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The future of Windows Live Mail desktop

There hasn't been much news on Windows Live Mail desktop since 2006, with a minor update being released in February. With most Windows Live watchers expecting a v1 release at the beginning of the year, many are wondering what is happening to the product. Dare Obasanjo even joked at a rename to Outlook Express Live.

It seems to be that Microsoft is rethinking its mail client strategy, with the belief that two distinct free mail clients for Windows Vista (Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail desktop) is not the way to move forward. Instead, Mail desktop will evolve to become an enhanced Windows Mail client, which when installed will replace Vista's Windows Mail. For those familiar with Mail desktop there will not be a huge change however for those using Windows Mail they will benefit from the integration of Live services.

While the name and details of the new product are unconfirmed, hopefully we should soon see a beta of Windows Live Mail for Vista.

Comments

 

rhann said:

what about XP?

March 12, 2007 2:36 AM
 

MisinformedDNA said:

Thank you. Thank you for LiveSide for the update. And thank you to the MS Execs who finally realized that another mail client from MS is just not needed.

@rhann: There are still and will be many XPs users. I would expect them to have an XP edition as well. Windows Mail and OE are different enough that Windows Live Mail desktop will probably not replace OE. Just my guess.

March 12, 2007 2:53 AM
 

Khristopher said:

This article is a bit confusing :P Did you do that on purpose Chris? ;)

Does that mean WLMd is finished and will be renamed to something else?

March 12, 2007 3:09 AM
 

mrmckeb said:

CALENDAR!

March 12, 2007 7:47 AM
 

Zaarin said:

What is happening with the calendar?

I've since moved across to Google calendar, for it's ease of use, and that I can sync with my brothers calendar.

March 12, 2007 8:21 AM
 

Chris said:

Calendar is being worked on :)

March 12, 2007 8:34 AM
 

azz0r said:

How did you find this out?

See now the thing is, I was wondering how WLMd was going to get crushed.

- Remove Live branding, release as an updated version of Vistas Mail client

- Take it out of beta, release an update for Vistas Mail client to update its functionality

- Stop updating it, focus on Vistas Mail client

All I'm really worried about is how they'll do the updating. I quite like WLMd because of how it looks - it is somewhat customizable to, whereas Windows Mail is butt ugly and lacks any real customization.

Its going to be interesting to see how this going.

March 12, 2007 5:00 PM
 

Jesper said:

Yes! Let's get a Windows Live Calendar :-)

March 12, 2007 9:47 PM
 

mrx9898 said:

Hmmm... I use windows XP, so I use Windows Live Mail desktop instead of Outlook Express... I think I'd rather they keep it a seperate product.

March 13, 2007 12:09 AM
 

antisexy said:

a good page :-)

March 14, 2007 6:18 AM
 

bf1977 said:

And for the Windows Xp? Vai to have change or does not go to have version for the Xp?

March 15, 2007 2:03 PM

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About Chris

Chris has a regular day job, therefore needs to insert the standard blogger disclaimer:

Please note that the views expressed here at LiveSide.net reflect the views of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any of their associated employers, companies or organizations.
You can contact Chris via email about anything regarding LiveSide or Windows Live - chris*at*liveside.net

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