Brandon Live!

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!

Recently a new tech news/blog site has popped by the name of LiveSide.  They’ve been getting all kinds of scoops about upcoming Windows Live services.  It appears their goal it to track everything that’s happening with Windows/Office/Xbox Live.

Check them out at www.liveside.net

Now this is the kind of news that makes me proud of Microsoft.  MSN Spaces has published a new Policy Framework for dealing with Government Restrictions on Blog Content.

Here’s the jist of it.  I’m especially fond of #2 which I believe is really a huge step forward - allowing Microsoft to obey regional laws while still maintaining the user’s right to publish content in the free world.

Speaking before a conference of government officials and community leaders in Lisbon, Portugal, Microsoft Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith reaffirmed the company’s commitment to blogging as an important vehicle for sharing of information and ideas, and outlined the policy framework that would guide Microsoft in dealing with government orders related to blog content:

•	Explicit standards for protecting content access: Microsoft will remove access to blog content only when it receives a legally binding notice from the government indicating that the material violates local laws, or if the content violates MSN’s terms of use.
•	Maintaining global access: Microsoft will remove access to content only in the country issuing the order. When blog content is blocked due to restrictions based on local laws, the rest of the world will continue to have access. This is a new capability Microsoft is implementing in the MSN Spaces infrastructure.
•	Transparent user notification: When local laws require the company to block access to certain content, Microsoft will ensure that users know why that content was blocked, by notifying them that access has been limited due to a government restriction.

You can read the rest at the source.

Wow!  This stuff looks amazing!  No more /members in the URL!  Photo comments!  Xbox Live integration!  Mobile version!  And way more!

Whoa, just saw there’s even a way to make money from your Space!

Read about it here on Mike’s Space.

Last Friday, Ken Moss posted an entry to the MSN Search Blog where he jumped into the discussion about Google’s refusal to hand over subpeoned data to the DOJ.  The controversy has sprung up largely because of reports that competing search engines like MSN, Yahoo, and AOL have already complied (to varying extents) with the order.

Here’s the relevant excerpt from Ken’s entry:

Let me start with this core principle statement: privacy of our customers is non-negotiable and something worth fighting to protect.

Now, on to the specifics.   

Over the summer we were subpoenaed by the DOJ regarding a lawsuit.  The subpoena requested that we produce data from our search service. We worked hard to scope the request to something that would be consistent with this principle.  The applicable parties to the case received this data, and  the parties agreed that the information specific to this case would remain confidential.  Specifically, we produced a random sample of pages from our index and some aggregated query logs that listed queries and how often they occurred.  Absolutely no personal data was involved.

It seems to me that two types of information were revealed.  The first being a selection of pages from the index - which as far as I can tell is available publicly to anyone by going here.  The second is a collection of statistics.  My understanding is that aggregated query logs that listed queries and how often they occurred actually means something like - In December of 2005 - 400,000 people queried for the word “porn.”  (That number is a fictional example and nothing more)

Still, the comments to Ken’s post give the distinct impression that some readers are not satisfied.  I’ve boiled down the complaints to 3 issues:

1)  What queries did the DOJ receive statistics for?  Could some of those queries have contained personal data (like a query for “John Doe 123 Evergreen Lane”)?

2)  What happens if the DOJ comes back and subpoenas for personal information - such as a list of IP addresses that conducted certain queries?  Or a list of how many times certain combinations of queries originated from the same user?

3)  Why did MSN not inform users about the DOJ request and what information was being handed over at the time that it happened?

I wish I could say I had answers for you, but at this time I don’t.  However, it is my hope that Ken or someone else from MSN will address these issues to the satisfaction of MSN’s users.

We’re hiring!  We’re building out a new test team based in Redmond, and we need your help!  We have a pretty small, close-knit, fast-moving product team - and our developers love to do what others have deemed impossible.   As a Software Development Engineer in Test, you’ll help us make sure we deliver the highest quality product possible to our users. 

You’ll define test strategy for your features.  You’ll interact with a team of remote testers.  You’ll build automation systems and tools to help testers and developers.  You’ll be a voice for our users and you’ll have the responsibility of improving the user experience for literally millions of users world-wide. 

We’re looking for SDE/Ts with good communication skills, experience with C++/C#, and a strong understanding of software design.  Bonuses would be an understanding of COM, .NET interop, and 64-bit development.  We’re looking for the best and brightest to improve the Windows Desktop Search platform, content indexing, developer APIs, and cutting-edge UI.  You’ll work with consumer and enterprise users as well as teams throughout Microsoft including Windows, Office, and Windows Live.

If you’re interested, or know someone who is, check out the links below:

SDE/T Position on MS Careers site. (A little outdated, but mostly accurate)

Please submit a resume (for job 139746 or 139744) and we’d also love it if you’d e-mail us (which will help get things moving).

We also have Dev and PM positions that we’re looking to fill.  So if you’re interested in either of those disciplines, let me know!