iThinkDifferent » Windows Live

Apple iCloud VS Windows Live Services VS Google Services

Haras — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:39:03 +0000

Apple iCloud VS Windows Live Services VS Google Services

Remember the good old days of Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, the time we only had a megabyte or two of storage? And then when Google announced Gmail with 1GB of storage, that seemed unbelievable.

Those days are long gone, Yahoo! seems to have disappeared, Microsoft did a complete refresh to their services, Google has more services than we care to know and new competitors have entered the market.

The three most incredible online services are the old Windows Live Services, Google services and the new, unborn Apple iCloud.

There is no doubt that all three of these services are to aid their respective mobile operating systems. All three tech giants want their customers to have a seamless experience. The question is who does it best?

Mail, Calendars, Contacts

Email is one of the most important needs in our lives today. Without it, we can’t communicate with our friends and family. With all the business work, school work and household work we have today in our lives, it is essential that we have Calendars that are smart and can notify us of an event before it’s too late. Most people today, also have hundreds if not thousands of contacts in their lives. Important and exporting them individually could be (almost) impossible. For all three of these services, we need storage, synchronization and a seamless experience.

All three services offer a great way to do all of this. Now it’s time to go into details.

Gmail: This service has been around for quite some time. In this time, it has had quite some time to evolve, and it has. Users now get over 7GB of storage, and all of this data can be synced very easily. Email, Contacts and Calendars used to be different apps, however now Contacts is integrated in Mail, but Calendars still lacks. This should be alright for most users, but for those who need to make calendar appointments regularly; this could a slight problem.

Hotmail: Microsoft’s service has been here for a little longer, but unfortunately Microsoft didn’t add much functionality to the service until recently. But, thankfully the service looks so much better today than it did six months ago. Users get 25GB of storage, which is more than enough for the average user. Email, Calendars and Contacts are synced quite well, there is one app where you can do everything, opposed to Gmail which has several applications which users need to visit to achieve an action.

iCloud: Apple’s iCloud is new to this game. In fact, it hasn’t even been released yet. According to Apple, this service is set to have better synchronization. The service will completely sync all email, contacts and calendars. One very compelling feature of iCloud is that it works with your existing iPhone apps, so there’s no need to install new apps or to visit a webpage. Another ‘feature’ Apple is really promoting is that there is no ads whatsoever. Apple’s service limits the storage at 5GB.

Winner: Google. They have been doing a great job in improving their service over the years and it works great. Gmail can work on virtually every smartphone. And that’s why they are the winner here.

Backup Services

Using cables to sync your phone is so 2010. Today, we want to wirelessly sync our data, and “cut the cord” to our PC.

Google: Google offers a service that backups all of the user’s phone settings and applications. This way, when the users decides to get a new Android phone, they can automatically get all of their applications back, without having to back it up manually. There is no limit to how much data can be stored.

Windows Live Services: Microsoft does not back up any user data from the phone to the cloud as of now.

iCloud: Apple has again stepped up the game here. iCloud is said to sync user applications (including App data), iBooks, music, device settings, SMS & MMS, ringtones and list goes one. All of this data is synchronized seamlessly between devices. The user only needs to sign in once, when setting up their iOS device. On top of all of this, Photo Stream also syncs the last 1,000 photos taken or imported, which none other services offer. Furthermore, documents are also synced between user devices.

Winner: Apple. This is clear, no-one comes near Apple in backing up data. They have nailed it.

Find My Phone

Loosing your phone can be very frustrating, whether it’s under the couch or really stolen. Not having the ability to their where you’re phone is, can be a deal-breaker for some.

Google: There is no official way to find your lost or stolen phone on Android.

Windows Live: Windows Phone users can find their lost or stolen phone, using GPS coordinates or using nearby WiFi signals. The service is very similar to Find My iPhone by Apple. Users are able to make their phone ring, send a message and view the location on a map.

iCloud: Apple has shifted MobileMe’s Find My iPhone service to iCloud. The service is basically the same. It allows users to track their phone using GPS or WiFi signals, make it ring and send a message. In addition, this service also allows Mac users to “Find My Mac”.

Winner: Apple, Microsoft. Both services are almost identical, but Apple can get a slight edge due to the “Find My Mac” service.

Extras

We have covered three most important features a user may want when choosing a service. There are more features a user may like as an addition.

Google: Google has countless services, we discover new ones every day. Anyway, other services that you may like are Google Docs which lets you create and edit documents. The service only has an online version, and can be accessed from a desktop, tablet or phone. Google Music is also another great service, it will allow users to purchase and upload their existing music to the cloud. The service is currently in beta, and pricing has not yet been announced.

Windows Live: Like Google, Microsoft also allows users to use online documents editing for free, the service is very advanced but is very slow and sluggish. As users get 25GB of storage, they can upload more-than-needed documents, photos and videos and share them with friends.

iCloud: For music lovers, Apple has iTunes in the Cloud, which will let you sync your music online. So, it gets to all of your devices instantly. In addition, it will upgrade your songs to 256kbps AAC for an annual fee of $24.99. Users can also create documents on their Macs, iPhone, iPod and iPads and they will be synchronized seamlessly. Apart from iTunes Match all other Apple services are free.

Winner: Apple. Once again, they have nailed it. They have kept prices down, and offered more than anyone else.

Conclusion

While all three of these services are great, and offer a great way to do mail, backups and find your stolen phone. Which one should you have?

The answer is much harder than you might expect. In today’s tech industry, whether companies say they are open or not, they are acting very closed and exclusive. That is clearly visible from all three of these services, they support all operating systems to some extent, but the core features are only supported by their respective operating systems.

Google claims they are “open”, but lately they have been the complete opposite. We don’t know why, it could be because Apple won’t allow it. But, that doesn’t matter to the consumer. They want the best, and don’t care why a service doesn’t have certain features.

All in all, Google, Microsoft and Apple have/are doing a great job with their online services. But, clearly Apple is the best here. They are new, and may not look the best at first but they are a whole bunch of these small features. And it is these that make Apple the winner of the best online service provider.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

New Rap Song Explains the Failures of Microsoft’s Windows Live Services

Imran — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:34:09 +0000

New Rap Song Explains the Failures of Microsoft’s Windows Live Services

Every year, Microsoft posts a huge loss for their online services. Still, they keep trying to push new features that they ‘think’ that users want such as making Windows Live Messenger a bloated mess and making Hotmail more useless with every update ( hint: learn from Gmail, Microsoft ). A user, Dan Bull, has sent us his rap song that summarizes all the issues with these Windows Live services and why they annoy us.

You Microsoft fans might frown on this, but we say this is brilliant work. It’s the voice of a huge number of people ; Microsoft – it’s about time you fix Messenger and Hotmail!

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Microsoft Connecting LinkedIn and Facebook Chat to Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger

baraah — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Microsoft Connecting LinkedIn and Facebook Chat to Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger

Microsoft says that users can now connect their Messenger and Windows Live profiles with LinkedIn. They’ve made connecting with different social networks possible in Windows Live Messenger Beta 2010. Now users are able to share photos, videos and links through it and other networks like Facebook and LinkedIn will update synchronously. LinkedIn connection will allow users of both services to easily keep tabs on their activities.

Providing the ability to chat with Facebook friends in Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft gained some extra points. This allows you to keep your contact list organized in one place, and you will keep yourself up to date with what your friends are doing, and of course, it will be easier for you to share updates with them as well.

"With nearly 50 percent of users actively using two or more social networks, linking social networks together becomes a messy business for your contact list if not handled with care," Windows Live group program manager Jeff Kunins said in a blog post.

Check out Brandon Duncan from LinkedIn talking with Microsoft’s Joel Franusic about the new arrangement.

[Source CNET]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh Available for Download [Full Installer Link]

Imran — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:24:39 +0000

Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh Available for Download [Full Installer Link]

As expected eagerly ( LiveSide have been covering the new icons and expected features constantly), Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh is now available for download. Along with the new icons, there are many bug fixes in this release as well as Windows Live Language Setting with many language packs.

The installer weighs in at 151.5MB and contains all Windows Live apps. For those concerned, the version number is 15.4.3001.0809. Download it using the link below

Download Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh ( Full Installer )

Download Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh (Web Installer )

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Download Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Beta Offline Setup/Installers

Imran — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:44:57 +0000

Download Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Beta Offline Setup/Installers

Wave 4 Beta is the latest of version Windows Live Essentials Apps with improved user interfaces and great functionality. An issue with the setup files for Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Beta is that they’re online based and it’s very difficult to find the offline links. Ed Bott has struck gold though, he has managed to find the offline links for Wave 4 Beta in the Windows Live Solution Center.

The offline installation package is still an all-in-one i.e. you can not download setup files for individual apps but only for the whole Wave 4 Beta package. Click on the links below to download the full Windows Live Wave 4 offline setup in your preferred language.

Download Windows Live Wave 4 Offline Setup [English]

Download Windows Live Wave 4 Offline Setup [Spanish]

Download Windows Live Wave 4 Offline Setup [French]

Download Windows Live Wave 4 Offline Setup [Japanese]

Download Windows Live Wave 4 Offline Setup [Dutch]

Download Windows Live Wave 4 Offline Setup [Portugese (Brazil)]

Download Windows Live Wave 4 Offline Setup [Chinese (Simplified)]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Download Windows Live Messenger for iPhone

Tauqeer — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:35:32 +0000

Download Windows Live Messenger for iPhone

As expected, Microsoft has released Windows Live Messenger v 1.01 for iPhone and it is now available for download from iTunes (US store only so far). It is available for both iPhone and iPod Touch and it provides a lot of Windows Live Messenger and social functionalities which let you see your Windows Live Home stream and interact with your friends.

Features:

Chat:
Instant message with your Windows Live Messenger and Y! Messenger contacts on the go so you’re always connected to the people that matter most. You can even receive IM notifications when your app is closed so you never miss a message.
Social:
Windows Live Messenger gives you one place to view the updates your Messenger friends are sharing from social networks like Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and more, helping you cut through the clutter on the go.
Photos:
Upload photos right from your phone to share your favorite moments with the people that matter most. Create albums, add captions, and let your friends and family comment on your photos.
Hotmail:
Access your Hotmail account without leaving the app to read, reply to, and compose emails. Get email notifications within the application so you know when you have new messages.

The interface of Windows Live Messenger for iPhone looks great and its features are almost complete just like Windows Live Messenger for PCs. And the best thing is that even with all these features, the app is free. Stay tuned for a complete review of the app.

Download: Windows Live Messenger for iPhone

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Download Windows Live Online Services sidebar gadget by Microsoft

Imran — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:53:05 +0000

Download Windows Live Online Services sidebar gadget by Microsoft

Microsoft doesn’t release official sidebar gadgets too often. They actually managed to remove a few handy sidebar gadgets that were shipped with Windows Vista, from Windows 7 such as Notes Gadget and Contacts Gadget. Recently, Microsoft released a new gadget for Windows Vista and 7 named Online Services gadget.

This gadget is very useful for those who use Windows Live services regularly. It shows a mini ‘What’s new’ news feed, which you also see on the Windows Live Home page, to keep you updated with the latest happening in your social circle along. News snippets are also shown in a side scrolling fashion and of course, Bing search is also included. All this is completed with quick links to various Windows Live services, which sadly open up in Internet Explorer by default (I couldn’t find any option to change this behavior).

The gadget works in a narrow mode (shown above) and a wide mode as shown below.

To setup the gadget, you only need to login once.

News can also be subscribed to. By default Top News are shown, but many other categories can be selected. All these news are streamed from MSN websites.

Overall, this is a very handy gadget to have if you’re a Windows Live user. Download it from here.

Also check out these Sidebar Gadgets:

Download the Bing Sidebar Gadget for Windows 7

New Windows Live sidebar gadget, and it’s not that good

Network Utilization Gadget for Windows Vista and 7

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Windowslivepreview.com is live now

Tauqeer — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:27:40 +0000

Windowslivepreview.com is live now

It was expected that Windowslivepreview will go live today. Now that the website has finally gone live, we all can get a taste of what the next generation Windows Live Messenger will be like. This website is not just for Messenger but will also be carrying details for other Wave 4 apps and services soon.

Windowslivepreview has all the information you need about the next Windows Live Messenger in a sleek design and awesome videos streamed in Silverlight. Two other domains www.hotmailpreview.com and www.messengerpreview.com are both active now as well but both of them are the same and show a video of new Windows Live Messenger from Windowsliveprewiev.com.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

WindowsLivePreview.com to go live today

Tauqeer — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:53:55 +0000

WindowsLivePreview.com to go live today

WindowsLivePreview.com is expected to go live today (April 28th). This site will basically do the promotion for Windows Live Wave 4 in the coming months. Liveside was lucky to get a screenshot of the website while it was briefly online earlier.

Windows Live Messenger is the most meaningful way to stay touch with the people that matter most and has great new ways to connect and share.

Apart from WindowsLivePreview.com, a couple of other websites www.hotmailpreview.com and www.messengerpreview.com are also expected go live soon but they are not up yet. These sites are registered to Microsoft PR firm and they would do promotion for Windows Live Wave 4.

Mymicrosoftlife wrote in a post that initial release of Wave 4 is expected to be limited to a group of testers.

I am also hearing news that there will be some kind of release of Windows Live Wave 4 tomorrow, as expected. This release is expected to be for a select group of testers and wont be the public beta but a less polished version of it; tomorrow wont include any update to the live services.

Liveside also got another screenshot in which Microsoft Windows Live Privacy features and comparison of Windows Live Messenger with other IM services is shown.

Real time photo and video sharing

Hi def video chat

video messages

real time gaming

social networks aggregation

integration with email inbox

IM to SMS integration

iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and Nokia apps

Partner APIs

[via liveside.net]

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Leaked screenshots of Windows Live Essentials 2010 Milestone Beta 3

Tauqeer — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:34:01 +0000

Leaked screenshots of Windows Live Essentials 2010 Milestone Beta 3

Livebeta.net has posted some new screenshots of the latest build of Windows Live Essentials 2010 Milestone beta 3. One of the screenshot shows that the build version is 15.3.2688.420, it was complied on April 20, 2010 and its total size is 188MB. Another bit of information we have is that within the next week, invitations will be sent out to limited number of testers on Microsoft Connect.

Some of the noticeable changed in this build are:

Live Sync and Family Safety have new logos.
A new login system which will connect all packages of live essentials to your live ID.
New Calendar pane has a “quick event“ box located at the right bottom of the window which allows users to quickly add an event to the calendar.
Windows Live Messenger no longer has a menu bar on top. All the options have been moved to the bottom bar
Windows Live movie Maker finally has webcam support which means that you should be able to directly record video clips to Movie Maker with your webcam.
Windows Live Photo Gallery has an option to tag pictures with the button shown as People tag in the screenshot. Photo Gallery also has a new quick find feature which is a quicker way for users to identify and tag their friends.

[via liveside.net]

Also check out:

iThinkDifferent » Windows Live

Apple iCloud VS Windows Live Services VS Google Services

New Rap Song Explains the Failures of Microsoft’s Windows Live Services

Microsoft Connecting LinkedIn and Facebook Chat to Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Essentials 2011 Beta Refresh Available for Download [Full Installer Link]

Download Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Beta Offline Setup/Installers

Download Windows Live Messenger for iPhone

Download Windows Live Online Services sidebar gadget by Microsoft

Download the Bing Sidebar Gadget for Windows 7

New Windows Live sidebar gadget, and it’s not that good

Network Utilization Gadget for Windows Vista and 7

Windowslivepreview.com is live now

WindowsLivePreview.com to go live today

Leaked screenshots of Windows Live Essentials 2010 Milestone Beta 3

Windows Live Wave 4 beta will be public soon

Windows Live Office replaces Docs in Wave 4 header

New screenshots of Hotmail Wave 4 revealed

New screenshots of Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4