Windows Essentials 2012 SkyDrive replaces Live Mesh Applications Detailed

The installation is a piece of cake. It just runs in form of a setup installing the Apps of Windows Essentials 2012.

Windows Live Essentials 2012 Installation Screen

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a new version of Windows Essentials 2012 was available to download. At the time, the company promoted its new versions of Movie Maker and Photo Gallery that were included in this new collection of small Windows applications for Windows 7 and Windows 8. Other Windows Essentials programs such as Mail and Messenger don’t seem to have received an update in this new collection.

However, Microsoft has quietly dumped one of the applications found in the previous versions of Windows Essentials. In an FAQ page on the Windows blog, the company admits that Live Mesh, the file synchronization and remote desktop app, is not a part of Windows Essentials 2012. Microsoft states:

 

If you have Windows Live Mesh installed, it will automatically be removed if you install the new Movie Maker or Photo Gallery (available as part of Windows Essentials 2012).

Microsoft SkyDrive will be installed in place of Windows Live Mesh. To sync folders from the cloud to all of your PCs, you will need to install SkyDrive on all of your PCs or Macs.

So if you really want to keep Live Mesh, your only option is to keep using the previous release found in Windows Live Essentials 2011.

Microsoft says, ” …  you cannot install and run both Windows Essentials 2012 (with the new Movie Maker or Photo Gallery) and Windows Live Mesh on the same PC.”

Windows Essential 2012 Applications | Detailed Features
Mail Application

 

Windows Essential 2012 Mail oddly still carries the Windows Live name, perhaps to avoid confusion with the Metro app called Mail in Windows 8. It doesn’t appear to have changed much beyond the name change, but I’ll need to dig deeper before I can be sure. It includes support for Mail, Calendar, Contacts, news feeds, and USENET newsgroups as before.

Windows Essentials 2012 Mail Application Screenshot with support for Mail, Calendar, Contacts, news feeds, and USENET newsgroups.

Movie Maker Application

Movie Maker, when used on Windows 8, can now smooth out wobbly videos. It also now includes the ability to add music from AudioMicro, Free Music Archive and the Vimeo Music Store (all with the appropriate rights secured by Microsoft) or from a user’s own PC to user-made movies.

Windows Essentials 2012 Movie Maker with video stabilization capabilities, AudioMicro, Free Music Archive, Vimeo Music Store, supports waveform editing, and a narration track.

Photo Gallery Application

The new Photo Gallery now has an Auto Collage feature. It also allows users to share videos straight to Vimeo from Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. The Application includes photo panorama creation, people tagging, superior photo acquisition, and online services integration.

Windows Essentials 2012 photo gallery App including photo panorama creation, people tagging, superior photo acquisition, and online services integration.

Microsoft’s Instant Messaging

Microsoft’s instant messaging solution works as before with the Messenger and Facebook networks, providing text, audio, and video chat services as well as photo and document sharing and other features. Its still ad supported.

Microsoft instant Messaging Application in Windows Essentials 2012

Microsoft SkyDrive

The SkyDrive application included with Essentials is the same as the standalone version and provides Explorer integration with your cloud storage on Microsoft SkyDrive.

 

 

Windows Essential 2012 with Explorer integration with your cloud storage on Microsoft SkyDrive.

Conclusion

From what I can tell, the big news here is Movie Maker and Photo Gallery, since these applications provide key functionality that’s not available in the Metro style applications included with Windows 8. But I’ll keep looking at Essentials over the coming days and see if there’s more going on with this preview release.