Windows Live Writer, Movie Maker, and Photo Gallery get a new, no-frills plug-in site

At long last, Microsoft has given plug-ins for Windows Live apps their own home. You'll now find enhancements for Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and Live Writer at plugins.live.com -- rather than at gallery.live.com, where they were nestled in amongst the sidebar and sideshow gadgets.

The new site makes it easier to search for and browser plug-ins, though it's only helpful in the Live Writer section which has nearly 200 offerings. Movie Maker and Photo Gallery muster just over a baker's dozen combined, so you likely won't need to browse by tag to find what you're looking for. Tags are now displayed as well -- but again, they really only come in handy if you're looking for Writer enhancements.

This baby's as spartan as they come, offering only text listings, download totals, last update datestamps, and a single bold, red featured label on Inkubook's Photo Uploader -- though even that disappears when you click in to its detail page. There are no screenshtos, no user comments, and no ratings to help you decide whether or not a particular plug-in is worth an install.

Tags: live writer, LiveWriter, movie maker, MovieMaker, photo gallery, PhotoGallery, plug-ins, windows live, WindowsLive