LiveSide - News blog : TV

Another One Bites the Dust - Windows Live for TV

Gregor — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:53:00 GMT

With all the news about Windows Live/Live Search products being dropped for good lately we almost forgot to add another one to the list - one that never made it out of beta. After the first drop of Codename Orbit hit the web back in December 2006 and a little update released the following April it got silent around the promising Windows Live for TV project.

Two weeks ago Chris Lanier spotted a post on TGB that sets an endpoint to this uncertainty for now. Windows Live for TV is dead. The product team has been moved around to a different part of Microsoft and we will most likely not see the product come out of beta - at least that is what a program manager been quoted to say as a source.

At best this could mean that the team has been merged into the Media Center Edition team and that some parts of the software will eventually show up in an upcoming Media Center update (but there have not been any hints about this happening with Fiji for now) - at worst we wont ever hear about any of the features again...

Thanks to Andy for reminding us to post about this....

UPDATE: Now we have an even more official confirmation of this - the beta service is being shut down for good on June 24th according to a post on the team blog.

Minor Live.com update - MSN TV Listings gadget available

Chris — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 06:46:00 GMT

A minor Live.com update has taken place over the last few days, so minor in fact that we almost missed it. The giveaway? The MSN TV listings gadget is finally available, almost exactly a year after it was first demoed. You can try the gadget out for yourelf once you have set your personalised page to English - US.

Add Stuff - Gadgets - Tecky, Geeky, Cool (or alternatively Music, Movies & TV)

According to the chatter we heard at CES, a larger live.com update, with changes to RSS feeds, is expected in early Feb. There will be a lot more action before that though, so make sure you stay tuned. (Awful joke, I know).

Where are they now? Windows Live Sidebar and Live.com TV Gadget

Chris — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 02:55:00 GMT

At the beginning of year one of the most interesting gadgets talked about was that of the “What’s on TV” gadget for Live.com. Providing local TV listings and links to show and episode information, this gadget allows Media Center PC users with a TV tuner card and MSN Remote Record installed to schedule a recording direct from Live.com.

Then there is still the mystery surrounding Windows Live Sidebar.

...(read more)