Windows Live Wave 4 is finally public after months of anticipation. Once my initial positive reaction had passed, I quickly realized with a bit of browsing that there were few substantial improvements to speak of.

Windows Live SkyDrive

Windows Live SkyDrive has added incremental improvements to the interface such as different file views, but it still lacks crucial AJAX features like drag and drop that drastically improve usability. Functions such as file renaming and moving still rely on static pages. When combined with Windows Live Office, it suffers from a confusing navigation logic. When navigating to SkyDrive.Live.com, the breadcrumb navigation shows that SkyDrive is the root, but a click on any of the files it contains changes the file’s root to Office.Live.com. The focus on Photos as a pillar of Windows Live is arbitrary and creates the impression that only photos can be uploaded despite the improved video support. A more logical pillar would be Albums, but eliminating this pillar altogether would be best since it is contained within SkyDrive.

Windows Live Spaces

By the looks of it, Windows Live Spaces is nearing the end of the line. The blogs are plagued with spam and even a basic CAPTCHA remains absent. It lacks countless features that competing blogging platforms have. All the Windows Live Teams have jumped ship from Spaces to their own custom blogging platform.

Windows Live Office

This is the only bright spot in Wave 4, albeit another catch up service. The apps are great, although they are a bit laggy for some reason. Typing results in a noticeable hang before anything appears on the screen when compared to Google Docs, where text appears instantaneously.

Windows Live Profile

Windows Live Profile has added some great privacy improvements, so this was well executed. The new interface is intuitive and easy to use. One feature that was clearly missing was private messaging. Now users cannot private message others unless they are already networked. What’s the point of this if you can just use email? The purpose of private messaging is to make contact while forgoing actual friending. I got the distinct impression that this was a crude attempt to end private messaging spam, but what’s the point? Won’t spammers just begin friend request spamming now?

At best, Windows Live Wave 4 offers features that catch up with the
competition but do little to surpass, resulting in a mediocre product. I’ll be porting my blog to WordPress soon.