Windows Live Profile - introducing your Web Activities, Networks and Lists

re: Windows Live Profile - introducing your Web Activities, Networks and Lists

foaf — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:27:08 GMT

@damaster - I think you've really hit the nail on the head there: "there's no border". In facebook I know exactly when I go in and out, because I login and things are pretty regimented inside.

WL is a little less like that, I dip in and out without realising. Hotmail one minute, Calender the next. This is aided by the easy URLs I use all the time, eg: http://mail.live.com.

I'm not saying either is better, in fact the WL approach suits me more. But its Social products (Profile, Groups, Photos, Spaces) feel unattractive at the moment. I hope I'm proved wrong with Profile (It will rely on the netowrk effects though).

@brianm76 - agreed also. I went through stage of just installing WL on friends machines when they weren't looking. But a few days later I inevitably get contacted to resolve a technical issue because the products are in beta. I'll still do it with Wave 3 though.

re: Windows Live Profile - introducing your Web Activities, Networks and Lists

brianm76 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:13:39 GMT

One of the major problems I have is getting people to use WL Software and Services. So many people are set in their ways, don't care, or are happy with what they have even though there are better things out there. I have had no luck getting friends/family to use messenger let alone anything else Windows Live. There needs to be some real advertisement about these servcies once they are released to get more people to switch. God knows I've tried and failed :(

re: Windows Live Profile - introducing your Web Activities, Networks and Lists

damaster — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:00:00 GMT

@foaf: Although there seems to have an overwhelming number of Windows Live services, think of each service as one of the "tabs" in Facebook, so they're all actually very closely integrated and there isn't really a "border" between them all (eg. the Whats New feed would span across all services linking them all).

I would think Microsoft is trying to leverage the millions of users currently using Messenger + Hotmail + Spaces and get these users across to use the other Windows Live services.

re: Windows Live Profile - introducing your Web Activities, Networks and Lists

foaf — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:03:48 GMT

I don't really understand the WL social networking strategy. There's so many different places to do things, profile, spaces, photos, events and groups. The separation enables me to use the ones I like and forget about the rest. For example personally I will use Profile, and not Spaces.

It's just a shame Profile (ahem facebook) and Spaces (ahem MySpace) come so late after the competition. I just don't see any need.

EXCEPT the original social network that Microsoft pioneered - Messenger. It's the only reason I would need to use Profile. And the integration via the "What's New" ticker is essential to keep it alive. So congrats to the team for doing this. I think it should be the cornerstone of a lot more WL things.

You know the social networks scan your contacts to add friends within each one? Well I could really do with the reverse - ie: Messenger scanning my Facebook Contacts so I can IM them on Messenger. I digress.....