Web 2.0 is considered to be 1 of the best things happened to the internet in a long time and yes its true, we had gmail which rocked the free e-mail scenario and every1 had shifted loyalty from Hotmail actually a long time ago using yahoo and other services but gmail was a wake up call for MS as far as their online business was concerned and they sure did wake up ...
MS always made sure that 1 account which a person created on any of its sites be it technet, msdn where ever u could use that 1 account to access any of these sites ... integration and i guess with Live they have brought everything together and that is what makes this experience really special ...
Through this article i will be reviewing most of the Live features that are helpful for most users ....
.::Windows Live Hotmail::.
Introducing Windows Live - IMHO the next best thing happening online after gmail
Lets start with hotmail we all know hotmail a lot of us had our first email accounts there .... and i guess its time u guys re-activated ur accounts ... coz Hotmail Live has just been given a complete make over
First up:
1. On a slow connection u can still access the classic version
2. 5 GB (yes take that gmail - 2gb is sooooo less)
3. Auto Forwarding (something hotmail should have added long ago)
4. Reading Pane - preview ur inbox emails
Ur hotmail page now looks like this:
The things that make the experience more better and more 'ur own':
U can place the reading pane where ever u want to ...
Themes - Change the colors ... personalization 
Then there are more options that let u tweak ur email settings a little more ...
These are pretty much standard in most online email services but the new thing here worth a mention is that they have upgraded the Contact Management system giving u more flexibility and ease of use ...
Now that email is aLive again ... lets see what else is new ...
.::Skydrive::.
... no its no space age car made by MS but an online file storage and sharing system !!!
1. 500mb - ya i too agree its less but 250mb of hotmail was said to be less and it increased to 5gb so im pretty sure this will too
2. A really cool and very very user friendly interface
3. Absolutely simple to understand and use ...
This is the home page of ur Skydrive (after ur logged in)
* Create personal, shared, and public folders -- you decide who has access to each folder.
* Folders work well on any Windows or Macintosh computer with Firefox 1.5 or higher, or Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.
Protecting ur files:
* Your personal folders are password-protected with your Windows Live ID, so only you have access.
* When you create a shared folder, the friends you're sharing with need to sign in with their own Windows Live ID and password.
* Just like at your online bank, all file transfers are protected using Secure Socket Layers (SSL).
Personal
* Use personal folders to back up important files that are only for you.
* Get to your files from any computer with Internet access by signing in with your Windows Live ID.
Shared
* Shared folders make it easy to collaborate with coworkers or classmates.
* You decide how much control each person has over each shared folder. Some can just read what's there: others can add and delete files.
* Everyone who is sharing uses their own Windows Live ID.
Public
* With public folders, anyone on the Internet can view your files, but they can't change them.
* Want to show your public files to others? Just send them a link! Each folder and file has its own web address.
Now this is what all u can do on skydrive:
Folders have the following options on the top:
and the files/folders have the following options at the bottom ...
this is where u get the url of the file/folder which u want to share ... 1 interesting feature that MS is providing is he embed option with a pre-generated code to simply copy-paste on blogs or other web pages .... pretty cool
The following are the sharing settings of a folder .... u can choose as per ur requirement ...
The above features are the 1s that set it apart from most file sharing services and the fact that ur same hotmail account can be used and also it is free!!!!
.::My Spaces::.
MS blog service ... really good for any person - whether u just started blogging or ur a pro at blogging ... pretty simple to use and configure ... customization options are available though some would argue that we dont have access to the files for absolute customization but i guess what we get is better than decent by the best standards ...
The Spaces Home Page:
As u can see easy access to almost everything is given on the top and updates to what ur contacts have been doing on their blogs is also displayed on the page ... any comments made on ur blog is also shown ...
Now lets go to ur space and see what does the blog look like:
Now lets see the customization options available:
As u can see u can customize it to the way u want it only difference here u do everything online
1. U have various templates to choose from
2. Change the theme of ur blog
3. Change the layout
4. Add modules from a large collection and also re-arrange them
Then u have Advanced Options which brings up this:
It is truly advanced customize options ... these options wont make u feel the need to download the html/php files and edit them coz u can do most of that online itself ...
U dont need to be at 'ur' PC do it .... u can do it from any pc with a decent internet connection ... hell u might even be able to use a Mac
Then u have the following Options for ur Space :
change what ever u need to as u feel like 
There are loads of other settings under each category to truly customize Ur Space to ur taste ... who want to access ur blog, who can send u a message, make categories, view by date or category, no. of comments everything is customizable
Space Settings:
.::Live Home::.
Now add all these up put em on 1 page and u get home.live.com
The weather gadget u see on the top i think will be on all the pages once they are out of beta
Easy access to all live services ... ur latest mails are shown, the latest comments on ur blog are shown, updates made to blogs on ur friends are shown
.::Live Search::.
Then there is Live! Search which is better than other more famous search engines
Here's how:
This is screenshot of the search results shown by Live Search:
Now the better part:
Take ur mouse over an image and u get this:
Not only that u have a toolbar on top:
1. The slidebar allows u to adjust the thumbnail size
2. The size of the image search can be chosen as per preference
3. A scratch pad - a really cool feature
4. Options
.::Windows Live Writer::.
The Windows Live Writer (WLW) its a rather handy tool for Bloggers, as it makes blogging very very easy ! And the advantages are pretty obvious at first glance !
1. Blog Offline; and then upload it whenever you have net access, which means u can type your blog's as u want them to be on the net on the move or while your waiting for a train or bus
2. Wide variety of plugins and i mean a really wide variety of plugins which makes blogging more fun and improves your blogging experience
3. Easy to use
4. Integrates with almost every blog
5. Multiple blogging accounts can be accessed and updated
The window of the Live Writer has a very simple interface. You have the text formatting bar, the tool bar, and the normal file, edit menu bar, and the side bar which is an easy access to the basic blog tools and blog entries you have made online and the one's that are not uploaded but typed.
Setting up your account is a breeze ! Click on weblog, select add new blog and you shall see a pop-up like this one, below. Follow the steps punch in the details (password, host, etc and you're done).
Next, if the settings you entered were wrong or you changed your host or password or want to edit your blog's account settings, go to weblog > edit weblog settings. There you have a window for advanced settings. Click on Update Account Settings and you get another window. Change what you have to.
Another interesting feature that is note-worthy, is that it gives one an option of choosing as to where you'd want to upload your images, which you put on your blog.
The settings don't end there. It gives you a lot more control over account settings and your blogging. Click on tools > accounts and u get such a windows. (if you click on tools > accounts, the same window opens up, but takes you directly to preferences, rather than accounts)
Look around those settings, if you wont some tweaking; but my suggestion ... leave it to default.
Next up, is something I personally find very very useful : The different views ! Its got four different views.
1. Normal view - its just a normal window to type and your sidebar
2. Web layout view - the normal window is replaced with the template background your blog has on the net
3. Web preview - You cant type in this view. It shows you the preview of how your blog entry will look complete with the header and footer of your blog template.
4. html view - It replaces everything with html codes.
Now the Sidebar : Self explanatory, very helpful, easy access to whatever you need !
You can directly open your blog in the web browser by clicking on view weblog. You can go to your blog settings page by clicking on Manage Weblog. You can directly open your drafts and any of your recent entries from the sidebar (it shows the one's you've uploaded).
But the fun part is in the formatting and plugins...tables, images, hyperlinks... absolutely no hassles !
That's it ! Once you think your done with your blog entry just hit Publish and it will upload !
Do visit the Windows Live Writer Plugin Gallery for some great plugins.
One note of caution for some wordpress users. They may get some error when they upload their entry. The entry will be published but wont be updated in the WLW ... this fix will help you here.
Those of you, who have Word 2007 installed, may not find this much useful as it already has good blogging features for any blog provider out there including Wordpress, etc. Another dampener is that the system requirements for WLW are on the higher end.
.::Windows Live Gallery::.
A place where u can find every addon to enhance ur Windows OS and Live experience a huge database of small gadgets made by users and its very well categorized and easy to use ...
Windows Live Gallery
U have access to all this for free and with 1 account ... and thats the best part ... 1 really feel proud of not abondoning my hotmail account contrary to what most of my friends said ....
Personally i would want an online Office pack from MS to complete the feature set ....
Hope u enjoyed the tour ... have fun ... Feel the Wow ... make windows ur own cyber home ...
Peace