The new Windows Essentials 2012 is out with an updated Movie Maker and Photo Gallery. But DON'T install it if you want to keep using Live Mesh!

The Windows Experience Blog - Introducing the New Windows Photo Gallery and Movie Maker

Today we’re happy to announce new versions of Movie Maker and Photo Gallery for Windows 7 and Windows 8. We’ve added a few new capabilities while also taking advantage of some advances in Windows 8. Movie Maker and Photo Gallery are two essential Windows applications hundreds of millions of people have come to rely on for making the most of your photos and videos. And with this release, we’ve given you a few more reasons to enjoy them even more.

Download: Windows Essentials 2012 (Web install)

Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a great way to turn your ordinary photos and videos into a captivating story. Whether you’re making a short clip to quickly share or taking your time to make the most of that big event, Movie Maker showcases your skills as a budding film-maker. With major advancements in hardware accelerated graphics in Windows 8, Movie Maker has evolved to include these state of the art enhancements.

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Photo Gallery

In Windows 8, Windows Photo Gallery is the number one way to organize, fix, find and share your photos and videos. And with advanced features like Photo Fuse and Panorama, Photo Gallery continues to bring creative enhancement to your memories.

Auto Collage: Trying to create a collage of photos on your own is hard and usually requires expensive and complex software. With Auto Collage in Photo Gallery you just select seven or more photos and we’ll arrange them in a collage for you. Making a new photo our of existing photos has never been easier. Whether you want to make a special print of a collection of photos or you want a nice start or ending to a movie highlight with some of your favorite scenes.

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What is included in Windows Essentials 2012?

Windows Essentials 2012 includes our new SkyDrive for Windows app as well as Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Family Safety*, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Messenger, Outlook Connector Pack and Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker.

I use Windows Live Mesh. What happens if I install the new Movie Maker or Photo Gallery as part of Windows Essentials 2012?

If you have Windows Live Mesh installed, it will automatically be removed if you install the new Movie Maker or Photo Gallery (available as part of Windows Essentials 2012). [GD: Emphasis added]

Microsoft SkyDrive will be installed in place of Windows Live Mesh. To sync folders from the cloud to all of your PCs, you will need to install SkyDrive on all of your PCs or Macs.

What is the difference between Windows Live Mesh and SkyDrive?

Please read this article for more information.

Can I keep using Windows Live Mesh?

Yes. If you do not install Windows Essentials 2012 on any of your PCs, Windows Live Mesh will keep working just like before.

If you have uninstalled Windows Live Mesh, you can still reinstall it. It's available as part of Windows Live Essentials 2011.

Please note that you cannot install and run both Windows Essentials 2012 (with the new Movie Maker or Photo Gallery) and Windows Live Mesh on the same PC.

I still use Live Mesh for it's Remote Desktop feature (and Favorite Sync'ing) so I guess I'm skipping this update. That kind of pisses me off. SkyDrive and Live Mesh work side-by-side fine. I can understand encouraging users to move away from it, but this kind of forced move bugs me. But again the products are free, so I guess I get what I pay for? :/

At least you ARE warned prior to the install actually starting and so can back out if you want (like I did)...