Movie Maker–the Microsoft movie-editing application that the company has yanked out of Windows 7 and bundled into the suite known as Windows Live Essentials–is out in a new version today. LiveSide.net details the changes, which are plentiful. Microsoft also has a Movie Maker site up with even more info (which, incidentally, requires Silverlight).

When Microsoft announced it was removing Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, and Windows Mail from the OS last September, I thought it was a great idea, even though the name “Windows Live Essentials” continues to confuse me. (Windows Live is Microsoft’s name for Web-based services with at least a tangential relationship to the OS–except when it decides to apply it to downloadable traditional software such as Movie Maker.) Bundling applications with Windows was ninety percent downside: They tended to fester, rarely showed much ambition,  and were basically uncompetitive with the best apps from other companies. (Worst-case scenario: Windows Paint, which has changed remarkably little in almost a quarter of a century…although the Windows 7 version does get a new interface.)  I haven’t tried the new Movie Maker yet, but I’m glad to see that it’s on its own upgrade regimen–and hey, it even beat Windows 7 to the market. (The new version works with Windows Vista and 7, but not XP.)

Here’s a screenshot:

 
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Read more: Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker, Microsoft. Windows, Video Editing