Hamburg - Movie Maker, Messenger and Mail are just some of the functions that did not make it into the Windows 7 operating system, due to come out this autumn. But that doesn't mean computer users have to learn to live without them. Windows Live, a free package of those programmes and more can either be downloaded or accessed via a browser. As an added bonus, Microsoft has managed to fine-tune some of those functions.
"We tried to keep the operating system slim, that's why we put these over into Windows Live," explains Oliver Blanchard, responsible for programming services at Microsoft's operations in Germany.
Other programmes that did not make the cut for Windows 7 include photo processing systems, the blog programme Live Writer, the toolbar and family safety software that lets parents block their child's access to certain content.
Downloading the programmes is accomplished via a link in Windows 7. It just takes a few clicks to finish the job, says Blanchard. Setting it up this way saves customers from having to search on Google and perhaps ending up at sites that demand money for the free functions.
"It's best to download from the source - from Bill," advises Georg Tryba of the Consumer Centre of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia, referring to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
"Downloading the Live programme is no problem for the average Windows user," says Andreas Sauerland of Computer Bild, a German computer magazine. "That runs via a web installer and is finished in a little less than half an hour."
In general, Sauerland says he's OK with hiving off the software into Live. "The extra icons in Windows haven't bothered me yet, but that's a question of taste." It means the computer user now has the option to choose which functions he wants for the operating system and which he can live without.
It's possible to pass on Windows Live entirely. In Sauerland's opinion, that wouldn't mean missing out on much. "The programmes aren't without competition. There are good photo programmes and messenger functions for free elsewhere."
But he adds there is not much comparison when it comes to quality, practicality and security. "I'm a fan of Windows Live, because I think it's comfortable." For example, he finds Live Writer to be a reliable option for blogging.
But hiving off these programmes into Windows Live does not automatically mean an update for most of the software. The next major release of the package will be in the spring of 2010, says Blanchard, well after the online release of the current version, Wave 3, earlier this spring.
But developers have still put in some good new functions, particularly in Mail.
"There is now an automatic update of the mail inbox." Anyone logged in with his Windows Live ID can see his new emails without having to push an Update button. Unfinished emails are archived every three minutes and saved in a drafts folder.
The tweaks should also make is easier to recognize incorrect input addresses in the contact list. It also only takes one click to save attachments as zip files onto the hard drive. Anyone who uses Live Mail along with email services from Google or AOL can automatically save stored addresses from those systems into his Microsoft mailbox.
The new version also skips the step whereby it asks users to think of harder-to-crack passwords. In light of tens of thousands of cracked passwords for a variety of accounts, the old version of the system encouraged users to think of the hardest password possible.
Skipping this feature is likely part of a new Microsoft strategy for Windows 7, doing without all the alerts that so regularly annoyed users of Vista, the predecessor to Windows 7.
