Microsoft Goes Web 2.0
posted Tuesday, 1 November 2005
In a major move today that is still unfolding, Seattle-based Microsoft Corporation announced two significant new online offerings. Named Windows Live and Office Live, both are Web-based experiences that are intended to help people work seamlessly from the Web across multiple computers, between office and home, and more.
While details are sketchy, and no mention of Web 2.0 was made explicitly, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington had a front row seat at the announcement at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco today. TechCrunch is an exclusive profiler of Web 2.0 applications and so you can draw your own conclusions from him being in invited attendance. Kudos to Arrington also for posting pictures on Flickr live from the event.
There has also been plenty of coverage of this major shift in strategy by Microsoft all over the blogosphere during the last few hours. Tech.Memeorandum is going wild, be sure to check out the coverage. Also read Dan Gilmore's coverage on ZDNet as well as Richard MacManus. Marc Orchant notes that these new products are being positioned "not as replacements, but as extensions."
Office Live will be free and supported by ads and thousand business partners (there is a beefier version that requires a subscription).
It's clear that in this announcement Microsoft is trying to beat Google to the punch by offering versions of their core offerings on the Web. And then be able to claim they “got it” first, the vision to offer businesses one place to do business anywhere and everywhere. What does this mean for everyone? Software as a service is a major force now and MS is trying to get out ahead.
Best tagline by Arrington from the announcement: “Seamless Experience. multiple pcs, multiple roles (work/home), multiple devices, multiple organizations, multiple people. There is a huge need for seemless experiences.”
Microsoft is also saying that people are tired of software upgrades, have no time to deal with them, and hate them. Also note the Windows Live does not yet support Firefox but is still somewhat usable, and to Microsoft's credit, they say support is coming soon.
Obviously lots of fear of being an also-ran by not offering versions of their core offerings on the Web. It also makes them look a little scared. Reading Arrington's notes, they also apparently want to take a bite out of Google’s specialty (and revenue stream): the multi-billion dollar online ad business.
And with companies already reinventing the productivity suite on the Web (http://writely.com, all the polished, professional Web apps at 37signals.com with over 100,000 users, and even social spreadsheets like Num Sum) it’s still not clear if people will actually switch over wholesale (yet), especially when mobile Internet connections are still low quality or non-existent for many people. Never mind that big businesses have nearly gone broke before offering hosted versions of Office.
But it’s a very important and almost certainly inevitable trend: People are beginning to move more and more of their lives, and their businesses, to the Web. It’s just a matter of when, probably when things blur so much you can’t tell if you’re connected or not.
Windows Live is out now by the way, it just doesn’t do a lot yet. Office Live is coming in early 2006 with widespread beta shortly.
Expect lots of fallout, commentary, analysis and excitement out of this entry into the Web 2.0 space by Microsoft. Also, read Mary Jo Foley's excellent article posted yesterday at the Microsoft Watch cautioning them not to do something like this.
Finally, I'm sure I'll get some heat for saying Microsoft has gone Web 2.0. But no matter what some people say, Microsoft is clearly moving in the direction of the Web as an independent platform that's at least the equal of Windows and making core software offerings that only run on the Web. Whether they take it in one dramatic step, or in several as is clearly the case here, doesn't matter. Welcome to the next generation of the Web, I say.
Technorati: web2.0, Microsoftlinks: del.icio.us
