On Thursday, Microsoft announced final availability of Windows Live Essentials 2011, Microsoft’s suite of consumer apps designed to complement Windows.

Microsoft vice president of Windows Live engineering Chris Jones announced the final release on the Inside Windows Live blog.

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Windows Live Essentials is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iLife within the Mac OS. Microsoft has circulated a preview version, called “Wave 4 beta,” since last June.

“Together with Windows 7 and the new Internet Explorer 9 beta, Windows Live Essentials completes your Windows experience and connects your PC to the services you use every day,” Jones wrote. He also noted that “…Dell will be the first global PC manufacturer to ship PCs with Windows Live Essentials 2011 and Windows 7 pre-installed, just in time for your holiday purchases.”

The suite includes the photo manager/editor Windows Live Photo Gallery, video editor Windows Live Movie Maker, and IM client Windows Live Messenger. Also included within the suite are Windows Live Mail, a multiple-account email reader; and Windows Live Writer, a blog editor offering what-you-see-is-what-you-get updates for most of the major blogging platforms. The new versions, particularly the Photo Gallery, which features face recognition, bring the suite more on par with Apple’s iLife offerings.

The suite also includes a couple of apps that lean more towards the service category—Windows Live Mesh syncs files and folders across multiple PCs, and Windows Live Family Safety provides parental controls on Windows PCs for households harboring little ones. Lesser members of the suite include the Messenger companion, which shows you when contacts have commented on a web page you visit; the Bing bar browser search plugin; Outlook Connector Pack, which hooks Hotmail and Social updates to Outlook; and the Microsoft Silverlight browser plugin.

Like Internet Explorer 9, Windows Live Essentials 2011 will only run on Windows 7 or Vista – XP users need not apply. All of the apps can be selectively installed using a unified installer, available for download from the Essentials download page. The apps will become available over the next few hours in 48 languages.

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