Microsoft “Gets It” With Live Writer

Wow, I haven’t had a chance to really test all of the features but so far, this appears to be the best blog editor I’ve used. I’ve always wondered how long it would take for Microsoft to get one out the door and now I’m glad I stuck with Spaces. It may not have all of the features of other platforms, but I always can count of Microsoft to catch up, and then pass up the competition.

I won’t go into all of the features, but one that I really like is the ability to insert a Windows Live Local Map right into your blog. Below you can see my pool, have you ever seen a pool with so many trees around it?

Now Microsoft needs to give me more page side flexibility. I’d like to tie in data from various sources and I think in the long run, they will offer many cool things. Maybe I’ll do a review at some point, but in the mean time there are plenty of other sites with information.

Michael Arrington who’s opinion I usually can count on, really misses the mark when it comes to Live Writer. He says a few outlandish things. First he says that Microsoft Live Writer, "doesn’t differentiate itself from existing year old products." Then in the very next sentence goes on to point out that, "What does differentiate Live Writer is that they’ve released an API that allows developers to extend the capabilities of the software to publish additional content types." Even though other blogging software has opened API’s in the past.

He finishes with the number one ode to Microsoft in the form of a complaint. "Too bad that, like Google and Picasa, Microsoft has ignored the Mac platform."

Microsoft hasn’t ignored the Mac platform Mike, they are releasing products to drive customers away from them. Microsoft isn’t going to spend billions of dollars in research and development and then leverage that right into the Mac. They wrote Office for Mac so that Mac had a fighting chance. If you’ve seen Steve Jobs and his new stage crony, you’d know the Mac platform doesn’t need any help from Billy Boy anymore. And their iPod division is making a killing off selling defective iPods which don’t get reported as defective because the Best Buy boys try to tell you they are not supposed to be able to charge from USB. More on that another time.