Brandon Live!

Today we released a new version of WDS!  It’s a beta of our 2.6.5 release, and you can get it here, or as an optional component to the Windows Live Toolbar Beta.

 Unofficial change list:

-All the features of the 2.6 Enterprise version (Search Pane on XP/2003, Outlook Integrated Results when used with the MSN/WinLive Toolbar).

-WDS can now be installed over the MSN Toolbar Suite 2.5.  This will remove your MSN Toolbar, but preserve your settings.  You can then install the standalone toolbar or the 3.0 Beta and it will remember your settings from the 2.5 installation.  Alternatively, you can upgrade to the Toolbar 3.0 Beta (which includes WDS 2.6.5 Beta as an optional component).

-The WDS Indexer has undergone some major changes to reduce disk I/O while indexing.

-Shutdown times have been improved significantly  (we think we’ve nailed the ”End Now” dialog problem).

-New group policies.

-Bug fixes and other general improvements (such as a cleaner Deskbar loading mechanism).

 Let us know what you think!

New Live.com!      - New UI!  New First-run experience!  New Gadgets!  Multiple pages/tabs!  FASTER!

New Live Search!   - Infinite scrolling (no paging!), adjustable detail level, Search-within-site, and the best image search ever.

Onfolio acquisition and beta of the Windows Live Toolbar!  (available tomorrow)

 The new Live.com site is in the process of coming online, and might be slower than usual as they ramp up the servers.  By morning it should be snappier than ever. 

This is just the beginning… There’s a lot more to come from Windows Live!

I’ll be posting more tomorrow.  Right now, I need sleep!