Despite the beta site being a little ‘faulty’ for a few days (and getting an invite to the German beta trial) I downloaded the Windows Live Mail Desktop install. Similar to Live Messenger beta WLMD has a user interface that is VERY similar to the browser based client. The blur of web and desktop is truly evident in this app. The icons are the same and layout almost identical. Microsoft have clearly built upon the foundation of Outlook / Outlook Web Access.
Also similar to Live Messenger beta the WLMD client is very slow and renders slowly. Infact I’m convinced it’s reduced the performance of my desktop by about 50%. That said it’s an attractive client and appears to be a more well thought out interface that Outlook Express was.
I also got an invite to the Windows Mobile 5 trial of Live Mail. The install has yet to be published on the beta site though. My iMate SP5 awaits it’s software.