Trying Windows Live Applications / 嘗試使用 Windows Live 應用程式

Recently I updated my MSN Messenger v8.1 to Windows Live Messenger 2008 (v8.5), and it comes with Windows Live Writer and Windows Live Photo Gallery. I had installed their beta version before but I did not use them. Today I decided to give them a try.

最近我更新了我的 MSN Messenger 8.1 版到新版的 Windows Live Messenger 2008 (8.5版)，隨之而來的是 Windows Live Writer 部落格離線編輯程式和 Windows Live Photo Gallery 相簿管理程式。我以前曾經安裝過這兩個程式，不過一直都沒在使用。今天我決定來試用看看。

I use MSN Messenger a lot so Windows Live Messenger is not new to me, I guess I will skip this part.

我還蠻常使用 MSN Messenger 的，所以 Windows Live Messenger 對我來說還算熟悉，我想我可以直接跳過這個部分。

I had used some blog editor like w.bloggar before, and it's good to use. However, it has one problem that it could not support Unicode well, so I would get some trouble when I want to post something with Chinese. It's still good to use w.bloggar if I want to post something in English, but I decided to edit the blog post online anyway.

我以前曾經使用過一些部落格編輯器如w.bloggar，而且其實它用起來還不錯。不過它有個問題就是無法支援萬國字元碼，所以在我想要寫一些中文文章到部落格的時候會遇到一些亂碼的問題。使用 w.bloggar 來寫英文文章其實是一種很愉快的經驗，不過那時我還是決定要在線上即時編輯我的文章。

Now when I use Windows Live Writer I think it's not bad. It has a Vista UI (which means beautiful), and is also easy to use. It also claims it supports Unicode (if you do not see any error codes in this article then it does support Unicode). If no other issues happened in the coming few days, I think I will continue to use it.

現在當我使用 Windows Live Writer 的時候我覺得它還不賴。它有一個跟 Vista 類似的使用者介面 (代表著美觀)，而且用起來也還算容易。它也宣稱支援萬國字元碼 (如果你沒在這篇文章中看到亂碼的話那就是真的)。如果未來幾天沒有其他問題發生的話，我想我會繼續使用這個軟體。

As to Windows Live Photo Gallery, I guess it's trying to catch up Google Picasa. It's enough for showing your pictures to friends, colleagues and family members with Photo Gallery. It now also has a Vista UI and you can categorize pictures by dates, tags and folders. But if you want to do some photo management or editing, Picasa is better.

至於 Windows Live Photo Gallery，我想它正試著想要趕上 Google Picasa。如果要展示照片給你的朋友、同事和家人的話，我想它是夠用的。他現在也有個類似 Vista 的使用者介面，並且你可以依照時間、標籤及目錄來分類你的照片。不過如果你想要做一些相片管理或是編輯的話，Picasa 是比較好用的。

I do not download other Windows Live applications so I could not comment on them, but you can give them a try.

我並沒有下載其他的 Windows Live 程式所以我不能對它們有甚麼評論，不過你也可以試用看看。

Any comments? Ideas? You are welcomed to let me know.

有任何意見或是想法嗎? 歡迎你給我留言。