All of the tech sites are buzzing about Microsoft's release of Windows Live Beta. Being a web designer, I had to try it out and see if it lived up to all of the Ajax hype. I did like the ability to get through all search results on one page easily with page up/down, and the option to change the verbosity of the results. However, from my purist perspective, I couldn't help but cringe at features like a custom scroll bar that doesn't quite work right, non-middle-clickable links, long load times, and an overall cluttered design. Granted, some of the features are 'neat' from a 'can-I-do-it' perspective, but for a site that's supposed to compete with Google, I'm not so sure that this is giving them any sort of competitive edge.
Does anyone see this new search page as better than Google? If so, what is it that you like? What is it about Live that is going to convince users to switch away from Google? For those who don't like it, is this a sign of what's to come for Vista, or should we just accept the fact that it's a 'beta' and not worry too much?
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Gates hits like a girl
After five minutes of logging into and playing with Live (using my old hotmail account), live.com presented absolutely nothing that would make me want to come back, much less give up Google. It wasn't user friendly and although the color scheme was less saturated, the page quickly seemed cluttered and messy. If they're going for a user-friendly, simple, very functional service, they have a long way to go.
Different...but different
Google is my homepage. Why? Because its there instanteously, no waiting, nothing. Its just there, its simple, its fast, its done. It has now been 1 minute since I clicked on the link to Microsoft Live and its still got this whacky little loading thing going on. I think its safe to say that I will never try it again - Google works just fine. I knew this the minute I clicked on MS Live.
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Sharepoint for the web by Rhodizzle :: NR0 :: Show
After looking through www.live.com, I've noticed that that site seems to just be a reprogrammed Sharepoint Server that uses AJAX to update itself. Not really a big leap forward, and at this time seems more like a proof of concept then a beta. While some of the functions look cool, they really need to clean up the organization and improve the overall navigability of the site. I could seriously make a Sharepoint Portal that looked and behaved just like that with little work.