After installing Windows 7, some users who have previously used Windows Vista before may notice that some programs have gone missing, noticeably Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker and Windows Photo Gallery. Microsoft decides to drop these applications from Windows 7 in favor of newer version of the software with Windows Live brand name. The trick is, end-user will have to download and install these programs manually, probably to stem off any possible antitrust attack too.
All Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker and Windows Photo Gallery, together popular instant messaging program Windows Live Messenger is now part of Windows Live Essentials suite of software applications, although it may not be the direct successor for Windows Vista version and have been completely rewrite. Windows Live Essentials (previously Windows Live Installer) aims to offer integrated and bundled e-mail, instant messaging, photo-sharing, blog publishing, security services and other Windows Live online or desktop entities.
Under Windows Live Essentials, users can select to download and install one or more or all of the following Windows Live software applications:
Windows Live Family Safety
Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Movie Maker (Beta version and for Windows Vista and Windows 7 only)
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Live Sync (integrated with Toolbar and Photo Gallery)
Windows Live Toolbar
Windows Live Writer
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector
Microsoft Office Live Add-in
Microsoft Silverlight
Windows Live Essentials supports Windows XP with SP2 or SP3 (32-bit edition only), Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions), Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit editions), Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Note that Windows Live Movie Maker does not support Windows XP.
The latest version of Windows Live Essentials individual programs or suite can be downloaded via http://download.live.com/
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