Microsoft to Kill “Windows Live” and “Zune” Branding with Windows 8

It appears that Microsoft is planning on making some branding changes in Windows 8 to help simplify things. According to The Verge, the “Windows Live” moniker that prefaced a lot of applications within Windows will be replaced with… nothing at all. Windows Live Contacts will become “People”, Windows Live Calendar will become “Calendar”, and so forth.

What’s most interesting about this change to me is that it will make Windows 8 feel more like a mobile OS. On a cell phone, applications have the simplest names possible to help keep things clean. There’s little doubt that Microsoft thought a page full of “Windows Live” applications might look a bit silly, whereas “Mail”, “Calendar”, “People” and so forth would look far better.

In another branding twist, this one even less surprising, Microsoft is lessening mention of the Zune brand. There will be nothing related to Zune in its online store, though the “Zune Pass” will still remain. The Zune brand as a whole wasn’t a complete failure, but it’s clear that Microsoft would like to see the brand gone sooner than later since it just has no future.

It seems unlikely that these branding changes will affect anyone in any real way, but I think both changes are smart. “Windows Live” seemed to be branding bloat to me, and the sooner we move on from the Zune, the better.