Vista - Alerts

I'd like to have local alerts in addition to the Live ID sign-in based ones,
kind of like standard Windows Calendar (Vista) functionality. As it is
currently, I just don't feel that the Alerts service works properly. E.g. if
I try to set up an event with a reminder of 0 minutes, and I do it for 2-3
minutes ahead of time, I never get any alert (it does say I am signed in at
the top right, btw). If I sign in Messenger, I get it sometimes, yet not at
the exact time and even then it doesn't work always. Not to mention I can't
snooze a reminder. Hopefully it will be fixed in future releases. Just add
the same functionality as Windows Calendar in terms of reminders.