MSN Wallpaper

Microsoft has released what I think is a new desktop wallpaper solution through its MSN arm that looks really interesting:

MSN Wallpaper will automatically check for updates from Microsoft. You can choose whether to accept the updates at the time of download.

Choose from our amazing collection of wallpapers

From dramatic landscapes to sleeping puppies, action sports to clips from your favorite Xbox games, you'll find the wallpapers that suit you.

Crop, rotate, and resize your images

Add text and speech bubbles to create your own wallpapers.

Set your wallpaper by time or create a slide show of images as your wallpaper

Looks good, and you'll see a number of Vista/7-like scenery wallpapers in there if you're into that kind of thing. (And you know you are.)

Thanks to Antonio M. for the link.

Discuss this Article 11

james3mg
on Mar 11, 2009
Mostly unrelated, sorry: An ad for Motion Desktop in Vista Ultimate on that page made me wonder: I don't think I've seen similar functionality in Win7 Beta...has anyone heard if they plan on reintroducing this feature to any/everyone in 7?
kenmcnamee
on Mar 11, 2009
Nice - I'm a sucker for rotating wallpaper apps. I like the wallpaper shuffle that is built into Windows 7. Unfortunately, it's a little buggy and tends to stop rotating after an hour or two - even in build 7048. The MSN wallpaper app seems to be nicely done although not the best looking WPF I've seen. Maybe it's just the fact that it has the stupid MSN logo and butterfly icon. Why does this have to be MSN branded? It should have been released as a Windows Live application and branded as such. The MSN brand is dead to me.
kenmcnamee
on Mar 11, 2009
Me: "The MSN wallpaper app seems to be nicely done" I take it back. It's not nicely done. The process of choosing the images you want to include is absolutely excruciating. Also, some parts of the UI don't appear to have any use. Clicking on them does nothing. This is a piece of crap as it is now. No wonder it has the MSN brand.
Waethorn
on Mar 11, 2009
"Why does this have to be MSN branded? It should have been released as a Windows Live application and branded as such." The Windows Live brand is used for services. MSN is reserved for content.
techfan
on Mar 11, 2009
Is this a new version? I don't remember where I read about this but it's been around for a while. I actually installed it back then but had to remove it 'cause it was hogging up my ram.
techfan
on Mar 11, 2009
Yep. I first heard about this on Lifehacker.com http://lifehacker.com/5057481/wallpapers-from-msn-manages-edits-your-des... I like wallpapers but like kenmcnamee said, MSN Wallpaper is not very intuitive.
Lindy
on Mar 11, 2009
"Why does this have to be MSN branded? It should have been released as a Windows Live application and branded as such." Product line confusions seems to be a marketing strategy at MS from what I can tell.
lotsamystuff
on Mar 11, 2009
"not the best looking WPF I've seen..." Clearly you're a misguided troll. MS says it's "AMAZING"! And what's wrong with you...you don't like "sleeping puppies"? "MSN Wallpaper is not very intuitive." It's from Microsoft. What did you expect?
tayme
on Mar 11, 2009
Come on, "lotsamystuff"....you are better than that...you sound like robertsjoe, just like him. --tayme
subzerohitman721
on Mar 11, 2009
This could be a sweet feature with some work. While you can make wallpaper with just about any image file, its nice to see someone create one designed for Windows. Keeping in mind that icons and a taskbar also takes up some real estate on the desktop, which is something some wallpaper guys don't take into account when they design custom wallpaper. However, this one needs some work. Not ready for prime time yet.
Rostov
on Mar 12, 2009
Hey Ken -- see the word beta? BETA. It's a BETA. "However, this one needs some work. Not ready for prime time yet." Maybe that's why it's still LISTED AS BETA.

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