Windows Live users maintain contact with friends and associates who typically communicate through many unconnected Web services and would benefit from having access to everything from a single location without worrying about how it's done, said Microsoft Corporate Vice President Chris Jones.

"Now Windows Live takes care of that, with an integrated personal communication service that works across the Web with optimized experiences on the PC and mobile phone," Jones added.

Collaborative Effort

The primary goal of Microsoft's Windows Live revamp is to convert the service into an online home base from which consumers can chat with IM, e-mail, share photos and files, and connect to others, particularly for social networking . "Think of Windows Live as the single place where people using our e-mail, messaging and photo-sharing services can stay connected," Jones said.

Microsoft's next iteration of Windows Live will include an updated profile and a "what's new" feed of activities across the network and Web, together with extensive photo-sharing and printing capabilities. The revamp will also give Windows Live users the added convenience of having a central place to store, organize and manage information.

To help expand the reach of its offerings, Microsoft is currently collaborating with more than 50 other Web sites to ensure that the latest activities at sites such as Flickr, LinkedIn, Pandora, Photobucket, Twitter, WordPress and Yelp can also appear in a Windows Live feed.

"As Windows Live customers share photos, update their profiles, and write reviews, these activities will automatically publish to their Windows Live network, enabling new experiences for users that would not otherwise be possible," said PhotoBucket President Alex Welch.

Expanded Capabilities

Microsoft intends to begin delivering updated versions of Windows Live services to U.S.-based customers in the weeks ahead, and start serving customers in 54 countries by early next year. Among other things, the forthcoming changes will enable users to bring multiple e-mail accounts together and put multiple e-mail addresses onto almost any device. Skydrive, Microsoft's online storage program, also will expand the amount of data users can store from 5GB to 25GB. (continued...)

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