As Microsoft prepares to roll out Windows 8 they are rebranding many Microsoft services. Some folks may find headlines confusing as they proclaim how Microsoft is killing off the Zune and Windows Live brands in Windows 8.
Microsoft is killing the names, but not the services. With the roll out of Windows 8 Microsoft is not making many changes in the services themselves, just eliminating Microsoft brand names and replacing them with more logical names.
Windows Live rebranding
Windows Live was introduced by Microsoft in 2005 as a way to extend the Windows operating system beyond the desktop and integrate Windows with many Microsoft web applications.
Some of the Windows Live rebranding will be to simply drop the name of the Windows Live from the product descriptions. Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Calendar, and Windows Live Contacts, will simply be called Mail, Calendar, and People, in Windows 8.
Killing off the Zune brand as well
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft started in 2006. The Zune brand included a line of portable media players, a series of applications, and an online music service.
In October 2011, Microsoft announced the discontinuation of Zune hardware.
Windows 8 will have applications with simple names such as Music and Video, with no mention of the Zune name. Likewise, Windows Phone 8 has scrapped the Zune Desktop.
The Zune website with access to music downloads is still alive and well at the time of this article. We will be watching, and listening, to see if the name Zune is entirely put to rest and Microsoft launches a newly named music service in the year ahead.
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