August 2, 2008 | Category: General

Hey there people just a quick test to see if M$ can make a blogging tool that works with an open source software.

Wow M$ weren’t joking when they created Windows Live Writer. I read a few people raving about it. Basically its a tool which allows you to write a blog post using a desktop application. The advantage is you can write posts and save them and publish them when you want. It supports the usual images, hyperlinks, videos etc.

The install felt a little longer than it should, but it has a wizard which pulls off a very neat feature. After entering your blog address and user/pass it downloads your theme. Obviously my theme is a custom one and when it takes you into its interface your post is formatted in exactly the way as it would as a published post.

I’m quite impressed! one word of warning though, when its installing make sure you only tick the writer option as it will try to install some other stuff which you may not need.

UPDATE: OK so I got burned by M$ I tried installing WLW on my new pc and it came up with some B$ about updating windows update agent to 5.8.02469. The first thing I do after carrying out a new install is make sure it has the latest service pack which is SP3 now. Then switch off windows update. I tend to work on service packs, I find the PC tends to last longer. Anyway if you get burned by this issue. The file to install is this one go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237. Install this, you don’t need to install anything else and then switch off automatic updates. Next you can install writer. I have to admit this has made me a little wary. The guys who made writer have done a good job, they’re just working for the wrong company : )