Windows Live Essentials beta is ready for your downloading delight

Could Windows Live Essentials really be "better than Mac for photos, hands down," as per the gauntlet Microsoft's Brian Hall tossed earlier this month? There's only one way to find out, and that's by trying it out yourself with the free download at our source link. The software suite just hit beta with not only the face-recognizing, photo-stitching new rendition of Photo Gallery, but also new versions of Mail, Movie Maker, Messenger, Writer and a Mac-friendly version of the Dropbox-like Sync (no, not that Sync) as well. So... what are you waiting for? Oh, you're still "awwing" at the image above, aren't you?

[TikiTeko Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:49PM]

Awesome! I really like Windows Live. I am really happy to see Windows Live officially on the iPhone :D That has been a selling point for me on the iPhone 4. I really hope that MS takes more care of the Mac version of Windows Live. All platforms deserve the same love. Good job Windows Live Team !

P.S: We also want a cool official client for Android :D Blue and Green Droids for the win ^^

[TikiTeko Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:02PM]

@TikiTeko Downloaded, Installed, Running. Pretty impressed :D

[GusRandall Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:16PM]

@TikiTeko Really want an Android client.

[Revolutionary Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:18PM]

@TikiTeko

OMG THE MESSENGER IS COMPLETELY OVERHAULED.

It's so integrated with facebook, and other services.
I feel like omg, well done microsoft.

[Jimbojones Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:22PM]

@TikiTeko the photo app has tons of great new features as well, I love it! Video editing app still sucks (VISTA version was much better), new SYNC app looks interesting.

[LowRidinCrew Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:26PM]

@TikiTeko Put it on WebOS (as an app) and i will love it more!

[TikiTeko Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:32PM]

@Jimbojones the good thing about the Movie app now is that it finally got Webcam capture :D you know to make YouTube videos.

[ericrrr Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:47PM]

@LowRidinCrew
put it in the webos chatting thing which is right beside the sms will totally just blow out the system

[Matt314 Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:49PM]

@TikiTeko
Man...MS is on a roll!! Win7, WP&, now this? Haven't seen them come out with quality stuff like this in a long time!

P.S: Sync is REALLY awesome.

[jj1814 Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:55PM]

@Matt314

I only use the last version of Live Mail, but you guys are making me want to try out the whole Suite

[Specter Posted Jun 24th 2010 10:00PM]

@Matt314

My cousin is on the Sync team, if you like sync now, with for Wave 5 (he says) it gets skydrive integration

[brrip Posted Jun 24th 2010 10:21PM]

@Revolutionary omg i can't change my display name. wtf wtf wtf.

[geekthree Posted Jun 25th 2010 3:19AM]

@Indefinite Implosion

Windows installer error..

If you have User Account Control enabled, run the installer as Administrator (actually, do that anyway) Windows Vista/7 has weired permissions issues.. (more so vista which is a nightmare).

Try here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958052

[brrip Posted Jun 26th 2010 7:24AM]

@Indefinite Implosion it is? i hate the fact that i can't change my nickname. back to wlm 9 till microsoft gets its act together.

[etwashoo2 Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:49PM]

Curious how this would compare to Picasa.

[CodyTech Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:49PM]

Hmm.. I'm going to have to give this a shot.

[jrm125 Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:50PM]

Looks like a really nice step forward.

Great to see competition creating better and better products for us, the consumer.

[VAreAct Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:51PM]

Just got finished downloading and installing it, I hope it lives up to my expectations!

[Kepe Posted Jun 27th 2010 4:15PM]

@VAreAct how's it working for you? My messenger logged in ok, but when I sent a message, the recipient got the message but immediately after that I was seen as being offline. This happened with everyone. So now I'm back to the old messenger that actually works (just).

[Calan Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:54PM]

This update is quite impressive. I immediately linked my facebook account so I can see updates in the Messenger status window.
Sadly, facebook videos simply show up as "Video unavailable" (why let videos be put into the Messenger status window feed if they aren't playable or linked?) and you cannot like/unlike status updates. Little things, but big things.

Batch people tag in Windows Live Photo Gallery is beautiful.

[Calan Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:59PM]

@Calan Also, the Photo Gallery slide show would be nice if it took advantage of widescreen displays. Nice big, black bars on the sides even when viewing a set of pictures that is exclusively 16:9 images.

[216 Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:55PM]

I like how everything syncs up to SkyDrive. Kudos MS. Now, INCLUDE THIS IN WINDOWS 7 BY DEFAULT. Then people will actually know that it exists

[DefPoet Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:13PM]

@216
Then the EU would sue them
The EU....the " I'm still relevant in the world" coalition

[Sor1 Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:14PM]

@216

Nooo, noo just no, there was a huge war to remove this stuff from Vista and now you suggest to put them back?? I dont use ANY of these programs why then must be installed by default??? MS took the right decision to have them as optional!

[LANjackal Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:23PM]

@216 Shockingly, a very vocal tech crowd insisted that MS *NOT* include WLE apps with 7 out of concerns with "bloat" and "featuritis". Go figure.

[VasiS Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:35PM]

@Sor1 Well, with all the OEM deals many people will get Live Essentials by default when they buy a new laptop.

[BlackedOut Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:36PM]

@DefPoet
I still think that ruling sucks. I swear Macs come with Safari pre-installed, I'm sure they don't have to share.

[Rock Stone Posted Jun 24th 2010 11:22PM]

@216
I see it listed in my (win7 ultimate) Windows Update:
Windows Live (1)
Windows Live Essentials Published 6/01/2010

[sirhancelot Posted Jun 24th 2010 11:35PM]

@BlackedOut The difference is Safari is a major minority market share where as IE (at the time of ruling) had an INSANE amount of users. The EU isn't worried about Safari because most people who get a Mac download Firefox anyways and use it instead.

[Dafrety Posted Jun 24th 2010 6:56PM]

Windows Live Essentials is great. I love Photo Gallery. I can't decide if I like it or Picasa more though, they're both brilliant, especially when you consider the price.

[Kirtay Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:00PM]

This is awesome.

[imjp Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:01PM]

Looks nice... for Microsoft, that is

[hammydbest Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:01PM]

Is the face recognition on this better than picasa?

[infamous1 Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:01PM]

awww

[cmwind Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:02PM]

i see how you can send facebook contcats messages... but i thought you were supposed to be able to facebook chat with contacts logged into facebook straight from windows live... anyone know how this is done?

[The Madman Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:40PM]

@cmwind Facebook chat supports XMMP straight out. Dunno if Windows Live Messenger supports XMMP. It didn't the last version, though, so...

But if it does, that'll let you see and contact Facebook and Google Chat contacts too. It's a pretty standard chat protocol supported in most-all multi-protocol chat clients.

[dcoaster Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:09PM]

Now don't be ridiculous Engadget... This is beta software of course so don't encourage people to make a decision too early when they're still fixing away.

[Keegsta Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:10PM]

No download for Mac, Fail.

[Dafrety Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:13PM]

@Keegsta
Expecting something called "Windows Live Essentials" to be available for Mac, Fail.

[Keegsta Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:21PM]

@Dafrety I wasn't serious.

[LANjackal Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:24PM]

@Dafrety Live Sync is available for Mac, actually.

[Viakenny Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:48PM]

@Dafrety well, there's Microsoft Messenger for Mac, but the Windows version is better. (actually, I think even the iOS version is better)

[TikiTeko Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:56PM]

@Viakenny the iOS version is in fact better than the Mac version :s

[jayjaync Posted Jun 24th 2010 10:26PM]

@TikiTeko Yeah, the Mac version of Live Messenger is just awful..

[sphbking Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:15PM]

Live Movie Maker isn't updated? Pity. It may be severely limited, but it does what it does excellently.

[georgeangelo Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:16PM]

@sphbking Yes it is updated.

[sphbking Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:22PM]

@georgeangelo

You're right. Installing now, but it didn't show up in the pre-install list for some reason.

Anyway, beta....

[Rapol Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:23PM]

@sphbking I still have the old movie maker 2.6 it may be slower and buggier but i think it get the job done better than the friendlier Live movie maker

[georgeangelo Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:27PM]

@Rapol I agree with you, but alas Windows 7 doesn't have access to the old Movie Maker. I prefer Movie Maker over Live Movie Maker any day. For some reason they removed a ton of features in Live Movie Maker. Makes total sense to me!

[sphbking Posted Jun 24th 2010 7:30PM]

@georgeangelo

You can copy the folder from the Program Files folder of a Vista Premium/Ultimate installation.

I've done it and it works just fine.