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Comparing Windows Live Essentials

Application Suites
Cost & Multitouch Support
Cost of Applications $0 $79
Cost of Services $0 (Windows Live) $99 annually (MobileMe)
Multitouch support Multitouch on trackpad and screen Multitouch only on trackpad
Chat/IM Apps

Messenger
iChat (Separate App)
Instant Messaging
Basic instant messaging (IM) Yes Yes
Interop with Yahoo Messenger Yes No
Interop with Office Communications Server Yes No
Photo carousel Yes Yes
HD video chat Yes Yes
Personalization (scenes, themes) Yes No
Games Yes No
Multiparty chat Yes Yes
Multivideo chat No Yes
(up to three-person chat)
Tabbed chat Yes No
Social Networking
Connect with Facebook Yes No
Connect with MySpace Yes No
Connect with AIM No Yes
Web activities Yes
75 partners globally		 No
Social dashboard Yes No
Social notifications Yes No
Universal status message Yes No
Email integration Yes
with Hotmail		 No
Access Anywhere
iPhone client Yes No
IM on the Web Yes No
IM developer platform Yes No
Mobile browse client Yes No
SMS support Yes No
Photo Apps

Photo Gallery
iPhoto
Organize/Find
Top people Yes
(New!)		 No
Find photos and videos by: date taken (dates, months, years), people, rating, tags, and more Yes
multiple filters (New!)		 Limited, one filter at a time
Facial recognition Yes Yes
Batch face detection confirm Yes
(New!)		 Yes
Flagging Yes Yes
Photo captioning Yes Yes
Tagging, including geo-tagging Yes Yes
Ratings Yes Yes
Integrated with operating system Yes
Windows 7 Libraries (New!)		 Yes
Touch Up
Basic editing (crop, rotate, straighten) Yes Yes
Batch editing (editing multiple photos at one time) Yes No
Advanced – Photo Fuse Yes
(New!)		 No
Advanced – Panoramic Stitch Yes No
Advanced – auto adjust Yes Yes
Advanced – Red Eye Yes Yes
Advanced – Retouch Yes
(New!)		 Yes
Advanced – Effects Yes Yes
Fine tuning – exposure, noise reduction Yes Yes
Revert to original Yes Yes
Publishing & Sharing
Photo mail Yes
(New!)		 Yes
Slide shows Yes Yes
Send to blog Yes Yes
AutoMovie Yes No
Share to Facebook Yes
(New!)		 Yes
Share to Flickr Yes Yes
Share to Windows Live Yes Yes
for MobileMe
Plug-ins for additional partners Yes Limited
Integrated photo printing Yes
(New!)		 Yes
Integrated book printing No Yes
Video & DVD Apps

Movie Maker + DVD Maker
iMovie + iDVD
Editing
Import Video – device and file Yes Yes
AutoMovie of photos, videos and music Yes No
Basic editing Yes Yes
Precision trimming Yes Yes
Drag and drop timeline Yes Yes
Transitions and titles Yes Yes
Visual effects Yes Yes
Auto preview how all effects, transitions or animations look on your project Yes
(live preview on your content)		 No
(preview on example content)
AutoMovie themes Yes
(5 themes)		 Yes
(19 themes)
Video clip stabilization No Yes
Voice over narration No Yes
Support for the most popular devices and file formats Yes Yes
Revert to original Yes Yes
Publishing & Sharing
Publish to Windows Live Yes
(Free)		 No
Publish to MobileMe No Yes
(MobileMe subscription required)
Publish video to YouTube Yes Yes
Publish video to Facebook Yes No
Burn to a DVD Yes Yes
Output Support
DVD Yes Yes
High def Yes
(1080p, 720p, 480p)		 Yes
limited (720p only)
Standard def Yes Yes
File format .wmv .h264
Screensaver Yes Yes
Video mail Yes No
Mail Apps

Windows Live Mail
Mail
Web Email
POP, IMAP support Yes Yes
Exchange support No Yes
Unified inbox (account aggregation) Yes Yes
Email Quick views Yes No
Anytime access (offline) Yes Yes
Contact address book Yes Yes
(address book)
Photo mail Yes Limited, attachment size limits
Integrated Calendar
Slim Cal Yes No
Multiple calendar support Yes Yes
Calendar sharing Yes Yes
Calendar subscription Yes Yes
Efficient Inbox Management Tools
Integrated contact presence Yes Yes
Conversation threading Yes No
RSS feeds Yes Yes
Notes Yes Yes
To-do's Yes Yes
IM integration Yes
Messenger		 Yes
iChat and AIM
Integration with cloud storage Yes
SkyDrive		 No
Publishing Apps

Writer
iWeb
Editing
Open blog support Yes No
WYSIWYG editing Yes Yes
HTML editing Yes Limited, snippets
Photo/video integration Yes Yes
Familiarity with Microsoft Office Yes No
Website creation No Yes
Embed maps Yes Yes
Tagging Yes No
Widgets Yes Yes
Themes Limited, support for Blog Themes Yes
Publishing
Publish to major blogs Yes Limited
Live preview Yes No
Facebook notifications Limited, what's new updates Yes
Security Apps

Family Safety
Mac OS X Parental Controls
General Safety Features
Monitor Windows Live ID child accounts Yes N/A
Monitor Windows Parental Controls accounts Yes N/A
Family Safety filter Yes N/A
Automatic website filtering Yes N/A
Parental controls Yes Yes
Manage when users have access to computer Yes Yes
Music Creation Apps

N/A
Garage Band
Learn to Play
Lessons for piano and guitar N/A Yes
Jam with other instruments N/A Yes
Record and Mix
Plug and play N/A Yes
Record yourself N/A Yes
Mix multiple tracks N/A Yes
Export music to iTunes N/A Yes
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