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Microsoft has officially taken the beta moniker off the next generation of its Windows Live services, which it launched at events in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 6.

This new generation of Windows Live will be available in 36 languages and 59 countries across the world, and is the first integrated release of the services, Brian Hall, general manager of Microsoft's Windows Live business group, told eWEEK.

Windows Live is designed to focus on three main things: putting the user at the center, providing an integrated experience across everything that Microsoft does on this front and bringing the best of the Web to Windows, he said.

In line with that strategy, this release brings enhancements to popular services such as Windows Live Hotmail, Messenger and Spaces, while introducing new services for sharing digital photos, planning and sharing events, publishing to the Web, and staying in touch with people, Hall said.

"This is the first release that really pays off on that. It pays off with a suite of Windows applications that not only work well with Windows Live but also work with many other popular online services," he said. "You can have your AOL Mail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail—if you have POP access—all coming in to one client. We are also releasing support for 64-bit Windows this week."

Customers can share photographs from Windows Live Photo Gallery on Flickr, while Writer lets users post and manage their blogs in a rich way from any blog service that supports RSD (Really Simple Discovery), "all of which extends the Windows Live experience to the Web," Hall said.

Users can also get a summary of all their different interaction points with Windows Live in a communications dashboard.

One of the strengths of Microsoft's Windows Live strategy, according to the company, is that there are more than 405 million users of its Hotmail and Messenger services, many of whom are expected to start using additional services.