RIP Live Writer as a blogger tool

Google has in essence killed Live Writer as a decent way to prepare a post off- line, then later to be uploaded to blogger, making some changes to its API. Unfortunately I had got used to using live writer, a microsoft product, because it offered much better formatting options than the web base edit facilities in blogger and I could work on blog posts off line. I must admit I spent too much time on this trying to figure out a way around this impasse. The "blogger not found error" is unlikely to be fixed, (was apperently fixed by google), since microsoft had abandoned the live essential utilities some time ago, and google thinks it microsoft job to fix it.

Well I'm not happy and it may just mean the end to my blogging (specifically on blogger), unless I can find a simpler and more elegant way than google's current offering. I'm sure a lot of very component bloggers are also crippled by this, Sadly I suspect deeper insight will disappear and be replaced by trite comment and a zanny picture (aka twitter with instagram), Lots of lowest denomination stuff. Not only that I also suspect this will harm the uptake of google photos, because those conscientious bloggers have relied on picasa web albums and more recently google photos to host their images. Adding a picture to blogger still show from Picasa Web Albums and that only works from an album. Creating an album is not obvious in the new google photos so google should expect quiet a migration away from its photo services by those loyal to blogger, I think google may have shoot itself in the foot more than once here. (I have since discovered you can create albums in Google Photo)

Postscript :  The key to the issue is Google "demanding" OAuth 2.0 style authentication, as a default now. Live Writer only used Client Login Authentication (the way at the time it was developed) It would appear things are working again for some of us, Just in text mode, but not everyone. Embedding images finally works (3/6/15). See also this thread in microsoft forum. Google have still shot themselves in the foot here.

Post Postscript: (5/6/2015) Live Writer is playing nicely with blogger again, I believe that google has implemented the fix, rather than microsoft, but in any case there are a lot of bloggers happy again. 

Back on-line blues

Perhaps I was premature in blaming all my frustration on poor band width. I have been using microsoft's live writer to prepare blog post for a long time now. it not only allows you time to dveleop, reflect on and refine a post it gives you tools to create a much better layout, particularly when including images. Well I can now see that the weird error message I was getting was not a poor connection but I more serious compatibility issues. So far I have not figured out what it is but clearly live writer and blogger are no longer talking to each other.

In between posting my last post at near midnight in the Singapore Airlines Lounge and arriving back in Melbourne the next morning my on-line photos had "appeared" to move from google+ photo to just google photo. Whilst I investigated this in so detail and collated an offline post. I can't post it!!

So I can still post to blogger via the web interfaces? Yes! but now the duplicate posts as google google+ comments are back.

Not only that my phone has been busy for hours downloading updates to most of the google services I use. I'm back in the land of good access, reasonable band width and I'm pretty much being locked out of the tools I normally use. What are you doing to me google?

All apparently as punishment for happily being off-line for a few days (ok I am kidding)