If you are looking for delicious software then you need to get your hands on the latest Windows Live downloads.  The first thing you will notice is the integration of Windows Live with each of these services which is what a lot of people have been waiting for.

Windows Live Messenger Beta

Couple of things I like about the new messenger is the ability to have it signed into more than just one place. Your conversation is also replicated across the machines you are signed into. The new facelift is refreshing with new look icons. You can have custom sounds for individual contacts and have your own custom sound as well.


You can also share photos easily with your contacts. The photo appears in Messenger window with the option for the contact to download it as well. The ability to have groups and send them group messages is handy.

Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta

Some cool new things with the Photo Gallery is the ability to upload your photos to Windows Live Photos. These can be easily shared with your contacts. Photo Gallery also has face recognition to tag faces in the gallery, you can also sign into Windows Live to tag your Messenger contacts in your gallery. There is also the option to create a Photosynth of your photos.


We also have the following Betas available:
Windows Live Movie Maker Beta
Windows Live Mail Beta
Windows Live Writer Beta
Windows Live Toolbar Beta
Family Safety Beta
Outlook Connector Beta

Enjoy tasting the Betas.

Have a look at some of the stories of customers using Hyper-V in their organisation.

WorleyParsons Hyper-V Case Study

Engineering Services Company Reduces Hardware, Support Costs With Virtualization
Headquartered in Australia, WorleyParsons provides professional services to the energy, resource, and complex process industries. WorleyParsons has grown revenue from AU$0.5 billion to $3.5 billion (U.S.$0.48 billion to $3.3 billion) over the past five years. The company relies on an agile and flexible IT infrastructure to deliver the expanding business applications required for sustaining growth, and it is deploying Windows Server® 2008 Hyper-V™ to help reduce the growing costs associated with rapid global expansion. Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager will help simplify server management and the physical to virtual server conversion as WorleyParsons converts 50 percent of its physical servers to virtual servers. This conversion is expected to reduce hardware costs and space requirements, improve server management, and facilitate faster deployment of applications.

Telstra Business Systems Hyper-V Case Study

IT Integration Services Company Increases Network Performance While Reducing Costs
Telstra Business Systems, an Australian provider of IT integration and management solutions, needed to improve the performance of its own enterprise network. Because of increased business from new customers, government agencies, and business partners, the performance of the network was reduced. To resolve this, Telstra Business Systems upgraded its server software to Windows Server® 2008 and used features such as Read-Only Domain Controllers and Hyper-V™ server virtualization. Since the upgrade, the company has significantly improved network performance to continue its excellent customer service levels to customers. It has also reduced costs by consolidating servers. In addition, IT administrators spend less time on routine maintenance and more time improving the system and responding to customer calls.

University of Canberra Hyper-V Case Study

Virtualization Halves Management Effort for Campus Technology Support
Established in 1968 the University of Canberra delivers education to approximately 10,000 students in a technology-leading environment. However, the university’s IT department was constrained by the effort required to maintain network security and the time it took to commission new servers and maintain its existing large server environment. IT staff did not have the resources to explore or implement new technology services that the university wanted to retain premium technology support for its teaching. In 2008, the university installed Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008. As a result, servers could be configured faster, and firewalls were easier to install and were more effective. In addition, by utilising Hyper-V virtualisation functionality, the university drastically reduced its server hardware requirements and server environment maintenance needs.

Something cool that Chris Pendleton blogged about is the ability to stream video and location data from your Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones. The software is called Live Media GPS (currently in Beta). The video is streamed using Silverlight and the location is mapped using Microsoft Virtual Earth. I can already see some really cool scenarios for this application. If you have a GPS and Camera in your Windows Mobile Phone, Download it today.
 

The next ad New Family is out.  Its about Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld living with some real people. 

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