Microsoft and WordPress.com announced Monday that WordPress will be the default blogging platform for Windows Live.
The partnership will allow Windows Live Spaces customers to upgrade to WordPress.com, let WordPress users notify friends about blog posts via Messenger, and let Windows Live users easily create new blogs on WordPress.com.
Best Microsoft MCTS Training – Microsoft MCITP Certification at Certkingdom.com
“WordPress powers over 8.5 percent of the web, is used on over 26 million sites, and WordPress.com is seen by over 250 million people every month,” Microsoft said in a blog post. “So rather than having Windows Live invest in a competing blogging service, we decided the best thing we could do for our customers was to give them a great blogging solution through WordPress.com.”
Microsoft currently has 30 million people using its Windows Live Spaces blogging platform. Those users can port their blog posts, comments, and photos to WordPress, and redirect their old Spaces URLs to the new blog, Microsoft said.
The next time users visit their Spaces account, they will see a prompt that asks them to update to WordPress.com. Those who do not want to switch to WordPress have the option of downloading their blog to the PC, deleting their Spaces blog, or delaying the upgrade for the next six months.
Users can also keep friends up-to-date with Messenger Connect. “When you connect your Messenger account to WordPress.com, you can have new posts on your WordPress.com blog automatically send a notification for each new blog post to your Messenger friends’ feeds,” Microsoft said.
Those who start blogging today will be directed to WordPress.com, and the upcoming Windows Live Essentials 2011 will also use WordPress as its default blogging solution, Microsoft said.
“We’re very happy that Microsoft chose WordPress.com as their preferred new blogging service for Windows Live users,” WordPress said in a separate blog post. “It’s a sign of how strong WordPress.com has become, and credit for that goes to every one of you who’s been creating here.”