2008 was a momentous year for Windows Live.  After lots of fanfare, but with no real direction, Windows Live first appeared in early 2006, with lots of new apps, lots of rebranding (and re-rebranding), and lots of queries from the press and from customers on “what IS Windows Live?”.  That continued into 2007, where even Microsoft had had enough of all the rebranding foolishness, pulled back on new releases, and started cleaning up the Windows Live act.  We got our first glimpses of a new direction in Wave 2, in early 2008.

But Wave 3, which debuted in the fall of 2008, for the first time offered a clear definition of Windows Live, and a (mostly) unified presentation experience.  In January of 2009 Steve Ballmer took the “beta” tag off of Windows Live Essentials, and this week we were able to fight the freeway traffic and head up to Redmond to speak with a number of Windows Live managers about where we are.

Our first interview of the day was with Ryan Gavin, Senior Director, Windows Live.  Ryan was busy at CES, talking to a number of publications, and we were grateful to be able to catch him while missing all the CES Vegas madness.  Ryan gives us an overview of the Windows Live platform, talks about “simplifying the web”, about partners, including Facebook, and give a shout out to LiveSide readers at the end:

In the next few days, as we get the videos processed and loaded up to Soapbox, we’ll be bringing you more in our short series of Windows Live interviews.  Our thanks to Microsoft, Windows Live, and Waggener Edstrom for setting this all up for us.