Hotmail rollout, Messenger social, Office Web Apps and more
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Hotmail rollout
Some webDotWizards and others now have the new Hotmail appearing when they log in to their Hotmail account.
You don't have to do anything to get the new Hotmail - it's an automatic rollout to all Hotmail users around the world. The rollout is being carried out according to which Hotmail server you are on somewhere around the world so if you aren't yet seeing it, just be patient while those of your friends who do have the new version gloat.
You'll know you have the new Hotmail when a large yellow icon appears above your message pane and the heading at the top of the Hotmail screen shows Windows Live, Hotmail, Messenger, Office, Photos and ninemsn (or MSN if you're not in Australia).
The first feature you might want to use is how you view the mail in your inbox. Across the top of your messages list you'll see that you can view all your messages, those that are unread and those from people on your contact list.
Secondly there's the Sweep function that enables you to organise your messages. Simply select one message from a particular person or email address, then choose to move all messages from that person to a particular folder using Sweep. As well you can use Sweep to delete all messages from a particular email address (e.g., a whole group of newsletters you haven't had time to read). As mentioned, you only need to select a particular message from a certain address to use Sweep - no more going through each email message to select all those you want to take action on.
Finally you'll notice that with the new Hotmail you don't need to leave Hotmail to view photos or videos received from one of your friends. You can view a slideshow or video from within Hotmail itself - that saves having to go outside Hotmail to start another program to view photos or videos. In a similar fashion, you can view Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote documents from within Hotmail itself using Office Web Apps.
Office Web Apps
Another clue you have the new version of Hotmail is that when you click on the Office link at the top of any Windows Live webpage, you'll be given the otpion of creating a new Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote document. As well, the icons for these online Office documents will be displayed on the right-hand side of your Office page.
With the new Hotmail you're able to view - and edit, if the owner gives you permission - Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote documents from within Hotmail itself. That means no more having to download, save and start up Office. More importantly, the person you've sent one of these documents to doesn't need to have Office installed on their own computer.
Messenger social
Messenger social on your Live Home page (http://home.live.com) replaces the old "What's new" listing. The important point about Messenger social is that it's now a two-way process. So, if you take the option of connecting your Facebook service with Windows Live, you'll have two-way interaction with your Facebook friends as well as your Windows Live friends.
This means you don't have to any longer go across to your Facebook page to see what your friends are doing. You can comment on their activities and view photos and videos they've posted to Facebook, all from your Messenger social. This works for other services, too, that you can connect to Windows Live - a full list is available from the Web activities link (at the top right) on your Live home page or the Add more link just under the Messenger social heading.
Note that under the Messenger social heading there's the choice of what you want to see - Highlights, Recent, Me and More.
Live Photo Gallery
The new version of Live Photo Gallery has been installed on most of the computers available to webDotWizards at the Rushworth Community House so come in and try it.
To quote Poppy, "Tag your photos! Tag your photos!". So that's a job to begin right now even though you're probably still using the old version. Don't just tag your photos with a descriptive tag; also use the people tag to name people in your photos since the new Live Photo Gallery not only has face detection but face recognition so any new photos you later add will be automatically named.
Messenger
In some ways the new Messenger mirrors some of the functions talked about above using your Live web services (such as Hotmail). The reason is that you now have more flexibility. If you're chatting to family and friends, you don't need to leave Messenger check what everybody's been doing. If you're adding an entry to your Live Space or reading email or uploading photos, you can keep an eye on what your friends are doing by returning to your Live home page. Note you can continue to chat to friends either in Messenger or on any of your Live pages which use Web Messenger.
If you choose to connect your Facebook service to your Live service then you can use Messenger to see what your Facebook friends are doing, as well as your Windows Live friends. You can comment on their activities and view any photos and videos they've uploaded.
The Messenger status box at the top of the Messenger pane is no longer just a static message. If you've connected your Facebook account to Windows Live, for example, you update your Facebook page by entering a message into your Messenger status (you can include photos as well, by the way).