Is it my birthday? Is it Father’s Day? I don’t know what the special day is, but I am not going to argue.
The Windows Live Writer team has just released Beta 2!
I am using the Beta 2 to blog this post. The interface has been updated. See the screen shot below of the updated program:
I have become pretty familiar with the existing interface, but I really like the new one – it is very polished.
Do you like how I took a screen shot of what I was working on – I try to be more creative so you get a better idea of how things are working.
The update includes:
- New Authoring Capabilities such as inline spell checking, page authoring for WordPress and TypePad, and improved hyperlinking and graphic insertion, I did not think the old functionality was lacking, I look forward to checking out the new stuff.
- Better Integration and Capability such as SharePoint 2007 support, New APIs to enable custom extensions and local and online edits are automatically synchronized which will be a great help if you blog from more than one computer.
From the Live Writer Team –
We’re also excited to announce that Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, and TypePad have all taken advantage of our new Provider Customization API to expose additional service-specific features within the Writer UI.
The API’s allow for greater customization and the ability to add / extend features at a later date.
I will let you know what I think after I have used the program a little more.
Quick Update
Chris Keating -Product Manager, Windows Live Spaces and Windows Live Writer has additional information on the updated features and functionality of Windows Live Writer. (Additional Update – Warning reading Chris’ site may cause eye injury)
James Moody has a Quick Update on his post Windows Live Writer Beta 2 released that might help resolve any issues that you are having with Live Writer
Technorati tags: Windows Live Writer, Microsoft, Beta 2, Blogging Tools
Thomas - Technical Blogger 
May 31, 2007 at 12:23 am
Thanks for the pingback Thomas. 🙂
Anything I can do to help. I was left scratching my head as well on some of the new features I wasn’t seeing, then the epiphany hit me square in the face. If 1 less head gets scratched, it’s all good.
Now that I know where you’re at, I know who to bug into getting EasyAssist integrated into LiveMeeting for us MS SBSC Partner types. 😉 j/k.
Hvae a great day!
May 31, 2007 at 12:39 am
James – I have been watching the reaction as Live Writer has got released, and have mentioned to people to look at the bottom of the screen for tags, underneath the writing area. I wanted to include your update as I thought it was timely. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
The interface has been changed around a bit, for the better I think, but it will take a while to getting used to the new program.
I’m impressed you know about EasyAssist – you definitely score Geek points there. Let me know if you think there is anything I can do to help.
May 31, 2007 at 1:01 am
I’ve spent some time with EasyAssist being a Techie Service provider myself. Group Policy befuddles me, so I get to see it when I have Microsoft Tech Support use it to bail me out of my clients’ messes they got themselves into. 😉 I know of a thread already in the Private MS forums regarding EasyAssist inclusion, so I really was just joking around. 🙂
I use RDP and Ultra VNC for my regular clients, but would love to have EasyAssist for the calls I get out of the blue on how to setup an e-mail client, etc.. Easy money. 🙂
I agree on it taking a little time to relearn the layout compared to the original. This one is much better and more intuitive (other than that stuff that’s tucked at the bottom) so it’ll be better in the long run methinks.
June 1, 2007 at 12:25 am
This is an interesting post man,,, I wish I could also use that for my blog…but it’z alright I’m not ready to make a change although I’ve read alot about it and looks really Good.
Nice one,,, this also relates to my post on http://www.gadget9.com/2007/06/01/windows-live-writer-beta-2-released/
June 1, 2007 at 12:39 am
Singh – Windows Live Writer is configurable and has the ability to access most blog services. When you add your blog, you have the ability to configure quite a few settings – serivce, home page, ftp server to name a few options.
Another benefit is once you set it up on a new blog, you have the ability to update settings for Live Writer from you blog.
June 4, 2007 at 6:42 pm
[…] June 4th, 2007 — Thomas This is a follow up to my original post on the release of Windows Live Writer Beta 2. After using the program for a couple of days I have learned more about using the program, and have […]
November 7, 2007 at 10:32 pm
[…] have been using Windows Live Writer as long as I have been blogging. I wrote posts announcing Beta 2 and Beta 3, as well as numerous other posts about using WLW. Now I am excited to post about the […]
November 17, 2010 at 3:05 pm
exellent post,,,,
windows live writer is no longer avaiable?
i went to the official downlaod site… and its not working nemore..
http://explore.live.com/windows-live-writer?os=other
http://hbtechguru.blogspot.com/
hb