My family are still up there though so I get back every chance I get.

How long have you been a resident of Windows Live Jamie?

That's a hard one. I remember getting my first Hotmail account in 1997 although back then "Windows Live" as a brand didn't exist. Other than that I guess I've been using the various Windows Live services on and off for about three years now.
Do you also use any of the Desktop apps as well as the site?
Yes, absolutely. Writer, Photo Gallery, Messenger and Mail. I use at least two of those every day. I doubt I'm going to be a big user of Movie Maker though! Does Live Mesh count? I use that every day as well!                              

You are well known for posting your famous 'wishlists' about future changes that you would love to see happen either to the  apps or the site itself, how often do any of your wishes actually come to fruition?

 

Oh good question. Pretty rarely I'd say. I once posted a wishlist for wave 3 and when it came to pass it turned out that not many of those ideas had been implemented (as you can see here: http://tinyurl.com/luhzch). That's not to say that I wasn't happy with wave 3 though - I was. Very happy indeed. I guess that goes to show that other people have ideas just as good if not better than mine!

Will you be posting about your prizes that you have won for being the Clubhouse All star winner, so that users can see them all?

Pass! It depends what they are :)

What do you see Windows Live as Jamie? A blogging site? A Social Networking site? A community site?

All of the above and more. My interest in Windows Live stems not from what it is today but from what I believe it has the potential to be. Recently on your, TG, Live Soapbox group I said: "I get the impression that Microsoft want Windows Live to be a platform, not just for social networking, but for anything and everything. Your documents, your devices, consumer applications, perhaps even business applications and (most importantly of all) your data. If you think about it - that's almost a manifesto for Windows some 20 years ago - I see Windows Live as an evolution of those same principles - its the same things done just a little bit differently!"
In my line of work I hear a lot about elevator statements which is an americanism meaning, "how could you describe something so succinctly that you could communicate it in the time that it takes to ride an elevator"? I'd love to know what Microsoft's "elevator statement" is for Windows Live.

As we all wait patiently for the Wave4 updates, what are you hoping will be introduced and why?

 
Oh that's easy - I want all the functionality of Live Mesh built into Windows Live. Reading between the lines I'm pretty sure that that is exactly what is going to happen. 

I know that you are an MVP Jamie, can you tell us why you were given that award? What is your area of expertise?

Yeah sure, its nothing to do with Windows Live. In my day job I use Microsoft's database product called SQL Server and I spend a fair amount of time sharing the stuff I know about that product with other people in the community - hence I am a SQL Server MVP.                                         

What if any other social networking sites or applications do you use besides Windows Live?

Twitter and LinkedIn. I also have a profile on Facebook although I don't visit it much; my wife created it for me because she wanted to be able to link to me as her fiancé!

Thank you Jamie for taking the time to answer these questions for our readers. Its been most kind of you to agree to doing this interview.

Its my pleasure TG. These newsletters are a hugely valuable contribution to the Windows Live community and I'm honoured that you asked me to be a part of one of them. (I just wish you'd put them on the clubhouse :)

You can read Jamie’s blog at his Live Space HERE.

 Spread the Word!

This newsletter is for you! Its all about Windows Live and its users, so please spread the word around your network about it, so that other users can read it, the more the merrier!

If you have any ideas that you would love to see incorporated into it, then just give this reporter some feedback via comments.  Any news snippets about Windows Live? Contact me via PM.  Any user that you would love to see featured in here, so that you can learn more about why they use Windows Live? Someone who has a fantastic Space that they have created using only the Windows Live tools available?  Let me know and I will consider featuring it.

TG

This magazine was brought to you by TG, your resident reporter.  My kind thanks to Live Writer and the team for supplying the tools with which to format and create the magazine. Do comment please on articles that you would love to see included, including any news about Windows Live and also anyone’s Space that you think warrants a mention. Note that this Magazine is primarily intended to be about the Windows Live residents and users and not the Windows Live Teams although any News about Windows Live that this editor feels is relevant or of interest to the users of Windows Live will of course be included. © Copyright reserved

 
 
 

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