Microsoft add new features to MSN Spaces

Microsoft add new features to MSN Spaces

Microsoft has finally added some more features to their blogging related services in MSN Spaces. This service was launched to compete with the Blogger offering from Google and now has added competition from the Yahoo! 360 service. These new services are targeted at the users with more advanced requirements. A key MSN Spaces official announced the news to the blogging world through a posting on the MSN Official Blogs.

The company calls these offerings as PowerToys similar in a way they release small useful utilities for their Operating Systems. These enable the bloggers to add functionalities like the capability to create custom HTML modules, to play audio and video files, and to significantly customize user interfaces to their MSN Spaces based Blogs. MSN Spaces lead program manager Mike Torres said in his Blog: “PowerToys are special features in MSN Spaces designed specifically for you, the advanced users.”

Microsoft later confirmed this utility release. these new features are currently in test mode and are only available to the English language user of the web-based service for the time being. However, the bad news is that like the PowerToys for the Windows Operating System, these extras come without support as well. As per the details coming from the Torres Talking Blog, The custom HTML feature will allow users to decorate their MSN Spaces Blogs with custom logos, posting large photos and adding text that appears permanently in a specific part of the Blog.

Other utilities allow you to add a sandbox module to your Space in which you can enter text, link to images, and use other HTML features. The Windows Media Player PowerToy allows users to play audio and video files within their MSN Spaces Blog. However, uploading of these third party files is still not supported and the users would have to rely on space provided by third party companies.

Some other utilities are aimed at making the user capable of further customizing the looks of their Blogs, which is one of the biggest shortcomings of MSN Spaces. The Blog also hinted towards a test version of mobile features for MSN Spaces coming up next.