AMCP Tech Blog

Microsoft has begun to roll out major upgrades to its Spaces blogging service, now known as Windows Live Spaces, including new social networking features that might give it a chance to take on MySpace. This new release will feature tighter integration with other Windows Live services, such as an integrated friends module tied into your contacts defined in Messenger, or the option of adding gadget support, or widget-like functionality, using Microsoft Gadgets.

The biggest improvement will be the new social aspects of Live Spaces, allowing users to define how their online relationships and see more information about their friends, as Niall Kennedy explains. The service will be integrated with Live Contacts, as well as Windows Live Messenger, allowing users to initiate conversations by showing the online status of your friends. However, with these new social features, comes a concern for better security measure. To combat this, Microsoft has added permission features to controll who can contact them through their Spaces site. These permissions would be shown beside a user's profile, and can be changed. Although many people think that this new upgrade might not be up to par against MySpace, it sure it a start.