Late on Wednesday, May 30, 2007, Microsoft shipped a new public beta of its Windows Live Mail client, which I briefly discussed in my review of Windows Live Hotmail. Once called Windows Live Mail Desktop (back when Windows Live Hotmail, confusingly, was to have been called Windows Live Mail), this new client offers a superset of the functionality in Outlook Express and Windows Mail. But unlike the Vista-based Windows Mail client, Windows Live Mail supports Windows Live Hotmail Web mail, as well as POP3 and IMAP email sources. Additionally, Windows Live Mail features the new Windows Live Wave 2 look and feel, RSS feed support, advanced photo-sharing capabilities, instant search, AV scanning, anti-phishing, and anti-spam protection, and integration with other Windows Live services, especially Windows Live Messenger (see my review) and Windows Live Spaces (see my review of its predecessor, MSN Spaces). Additionally, Microsoft released to related betas, including the first beta of Windows Live Messenger 8.5 and the second beta of Windows Live Writer.
I'll be writing a true review of this interesting mail client in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy this set of screenshots, which show off some of the new features.
