beta @ amanzi

This is one to miss for now, at least if you’re running Vista. I installed the beta 2 days ago and have not had it working for more than a few minutes since then. There aren’t many changes from version 8 so there’s nothing exciting to see anyway.

If you’re still interested here’s some links:

• Windows Live Messenger 8.1 download page
• Inside Windows Live blog

I spotted this over on JD’s blog, the first plugins are available for Windows Live Writer. I’m using the Tags plugin here, and there’s also a plugin for inserting Flickr images into posts which will definitely be very popular. Unfortunately the tags don’t integrate properly with Ultimate Tag Warrior, but it’s close enough so that readers wouldn’t notice.

tags: windows-live-writer, windows-live, microsoft, plugins

Looks like Windows Live Messenger (WLM) is the first of the Live-branded products to make it out of beta (download links below.) No major changes since the last beta, apart from the removal of the word ‘beta’ from the title.

Links:

• Direct download link
• WLM Blog
• TechCrunch
• MSBLOG
• Microsoft Watch
• Neowin.net

An update build of Windows Live Messenger has been released bringing the version number up to build 689. There seems to be mostly GUI changes and the WLM team are saying that this is the last beta version before the final version is released shortly.

The interface has a bit of a Vista look to it, which takes a while to grow on you but is actually quite nice. But in keeping with the tradition of all the Live applications, there is still the horrible, rotating, banner advert. This takes up the bottom portion of the window and makes it look very untidy.

Read more about the release on the WLM blog: Inside Windows Live Messenger.

I’ve still got 5 invites to give away, so leave a comment on this post if you want one. The first 5 comments will get the invites.

I’ll be posting up a full review on the latest release of Windows Live Messenger sometime soon. In the meantime, if you’d like an invite to the beta let me know and I’ll send one through.

Just leave a comment against this post with the your favourite “Web 2.0″ application that you currently use and I’ll send you an invite. I have 20 19 to give away so the first 20 19 comments will get the invites. Don’t forget to enter your Passport account as your email address when you post the comment (your email address won’t be displayed on the site or shared with anyone else) as I’ll use this to send you the invite.

UPDATE!!! According to an article on the Bink site, invitations are no longer needed. Go to this article for the links for downloading the software: http://bink.nu/Article6494.bink.