April 2006 - LiveSide - News blog

Presumably timed to coincide with this year's MSN Strategic Account Summit, this May MSN's adCenter will roll out a major update to the public. AdCenter is MSN's easy to use online advertising platform. AdCenter helps advertisers to strategize, plan, and place their ads on the right search pages so that they get seen and clicked. Much in the same way that Google's AdWords works, your ad on adCenter appears when a user searches for a specific keyword, bid on by you, on an MSN Search page. AdCenter includes analysis tools so that you can fully optimize your ad campaigns.

Although, it may appear to be just like Google's product on the surface, there is actually much more to AdCenter. MSN's adCenter lets you control every aspect of your advertising. It allows an advertiser to control how much they pay for ads and when they pay it. You can also define target audiences by selecting specific geographic areas, times of day, age groups, and genders which the ads will be displayed to. A user's account is organized in a hierarchy, which includes Accounts, Campaigns, Orders, Ads, and Keywords. See the picture below for an illustrated view.

There will be a May update of adCenter and also the final service will be launching sometime in June. We expect adCenter to take center stage this week at the MSN SAS and myself and Chris will be providing live coverage from the event, so keep your eyes here for the latest.

Microsoft-Watch's take on adCenter and MSAS MSN adCenter

Amazon.com has dropped Google Search for Windows Live Search for A9 and Alexa, according to the Google Operating System blog. No official word out about this yet, but it seems to be true, as you can see:

Just to let everyone know, our OPML file of all the sites on our blogroll is completely up to date as of right now. Although, with the ferocity which Microsoft is launching new Windows Live services, that could all change by tomorrow, or even by the time you're reading this! ;) If you have not checked out our feed list, definitely do so. It is a really good base for keeping up and tracking all of Microsoft's Live initiatives. So, if you love LiveSide and you're just looking for a little bit more, pop that OPML into your "Reader of Choice" and let it roll. (The link to the file is always in our sidebar, but here it is for convenience.)

LiveSide OPML

As the Windows Live Mail Desktop Team inches closer to the next beta stage, they've decided to reveal plans for changing the UI in the new email application.

Windows Live Mail Desktop will adopt the same UI coming with the new Messenger Beta Refresh. As Chris pointed out earlier today, the same UI will become standard across the Windows Live Services. Windows Live Mail Desktop Blog

MSN UK have launched a new site to promote Windows Live over at http://www.insiderclub.co.uk. Its not quite finished yet (I'm stuck waiting at Level 3) but you can win some cool freebies, including Windows Live Messenger Phones. I've ordered my free contact cards already :-)

Check it out at http://www.insiderclub.co.uk

via MSBlog

Starting next month we are reducing the number of advertising from two graphical ads to a single ad in the inbox. The skyscraper will be gone from Windows Live Mail! I hope people see this as an olive branch from us to the user, and the advertiser. The users will be happier and more engaged, and the advertisers will ultimately benefit in the end. This change and its impact is an investment that we believe is a smart one to make. Everyone in MSN has been supportive of this decision and we wouldn't be making it if we didn't feel that it was the right thing to do and better for all of us in the long term.

Its a great post by Omar that acknowledges the problems in the past with Hotmail that the Windows Live Mail Team are hoping to change. Omar Shahine's Blog

note: posted by Brandon LeBlanc

Microsoft has launched the Windows Live Shopping Service today. Give shopping.live.com a try!

You can also checking out Windows Live Shopping Guides and the Windows Live Shopping Tour! They've done a fantastic job introducing a neat shopping system. Using AJAX technology, you can easily get product information just by hovering your mouse over a single product. Buy merchandise anywhere from clothes to music to toys! Of course if you buy something you don't like from Windows Live Shopping, go trade it on Windows Live Expo!

note: posted by Brandon LeBlanc

Several people have been asking about the graphic branding Microsoft plans to use for its Windows Live services. While everything is still in beta and subject to change, we cannot be certain how it will end up, but here's how we understand it at the moment:

 - The "Windows Flag + Windows Live Product name" approach will make up the main logo for each product. The jewel logo that has appeared in a few places will not be used.

 - The Windows Live Orb will be used in a similar way as the orbs present in Vista and Office 2007. It will sit in the left hand corner of client based applications and be used as a menu launcher.

 - The Windows Live Energy ("Flair") header that was first shown in the new Messenger user interface will be used across the Windows Live services. Say byebye to the empty white look.

Mary Jo Foley from Microsoft Watch does an fantastic interview with Windows Live Platform Group leader Blake Irving. Mr. Irving explains what Windows Live is and talks about some of its goals and directions the platform has for its users. Check out the Interview with Blake Irving! If you are confused by Windows Live and the direction it is heading, this interview is a great way to try and clear things up. Its a much needed interview with someone from Microsoft that probably has the best idea of where Windows Live is heading and its real purpose. I strongly recommend this interview for everyone to read.

note: posted by Brandon LeBlanc

LiveSide Staff, minus myself, will be up in Redmond next week but I was fortunate enough to have been able to take a short trip up to Microsoft earlier this week. I was invited to meet Nick and Terri from the Hive as well as invited to take a gander at some "behind the scenes" stuff from the Messenger Team. You can read about my trip in two parts. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here! While I was there, the Messenger Team gave me a sneak peak at the latest build. It looks awesome. As we've said here at LiveSide, the Messenger Team is hoping to get a Refresh Build out to testers in the near future.

note: posted by Brandon LeBlanc 

The first thing to point out is that all the sign-ins will start going to our new URL, which is login.live.com. The second thing is that you'll notice in the footer of our "classic" sign-in UI are the words "Windows Live ID" :)

Expect more from the Windows Live ID Team in the coming weeks! Source: Windows Live ID Blog

note: posted by Brandon LeBlanc

This coming week (May 1-5) the LiveSide staff will be making the pilgrimage to Microsoft's stronghold, Redmond, WA. Unfortunately Brandon will not be able to take the trip this week because of work obligations. Matthew and Kip will be attending the MSN Butterfly Tour on Monday and Tuesday, while myself and Chris will be representing the site at the MSN Strategic Account Summit. If anyone is interested in meeting up or showing off their products, Chris and I will be making the rounds on Friday after the event. Or, if anyone just wants to meetup or hang out at some point during the week, we are certainly open to that. Just email any of us to set something up!  

Emails:
Harrison: harrison AT liveside D0T net
Chris: chris AT liveside D0T net Matthew:
matthew AT liveside D0T net Kip:
kip AT liveside D0T net

Note: Some expenses have been paid for by Microsoft

We've gotten a few folks telling us about issue's they're seeing with the latest IE7 release and the Live Favorites website. We discovered a Javascript issue that affects IE7 only. The fix for it should be out early next week.

Source: Live Favorites Blog

note: posted by Brandon LeBlanc

Some much needed discussion around Live.com, performance, usability, and focus is taking place around the net - started by a post from Rick Strahl he calls "Live.com - I don't get it". Ken Levy, Product Planner for Windows Live, picked up on it, sent it off to Scott Isaacs, who then posted on What we learned building Live.com (or why are we slow)?.

OK Scott can lose you pretty quick if you aren't a developer, but what he's saying is 1) Live.com is experimental, 2) yes there are performance issues, and 3) things will get better. The Live.com team also blogged, at Levy's urging, with Improving Live.com, where they outline what they are trying to accomplish and how they think they are doing. Things are slated to get better, and LiveSide has learned that a performance upgrade is scheduled for Live.com within the next two weeks. Oh, and Cullen Waters says he "Gets it". Feel free to join in the discussion here, or on any of the postings above. Do you "get it" when it comes to Live.com?

For many users, the change from MSN to Windows Live will be most obvious when they first load their new inbox. The Windows Live user interface is a sharp change from the Hotmail one, a change that actually has been too dramatic for some users, hence the inclusion of the classic interface included in Live Mail since the last major update. Score one for listening to feedback.

Yet again though it seems as though the Live Mail team really is switched on to providing the best experience for the consumers, even if it means challenging accepted Microsoft practises along the way. The decision to drop the 2nd advertisement in Live Mail is probably the most obvious sign of how much of a departure from its previous online services Microsoft is making with Windows Live. User experience being put before monetization. It will be interesting to see then how this change is reflected elsewhere in Windows Live, given one of the major aims of the portfolio of services is to provide the user with a consistent user interface. (Some users are already experiencing Live Mail with just the one advertisement, as it is currently being trialled on a small number of accounts.)

Despite the team's progress, there are still many unaswered questions. What's Live Mail got to offer for premium users? How painful will the switch from @hotmail.com to @live.com really be? Hopefully we'll be getting some answers soon, as with all the new Windows Live services, the next update is never far away.

 Source: New.com - Hotmail's new address