Microsoft updates desktop blogging tool [BT broadband office]

Microsoft updates desktop blogging tool

Posted 7 June 2007 at 9:03AM by Simon Dickson in Business blogging

One of the great things about blogs is their inherent flexibility when it comes to writing new material. The most obvious method is via the web itself, logging into a secure area and writing your text into a web form. But you'll often have numerous other options available - and if you're just starting out, you might find it more reassuring to work with a word processor-style application installed on your PC.

Microsoft's free blogging program for Windows, Windows Live Writer made considerable waves when it first appeared last August. Although it shared the branding of Microsoft's own Spaces blog service, it was also compatible with Microsoft's competitors in the field - including WordPress, Typepad / Movable Type and even Google's Blogger. A new version - 1.0 beta 2 - has just been released, offering even better compatibility with these non-Microsoft tools.

There's a lot to like about Windows Live Writer. It does a very good job of bringing your blog into its interface - take the example of linking to previous posts you've written, a typical day-to-day task for any blogger. You don't even need to look at page addresses: the application calls up a list of all recent posts, and you just click on the one you want to link to. There's a built-in spellcheck - sadly it's US English by default, but there are unofficial ways to get it to speak the Queen's English. In terms of content editing, it looks and feels like a high-quality WYISWYG web authoring tool, which - of course - it is.

I like it, but I don't think it'll depose my current blogging method of choice. I'm using a free Firefox add-on called Deepest Sender, which works with many leading platforms (including WordPress and Blogger) but by no means all. Since so many blog posts are about the web, I find it convenient to write them inside my preferred web browser. It isn't perfect, and for more complex items I usually have to use the platforms' web interface; but it meets most of my needs, most of the time, and in just the right place.

Tags: blogging, deepest sender, firefox, microsoft, windows live writer

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Comments

1. At June 16, 2007 4:24 PM, Cynthia Gill wrote:

Am I the only one who was convinced that Simon would win?
While Kristina would be the ideal for most of us, my reasoning was that Sir Alan probably already has people in his organisation with similar skills to Kristina. These are all skills that can be taught.
Simon on the other hand does think out of the box and he shows determination by never giving up and brave enough not to mind making mistakes.
Perhaps it was these qualities, including the obvious fact that he can be moulded which gave him his edge with "Suralan"

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