Windows Live Mail

Not to be confused with Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Mail.
Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Mail 2012 running on Windows 8
Developer(s) Microsoft
Stable release 2012 (v16.4.3522.0110) (February 20, 2014) [±]
Operating system
Type
License Freeware
Website explore.live.com/windows-live-mail

Windows Live Mail (formerly named Windows Live Mail Desktop, code-named Elroy[1]) is a freeware email client from Microsoft. It is the successor to Outlook Express on Windows XP and Windows Mail on Windows Vista. The application is available for download via the Windows Essentials suite.

History

Version 12 (Wave 2)

The first version of Windows Live Mail was released on November 6, 2007. The Windows Live Mail version numbering starts at 12 because this application is an advancement of Windows Mail, not an entirely new application. Windows Live Mail is developed by the same team that wrote Windows Mail.

Windows Live Mail has all of the features of Windows Mail. It also adds the following new features:

Comparison with Windows Mail

While Windows Live Mail is the successor to Windows Mail on Windows Vista, there were several differences in functionality between Windows Live Mail and Windows Mail when it was released in 2007. These include:

Version 2009 (Wave 3)

A beta version of Windows Live Mail was released in September 2008. It features a new user interface which, like the other Windows Live "Wave 3" beta applications released at the same time, has no icons on the toolbar buttons. It also features a new calendaring function; calendar events automatically synchronise between Windows Live Mail and the Web-based Windows Live Calendar. A "beta refresh" version of Windows Live Mail was released on December 15, 2008, and this version was officially released as the final version on January 8, 2009. This was the last version to support Windows XP.[2]

Version 2009 still contains the same MIME problem with signed mail[3] that Outlook Express has.

Version 2011 (Wave 4)

The first beta became available on June 24, 2010, sporting ribbons in the user interface and a calendar pane. The second beta came with a new start-up screen and other minor updates. The final version of Windows Live Mail 2011 was released on September 30, 2010, along with the Windows Live Essentials 2011 suite. It requires Windows Vista or newer.[4] Windows XP is no longer supported.

Version 2012 (Wave 5)

On August 7, 2012, Microsoft released a new version of Windows Essentials 2012, which included Windows Live Mail 2012. It requires Windows 7 or newer.[5] Windows Vista is no longer supported.

See also

References

External links