Windows 7: Windows Live Wave 4 test bits due in 'the coming weeks'

How long have we been hearing the next version of Microsoft’s Windows Live “Wave 4″ services are “coming soon”? I’ve lost count. But on April 21, Chris Jones, Corporate Vice President of the Windows Live Experience, said the same again.

Microsoft will be rolling out sometime in the next few weeks to a small group of select testers the “Wave 4″ versions of the new Hotmail, Live Messenger and Windows Live Essentials, Jones said in an April 21 blog post.

Jones told me during a phone conversation yesterday that there are “tens of thousands” of people inside Microsoft already using the Wave 4 services (plus many other thousands using leaked and torrented versions, which Jones didn’t mention). The private Wave 4 beta will be expanded to a larger group shortly thereafter, he said, with the final release of the services-only WIndows Live properties coming first, followed by the Windows Live properties that include both a service and a software component before the end of the year.

Jones declined to be any more specific on the timeline. The rumored final release to the Web for Windows Live Wave 4 is this summer.

Jones did confirm what many of us have been expecting: The Windows Live Wave 4 client software won’t work on Windows XP.

jones did confirm what many of us have been expecting: The windows live wave 4 client software won’t work on windows xp.

The Windows Live Wave 4 client software won’t work on Windows XP.

This will be interesting to see.

Good news, lighter, faster, built for NOW.

Sorry for the XP users, but XP can't be supported forever.