Microsoft gives Windows Live Local facelift

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 24 May 2006 21:23

Your IT - Home IT

Microsoft has actually turned its online mapping product Windows Live Local into a pretty useful tool with new features for the product that it unveiled yesterday. Key enhancements include integration with Outlook XP and 2003, integration with Windows Live messenger and live traffic reports.

Integration with Outlook enables users to embed maps and directions within the calendar. Microsoft has also used a partnership with Traffic.com to provide users with live reports of traffic flows, including accidents and aerial views, across 35 metropolitan locations in the US, with plans to expand the service to cover Canada and Europe.

On top of this, users will be able to build their own database of favoutite places complete with pictures which they can share with friends and colleagues via instant messaging or email using the scratchpad function. The integration with Windows Live messenger will enable users to launch a messaging session from within the mapping program enabling users to access the same map simultaneously.

The release of the new free service, which like it rivals is driven by advertising, taken together with other announcements in the past two days, Microsoft is signalling to its major rivals in the online space that it intends to be a player not just a desktop products supplier. Products like Windows Live Local are a good start, More of the same in other online areas we say.