Desktop Application Aids Blogging

Windows Live Writer, a free WYSIWYG blog editor that works with multiple blogging services, makes it easier for users to create and edit blog entries, even when offline. It’s also the latest example of how Microsoft is embracing online services while simultaneously promoting the usefulness of desktop software that links to those services.

Pushing the Thick Client

Writer, which entered public beta testing in Aug. 2006, is a free, downloadable desktop application that offers a simple way to create, edit, and post blog entries. It works not only with Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces blogging service, but also with any service that supports the Metaweblog or Movable Type APIs, including popular services such as Blogger (owned by Google), LiveJournal, TypePad, and WordPress.

After a user enters a blog URL during setup, Writer displays a blank entry with all the user’s settings (e.g., background, formatting) in place. Users may also install the Windows Live Toolbar with Writer to add a “Blog Me” button to Internet Explorer; when users click that button from any Web page, Writer will open a new blog entry with a link to the Web page. Entries created with Writer appear within the application exactly as they will appear online, and buttons at the top of the screen make it easy to change text formatting or insert links. This saves users from having to know HTML, although the HTML created by Writer is fairly clean and can easily be edited in Writer’s HTML view mode.