If you are currently using Windows Live Movie Maker Beta, the software that lets you create movies from your video clips and/or pictures, then you should know that an important update will be rolled out automatically very soon. The update in question will be served as of tomorrow, the 1st of July, and is meant to extend the availability of the software - but you can get it manually now.

Windows Communications Manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, Brandon LeBlanc, explains: “Starting July 1st, 2009, when you launch Windows Live Movie Maker Beta you will be prompted to implement a software update which will extend the beta. You can download the software update [manually] to continue to use the software without any interruption. If you choose not to install the software update, you will be unable to continue to use the Windows Live Movie Maker Beta."

Windows Live Movie Maker is a free piece of software that you can use edit and create videos – it is basically a replacement for Windows Movie Maker which came bundled with Windows Vista. Windows Live Movie Maker has been released in Beta back in September 2008, as part of Wave 3 of the Windows Live Suite of products.

The beta version of the software that was released last year came with an expiration date – June 30th, 2009. The main purpose of the 1st of July update is to prevent the software to stop functioning (which is what generally happens when a software product expires) by extending its expiration date to December 30th, 2009. Hopefully, a 1.0 version of Windows Live Movie Maker will be released by the end of the year.

On a little side note, it should be noted that Windows Live Movie Maker does not work with any Windows versions prior to Vista – I’m talking to your XP users .

If you have Windows Live Movie Maker Beta and would like to download the update manually, you can do so here.
If you would like to get started with Windows Live Movie Maker, you can download the software for free here.