Window Live Calendar - Coming soon!
Windows Live Calendar has got to be one of the most anticipated of the Windows Live services, and forms an important part of a successful Connected Home setup.
But whilst important, it has also been talked about for quite some time now and has been under threat of being regarded as some sort of myth or vapor-ware. So what makes us think that it is finally going to arrive?
Liveside.net reported that Windows Live Calendar had gone in to dog food (internal Microsoft testing) in mid August and we now see that the Windows Live Calendar support and feedback pages are up and running, so the beta must be about to land.
So what can you expect from Windows Live Calendar when it arrives over the next couple of weeks?
From what we hear it will include Calendar sharing through iCal and RSS and will be linked to Windows Live ID like other Live services. We also expect the calendar to be accessible both as a online service live Live Hotmail. and as a desktop application embeded witihin Live Mail, although whether those will both be available at the launch of the beta we will have to wait and see.
We don’t expect Live Calendar to be reliant upon the home network, but available to share using Live ID and an Internet connection, regardless of location.
We have been keeping an eye on the development of Live Calendar as we see the ability to share calendars as an increasingly important service within the connected home.
The ability for all the family to keep an eye on each others movements and post appointments to each others diaries is something that I’m sure will prove of benefit to in the majority of increasingly hectic homes, and whilst it is something that is common in the workplace there are few solutions which prove effective in the home environment. Google Calendar does address this problem to some extent but without an off-line option easily available, or integration into a host of other services except Gmail, this is not a element that can be considered part of a truly connected and joined up home solution.
Matt S
Filed under: Betas, Windows Live, Windows Live Calendar
