Windows Live Mail Desktop, Microsoft's new e-mail client that aims to unify all your email-including AOL and Gmail-in one app, is now in public beta. In what will be sure to confuse some users, Windows Live Mail Desktop is a different product from Windows Mail, Outlook's successor, and Windows Live Mail, the successor to Hotmail. Its advertised features include:

• Speedy access to multiple e-mail accounts in one place
• The power of desktop software with the flexibility of Web-based e-mail
• A way to get your newsgroups and RSS feeds as easily as you get e-mail
• The ability to compose, delete, and organize e-mail even when you're offline
• A massive 2GB of online inbox storage
• Address AutoComplete and other handy features to let you speed through your e-mail like never before
• The power to instantly add an MSN Spaces blog entry about any message
• Keep in touch with your MSN Messenger contacts right from inside the program
• Easy creation and editing of photo e-mails

You can download the beta from the IE-only Windows Live Ideas site, but you'll need a Passport or Hotmail account to get it, and right now the download site seems to be having a few troubles (insert where-are-the-WLMDs joke here) . More details can be found at the official Windows Live Mail Desktop blog.

[Via Neowin.net]