Microsoft plans new Windows Live services

Microsoft said it would issue a preview of a mapping program that lets customers view street-level images of locations. The preview, at preview.local.live.com, includes images for downtown Seattle and San Francisco. Competing services, including Amazon.com's A9 search engine, have similar features. Microsoft and Facet Inc. are collecting images in dozens of cities to expand the service. Microsoft plans to incorporate it into the company's satellite mapping tool, Windows Live Local, by September.

In March, Microsoft will begin testing Windows Live Mail Desktop, which will let customers aggregate and sort e-mail from Web-based e-mail accounts operated by Microsoft and competitors, said Adam Sohn, Microsoft's director in global consumer marketing. The company said it is making the test version of Windows Live Mail, the successor to its Web-based Hotmail program, available more widely.