Microsoft is expected to officially unveil Windows Live Wave 3 beta later today, but you can already find download links for the new Windows Live suite of applications at LiveSide, an unofficial Windows Live news and review site.

Windows Live Wave 3 includes new beta versions of Windows Live Messenger, Toolbar, Mail, Photo Gallery, Writer, and Family Safety. Windows Live Movie Maker has been included in the Windows Live suite for the first time as well, although I discovered that Movie Maker Beta is only available for Windows Vista. If you try running the installer using Windows XP, Movie Maker doesn't show up as an option.

The new applications feature a number of changes. First, the user interface has changed a bit. All of the applications have a lighter, brighter color scheme than their predecessors. Windows Live Writer Beta includes a new tool that lets you post videos to YouTube directly from the blog editing client. There's a new calendar in the Windows Live Mail Beta application.

Windows Live Movie Maker appears to be a stripped down, easier to use version of Windows Vista Movie Maker. It lacks a timeline and audio editing features, doesn't allow you to crop or edit clips, and lacks the ability to place text overlays on a video. In other words, if the old Windows Movie Maker is like Final Cut for dummies, Windows Live Movie Maker is Movie Maker for dummies. I'm not entirely clear on why Microsoft even bothered with this program.

Microsoft has released a new technical preview of Windows Live Writer, the company's desktop blogging client. Windows Live Writer lets you create, edit, and post blog entries using popular blog services including WordPress, Blogger, and Windows Live Spaces.

The latest version has a revised toolbar, tabs for switching views and word count features. But probably the most notable change is the addition of basic image editing support. You can now crop, tilt, or rotate images in Windows live Writer. There are also additional border styles including reflection and rounded corners.

You can also upload videos directly to Soapbox, MSN's answer to YouTube, for easy embedding in posts. We'd be happier if you could upload videos to YouTube and other sites as well, but this is still just a technical preview, so perhaps support for other sites will come in a future release.

[via Digital Inspiration]

How many of the applications you use on a daily basis are web-based as opposed to locally installed native applications? For me, the answer is way more than I ever would have expected.

Had you asked me this question a few years ago, I would have vehemently denied that the future of development is on the web. As much as I could see and understand the value of a ubiquitously available web-based application, there's just no way to approach the level of power and integration (not to mention the ability to be always-available) that is possible with well conceived and developed desktop software.

Of course, back then I didn't imagine that web applications could become as useful as Google Calendar or Remember the Milk. I also didn't imagine that light - yet still useful - versions of these apps would be available from my mobile phone almost wherever I was.

In fact, and much to my surprise, today most of my personal data today is tied up in online services: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Backpack, Remember the Milk, Facebook, Newsgator, and Evernote to name just a few.

Most of these are probably pretty familiar names, but one is a newcomer in the web space: Evernote. Still in beta, the new version of Evernote contains a full-featured web version, but synchronizes seamlessly with desktop software on either Windows or Mac platforms. And it's a breath of fresh air.