So what about Windows Live Writer?

save wlwYesterday’s Windows 8 blog post on the “reimagining” of Windows Live, or, if you prefer, the “ditching” or “killing” of Windows Live, (as it was referred to in numerous tech blogs commenting on the post),  as is customary when we’re left to wait for the “coming weeks” for more details, left as many questions as answers.

In poring over the table embedded in the blog, which shows the transition of former Windows Live services to their new non-branded replacements, a number of enthusiasts noticed a number of omissions (Windows Live Sync, for example, a omission without much consequence as it is long gone already), including the glaring absence of any reference at all to Windows Live Writer.  Here’s the table:

Service

Windows 8

Windows Phone

Web/HTML 5

(live.com)

API (dev.
live.com)

Earlier Versions

Account

Microsoft account

Microsoft account

Account.live.com

OAUTH

Windows Live ID, Passport

Storage/
Docs

SkyDrive app, SkyDrive Desktop

SkyDrive app, Office app

SkyDrive.com

REST, JSON

FolderShare, Live Mesh, Windows Live Mesh

Email

Mail app

Mail app

Hotmail.com

EAS

Windows Live Mail, Outlook Express

Calendar

Calendar app

Calendar app

Calendar.live.com

EAS, REST

Windows Live Mail, Windows Calendar

Contacts

People app

People app

People.live.com

EAS, REST

Windows Contacts

Messaging

Messaging app

Messaging app

Integrated in Hotmail and SkyDrive

XMPP

MSN Messenger

Photos/ Videos

Photos app, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker

Photos app, Camera Roll

Photos.live.com

REST, JSON (via SkyDrive)

Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker

For many of you who don’t blog regularly, it isn’t much of an issue, but for those of us who do, Windows Live Writer is a very useful tool and probably our most used Windows Live product on a daily basis.

If you are a Windows Live Writer enthusiast, our friend and occasional LiveSide contributor (and Windows Live MVP, based initially on his numerous Windows Live Writer plugins) Scott Lovegrove has posted an online petition to “Save Windows Live Writer”.  At the time of this writing, the petition has 116 signatures, nearly a hundred retweets, and even 10 Google “+1”s!!

While we do expect that Windows Live Writer will survive, at least in the short term, as a part of Windows Live Essentials (unlike a service like Live Mesh, which has a significant cloud component, Writer is a desktop app and should continue to work as long as you can get it installed), it can’t hurt to sign the petition if you’re a WLW fan.

Microsoft hasn’t made any announcements on the future of Writer either way (they do promise more information in the proverbial “coming weeks”).



LiveSide.net