There;s a good deal of conflicting information and facts out there about Windows Reside Wave four.Though those who cover each and every twist and flip of Microsoft;s next Windows Live service add-ons to Windows are within the know (as are the tiny group of testers outside the firm who;ve been granted accessibility to beta variations), the basic user public is likely just a little confused. (I;m basing that statement around the fact I;m confused, even though my work entails watching Microsoft carefully.)I made the decision to inquire the great folks more than at LiveSide.net for some help explaining what Windows Live Wave 4 is and what to anticipate. Right here;s a quick e-mail Q&A between me and Kip Kniskern, the main cook and bottle washer at the independent Windows-Live-watching site. (Note: These answers aren;t condoned or verified by Microsoft, but LiveSide has a pretty wonderful track record, in terms of ferreting out details that only sneaky geniuses like them can do.)MJF: What would be the components of the forthcoming Windows Reside Essentials 2011 bundle?Kniskern: Same as before: Messenger, Live Mail, Writer, Photo ##############, Movie Maker, Family Safety. Bing Toolbar replaces Windows Reside Toolbar. Reside Sync is there,
Office Home And Business 2010, but totally redone. We;ve mentioned that it will only be able to sync 2GB to the cloud, but that;s been lost in the shuffle a little. Also the Reside Mesh mobile sync did not appear to make the cut,
Office Pro 2010, so there;s no Live Sync mobile client, leaving the mobile sync story (the only one that matters, really) unresolved. Will it be My Phone? the KIN Studio (the only thing great about the KIN)? Probably Reside Sync adding a mobile client later in the beta?MJF: What will be the other Windows Reside Wave four services that aren’t in Essentials?Kniskern: Hotmail, SkyDrive (now much extra integrated), Office Live (is that what we;re calling Office Web Apps now?), the Windows Live Home social network feed aggregator, which will replace Hotmail Today.MJF: Of all of these, which are going to get the biggest overhaul?Kniskern: Messenger gets tabs, and video calling is revamped. The Ribbon is added to all the Essentials services (basically Writer gets a ribbon and not much even more, for example. The social networking aggregation is built into a lot more services (Hotmail Today, a new sidebar in Messenger that everyone will immediately turn off,
Microsoft Office 2007 Pro Plus, etc.)MJF: So what do you think the rollout schedule for all this is, other than all of these things appear “in the coming months”?Kniskern: First, Windows Reside Essentials beta gets announced. Then,
Microsoft Office 2007 Product Key, on June 15, Hotmail begins rollout. Somewhere end of June (blogger Francisco Martin is reporting June 21-25), Essentials downloads will be attainable and the public beta starts. Final is “in the fall” - we;ve heard that it will coincide with
Windows 7 SP1,
Windows 7 Professional, as the “first big feature update to Win7″.Readers: What else do you want to know about Windows Reside Wave four? What;s still confusing you, if anything?