Microsoft Updates Windows Live Essentials 2011, Or So We're Told

And if you're really good, you may even notice a difference. Certainly, Microsoft's uninformative blog post about this release does nothing to clear up what's new:

"Today, we released an update for Windows Live Essentials 2011 in all 48 languages," Microsoft's Steven Abrahams writes in the post. "This minor release includes numerous updates across all of the programs in the Essential package, including Windows Live Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Family Safety, Writer, and Mesh."

And those updates are ... Nope. Nothing.

For some reason, there's a confusing list of some new features for those moving from the two-years-old version of Essentials to the "current" version:

"Current customers moving from Windows Live Essentials 2009 to 2011 will see a whole host of new features, including new social features in Windows Live Messenger, the ability to chat with Facebook friends, photo fuse in Photo Gallery, new themes in Movie Maker, and much more."

But nothing about this update. Not a thing.

"In the coming weeks, customers on Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7 will receive a notification prompting them to upgrade to the new version," Abrahams notes. "Since this release contains critical fixes for the Essentials package, in a few months, the update will become required for all eligible customers."

So, to recap. This update includes numerous updates and critical fixes. Of which none are documented. 

Classic Microsoft.