Yup, I was a big BlogJet fan, until I started using Windows Live Writer a few weeks ago.  Honestly, I was disappointed with the version cycle time of BlogJet, no new version in quite awhile.  Windows Live Write feels like a real v1 product to me, but I'll admit it is a good one.

Download Windows Live Writer Beta

Some others using Windows Live Writer...

Screen Shot...

My Comments
I need to pass these on to the feature team...

  • Bugs
    • When inserting a .png image with a transparent background (a very common action), the background gets turned into a light blue color (and does not show up as transparent).
    • MetaWeblog doesn't pull up the specific post website after posting
    • When editing an existing post with existing images, then posting back, the images are lost
    • Inserting an image should show more picture formats (like .png, not just .jpg & .gif)
    • Scrolling wheel on the mouse does not function in "Web Layout"
    • When moving between "Web Layout" and "Code" view, the cursor location gets reset.  This is very painful when there is a lot of HTML code and you use the web layout to find what HTML you need to tweak.
    • Shouldn't there be a scoll bar on the side of "Web Layout" for scrolling the post?
    • The context-menu key (that does the same as a right-click) appears in the topleft corner of the "Web Ladyout" view instead of at the cursor location.
  • Suggestions
    • "Show Post after Posting" should open a new browser window instead of recycling an existing window (or at least provide the option)
    • Allow saving/load of posts to files on the physical disk for writing posts offline.
    • Add "Add Hyperlink" to the context menu, as with MS Word
    • Startup time is slow/long! Please speed it up.
    • It should remember the last picture/image directory used and default back there across sessions (instead of resetting to the My Photos directory)
    • Have a "Formatting Styles" selection, like MS Word, to save/use font formatting
      Just the "Header x" selection doesn't cut it because not all formatting styles are headers AND they don't translate well between aggregated views and the web
  • Advantages over BlogJet
    • Has an SDK for extensibility (a BIG + in my book)
    • Nicer UI, lots of little UI improvements, like the task bar with recent posts
    • Pulls the CSS of your blog
    • Picture effects
    • VERY easy to set up your blog account
    • Spell checker is in US English, vs UK English
  • Advantages of BlogJet
    • Forums for reporting bugs & suggestions
    • Very fast startup time
    • Allows saving drafts to local files