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Microsoft Windows Live Writer is a free offline/desktop-blogging tool released as beta last friday. like similar tools (TechCrunch mentions Qumana, which is available for both Windows and Mac OS), Live Writer allows users to write and edit blog-posts using a local application rather than the common browser-based richtext-editors. every blogger who has lost a post due to a browser-crash will find the idea of local editors intriguing - same goes for users who want to draft posts offline.

in terms of editing-features, Live Writer offers pretty much everything you’ld expect from a blog-editor: wysiwyg-formating based on your blog’s stylesheets, image-publishing, access to already existing posts and drafts. advanced features include a spell-checker (unfortunately only on-demand, not as-you-type like f.e. in Microsoft Word) and integration with Windows Live Local maps.

the Live Writer-installer is embedded with Windows Live Toolbar, which installs Windows Desktop Search and lots of additionial buttons into Internet Explorer - fortunately the installer allows to opt-out from most extensions. Live Writer works with Microsoft’s homegrown blogging-service Live Spaces, but also supports Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad and WordPress. testing Live Writer on my self-hosted WordPress-install worked pretty well, including image-uploads and web-preview - all that after entering only my blog-URL and user-credentials. looks like the development-team has really put much effort in supporting other platforms and standards like the Metaweblog API.

as read on Michael Martine’s blog, Microsoft Live Labs is developing an innovative approach on organizing photo-collections. their tech-preview Photosynth claims to automatically organize photos in 3D-space by recognizing particular features like a window-frame, or a doorhandle in images. using algorithmic simulation of depth-perception, Photosynth calculates the 3D-positions for each of the images, which can then be browsed in a 3D-environment. if this seemingly-complicated algorithms work as good as the promo-video (highly recommended!) suggests, upcoming products using the Photosynth-technology (remember, this is a tech-preview) could be quite hot… just imagine connecting your holiday-photos of Venice with those of thousand other users all over the world - the resulting 3D-collage would be impressing.

if you want to stay up-2-date with Photosynth, the development-team has setup a blog - good to see that Robert Scoble definitely left his mark on Microsoft!

according to TechCrunch, Microsoft announced Zune, their new take on digital music, media & entertainment, earlier today. while the official Billboard-article is currently offline and microsoft.com doesn’t lose any words on it yet, there are two microsofties from the Zune-team blogging about the project: Cesar Mendendez on ZuneInsider.com and Richard Winn on his Madison & Pine blog. the official product-site is located at comingzune.com.

Zune is expected to be a holistic approach on digital media, designed to challenge Apple’s dominant combination of iPod, iTunes and iTMS in every aspect. according to engadget, Microsoft is expected to release the first Zune-media-player later this year. the device is supposed to integrate wireless-capabilities and a 30-60 gbyte harddrive within a form-factor to the iPod. suprisingly, the new Zune media service won’t be compatible with Microsoft’s current Plays-for-sure brand.

Bill Belew from the recommendable TheBizOfKnowledge-blog asks: “So, which PC is best for new students?” (meaning mac- or windows-PCs). there are obvious arguments of course, like lower price-point and greater choice of hardware for the windows-PC, while an Apple-computer shines regarding the ease-of-use and the ability to run both windows- & mac-software. I guess it’s this versatility why I’ld recommend a Mac to the average student.

however, I think it’s important that students also learn about alternative, opensource operating-systems and -applications like linux and open office. parents (and schools!!) will be happy to save the money on that Microsoft Offce-license, and students will benefit from the ability to adapt to different software-environments (of course this applies especially to students in technical subjects - luckily opensource is common sense at Austria’s Technical Universitiy). coming a long way, I think that mainstream linux-distributions like SuSe and Ubuntu have almost reached the level of user-friendliness necessary for general adoption in education.

I have never personally known a professional web-designer using microsoft frontpage, and I guess most of us were happy when Microsoft discontinued the product. however, developers may now testdrive frontpage’s successor, the Expression Web Designer (what kind of genius comes up with such a name?) in a free trial. Rachel Andrew gives a short review at thinkvitamin.com, and she is quite happy with the product:

Expression is certainly no FrontPage with a new skin, this product feels up to date and relevant to how professional designers and developers are working currently. Probably my main issue with the software is the strangely disconcerting feeling that I am developing a website in Microsoft Word.

calm down, bill gates isn’t leaving microsoft for some arbitrary podcast-startup …but still: in a press-conference earlier today, gates announced that in july 2008, he will step down from his role as chief software architect, transforming his fulltime-work at microsoft to parttime. to the applause of the blogosphere (see crunchnotes for an early example), ray ozzie will take over gates’ job. as gates stated, the reason for the shift is his drive to get stronger involved in the gates foundation. he will, however, remain as a chairman and senior advisor at microsoft.
if you don’t believe what you just read, watch the videostream of the conference, as pointed out on techcrunch…

a-list blogger (currently rank 26 at technorati) and evangelist robert scoble earlier today confirmed that he is leaving microsoft. scoble is joining podtech.net, a silicon valley-based podcasting- & videoblogging start-up. amazing how this spawned a gazillion blog-posts today! here are scobles thoughts on the issue, interesting read:

post #1 Correcting the record about microsoft
post #2 The joy on her face

update - netcraft reports:

It’s not often that a hiring announcement knocks a web site offline. But the blogosphere is abuzz with the news that Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble is leaving to take a position at a video blogging start-up. The news has triggered a burst of traffic to Scoble’s new employer, PodTech, whose web site is struggling to handle all that link love. The Podtech.net web site was unavailable for several for part of Sunday and offline again this morning.

while members of the microsoft developer network (msdn) receive beta-DVDs since, hmm, how many years?, microsoft finally put their new operating system to public beta today. the 3gbyte-images can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/. and since you’re already clogging your broadband, why not get the office 2007 beta too? (having used an earlier beta on my laptop, I’m quite excited to see the progression…so I’ll probably spend a good part of my weekend with it ).

(news brought by scobleizer, of course)