Did you know that you can download Windows Live for Mac?
What is Windows Live for Mac?
Windows Live is a suite of applications for Windows computers that bring additional functionality to the operating system. A film editor, as well as Microsoft’s latest incarnation of Messenger includes an email client, some security tools and a photo management and editing of approx.
Interestingly Microsoft has made a version of Windows Live available for Macs. However, this is a largely limited version only features of Microsoft Messenger for your desktop and different Web applications. This is obviously a very stripped-down version of the suite, but with Microsoft Live Messenger, these tools can be used to good effect on your Mac.
What’s Included with Windows Live for Mac?
Applications for Mac users with Windows Live include tools that can be accessed from the desktop and web applications.
Messenger for Mac – the latest version of the popular text, voice and video chat client
Windows Live Mesh for Mac – a desktop file sync tool to back-up your vital documents to your Windows Live SkyDrive
Windows Live SkyDrive – 25GB of storage in the cloud for all Windows Live users
Office Web Apps – the web-based versions of Microsoft Office applications Word, Excel and PowerPoint, documents created with these tools can be saved to your SkyDrive
Windows Live Hotmail – access to the popular Hotmail web-based email.
How Do I Get Windows Live for Mac?
Strangely, Windows Live for Mac is a group of pretty disparate applications. Only Windows Live Mesh for Mac can be downloaded while SkyDrive, Hotmail and Office Web Apps are all available through the browser (links for which are available when you sign in to a Windows Live account on the web).
Windows Live Messenger is meanwhile only for Microsoft Office: Mac 2011 user, something that seem strange to many users could. Sure Microsoft Office users are targeting that X Windows have move Mac OS but this seems unnecessarily exclude many domestic users who have switched from Windows to Mac OS X and how could install on their Macs with Windows Live Messenger.
So How Do I Access Windows Live Messenger from a Mac?
The main reason for bundling Windows Live Messenger with Microsoft Office: Mac 2011 seems to be to restrict video chat to corporate users. But where does this leave every other Mac using Windows Live account holder?
Restricted to the old web-cam free MSN Messenger (available from softonic.com), sadly, a very unusual decision from Microsoft in this day and age of free web-based versions of their excellent office tools, free online storage and effective desktop sync software.
Windows Live for Mac certainly seems to be a case of Microsoft releasing software specifically for Mac OS X, but in the end it is curiously nothing more than access to a series of web apps.