Microsoft today released a new version of Windows Live Writer 1.0 (beta 2). This WYSIWYG blog editing software is a vast improvement over the previous version and a must-have upgrade.

There's an inline spell checker (so readers will complain less about spelling errors), support for HTML tables and a reminder option that will make sure you don't post stuff without adding appropriate titles and categories / tags. (related: email attachments)

Blogger users will love the support for labels. Wordpress fans can now compose static pages or add new categories right inside WLW without logging into Wordpress Dashboard.

Like Microsoft Word or Excel, you have a new "Paste Special" function that lets you copy-paste stuff into WLW with or without formatting.

Your old plugins will still work in the new release of Windows Live Writer. The Temporary Post issue now occurs only if you enable Web Preview for your blog posts.

Writer synchronizes drafts on your blog with changes you make when you're offline, so you don't have to worry about reconciling different versions.

There's another useful change - Windows Live Writer now allows you to upload images without applying borders or drop shadows, something which was not possible with the previous version.

The new Vista style look-n-feel of the WLW interface is also very refreshing.

Unfortunately, Blogger users will still have to depend up Picasa or Blogger Web Editor for uploading pictures since the Blogger Picture API is not yet integrated with Windows Live Writer. Expect that to change in the coming release.

Download WL_Writer.exe [5.4 MB]

Thank you Charles Teague, Joe Cheng and everyone else at the Windows Live Writer team. You guys rock, seriously.