Windows Live and Kicking

Editor's Note: Beginning with this post, we are pleased to announce the inaugration of our first contributing editor, Mark Scrimshire.  Mark has been doing a terrific job covering all things Web 2.0 on his own highly informative blog and I've invited him to begin coverage here as well. This will help our readers get even more of the latest information on the next generation of the Web, information technology, and business.  As always, if you have any feedback or want to share interesting new Web 2.0 products, services, or ideas, please be sure to drop me a line.  - Dion Hinchcliffe

Over the past 20 years there is a trail of desolation made up of the remains of companies that wrote off, or under estimated, Microsoft. There are plenty of detractors that say the company has missed the boat and is no longer relevant. Some say Microsoft doesn't get Web 2.0 and has major issues in maintaining its Windows desktop dominance in a world now focused on the web.  Don't jump to conclusions too soon. While simultaneously working on Vista's development Microsoft has also been quietly transforming its web properties and building a new user experience with the Windows Live brand. Starting from a vision 12 months ago (see the first SYS-CON post from November last year), the live.com site has seen dramatically  growing traffic according to Alexa, demonstrating some of the virally driven growth traits we have seen with other Web 2.0 sites.

What has Live.com Got To Offer?

Live.com is a collection of tools that blend desktop applications with web-based services. Mary Jo Foley's Microsoft Watch column identified that the Live suite of tools is set to grow from 20 now, to over 40 tools in the near future. The latest list of tools can be found on the Live.com ideas page. The web-based services, uncharacteristically for Microsoft, are also supported on the Firefox and Opera browsers - not just Internet Explorer.

All the desktop applications in Windows live require a current version of Windows XP. Service Pack 2 is required. Users of Virtual PC on the Mac, 64-bit Windows or Vista are not supported.

Microsoft is building a service under the Live banner that blurs the line between your desktop and the web. These services will compete head on with Google, Yahoo, MySpace and other popular web destinations.

Live.com – Not just a consumer play

Microsoft understands how to create an ecosystem, another underlying aspect of Web 2.0. Windows achieved dominance in the PC market by virtue of the ecosystem that grew up around the PC. With Live.com Microsoft is setting out to recreate that success by building a service that is attractive to consumers and businesses, advertisers and developers. The initial suite of products will appeal primarily to consumers but will also be attractive to small businesses.

There are in fact two Live plays that Microsoft is making. Both are aimed at preserving their market position. The first is Windows Live. A suite of tools and services that complement the Windows platform. The second is Office Live and it is aimed at preserving the market dominance of the Office productivity suite.

When Microsoft announced Office Live many of us jumped to the conclusion that it was a move in the direction of software as a service that and a web-delivered, subscription-based version of the Office platform. The initial products launched under the Office Live brand point to a different objective. The initial target for Office Live appears to be taking small businesses on line. Expect to see hooks in to Office Live from the Microsoft Office suite and don't expect a web-based version of Office any time soon. While currently free in beta, Office Live will be a subscription-based service.

Creating a Live.com Ecosystem

The Live.com service has tools and applications that are attractive to consumers, businesses, developers and advertisers. Each of these groups is fueled by the presence of the other groups (for more on discussion of network effects check out the earlier blog on embracing the network). Describing Windows and Office Live is a moving target but the diagram below attempts to place the various services in context in the ecosystem and identify those components that have a desktop client dependency.

Common Services

Microsoft is clearly looking to kick start the Live service and has done so by integrating a series of capabilities across the site. Features such as Tags demonstrate that Microsoft understands the Web 2.0 paradigm.

Live ID: Your passport account, otherwise known as a Live ID, is the login credentials used to sign in and personalize Live services.

Live Search: Live search combines web search, academic journal search, local search, product search and images into a combined search experience. There is a one-click option to add any search term to your Windows Live home page. Search macros are also available. Anyone in the Windows Live community can create and share macros.

Tags: Subscribers can add tags in numerous areas of the service including, Live Gallery and Live Spaces.

Live Services

Live Services are a mix of web-based and desktop client based applications. These clearly provide Microsoft with the ability to bundle new services without changing the underlying desktop client platform. This approach may be seen as a way to avoid prolonged anti-trust litigation surrounding Windows.

Live.com: Your personalized home page. Web search, news, feeds and customized gadgets can be added to your home page. Subscribers with a passport or .net account already have a 'Live ID' that is the key to services on live.com. This gives the clue to Microsoft's approach in leveraging existing services and web properties.

Live Favorites: An online bookmark service. Provides access to your favorite bookmarks from any computer.

Live Spaces: A rework of MSN spaces and the competitor to MySpace. Any live subscriber can create their own space and link with friends and colleagues.

Live Gallery: The gallery is where users find macros, add-ons and extensions for Windows Live tools, applications and spaces. This feature again demonstrates Microsoft's understanding of the components needed to create a Web 2.0 experience (look at the Web's Next Generation Visual in our blog and check off the elements that Microsoft is addressing). The gallery encourages user and developer contributions that subscribers can use on Live Spaces and their homepage.

Live Messenger: The successor to MSN Messenger. Currently available as a downloaded application for Windows clients. Live messenger allows users to chat with anyone with an MSN or Yahoo chat account.

Live QnA: The QnA service provides a community of knowledge. Answers to questions with reputation-based scoring and voting on answers. This is a platform that will grow in richness as people contribute to the knowledgebase. This service is currently preparing for beta release.

Office Live: Originally thought to be an online version of the Office suite. This incarnation is markedly different. Instead it is a business-oriented service that allows subscribers to register a domain name, setup a web site and email services for their domain. Although free to use during the beta period this will be a paid service strarting from $29.95/month. There are three levels of service:

1. Basic: web site and email services for your domain.


2. Collaboration: build on the basic service to provide password-protected web sites, online storage and business applications.


3. Essentials: web site design tools, traffic analysis and reporting tools and basic business collaboration tools.

Live Mail: A reincarnation of Hotmail with 2Gb of storage and web-based access to your email.

Live Mail Desktop: This Windows-based desktop application provides offline access to mail and will handle AOL and Google's gMail accounts. It integrates with Live Mail and Messenger and is the likely successor to Outlook Express.

Live Shopping: A shopping experience. Search for and purchase products. All the viral features such as tagging, rating and reviewing are all available on this site.

Live Product Search: A product focused web search tool. Similar in concept to Google's Froogle service.

Live Expo: Buying, selling and swapping items with a social twist. The sell side of the equation is of particular interest. Hooks are provided to allow selling via Live Messenger or via Live Spaces. You can also hook in to the mapping capabilities provided in Live Local to sell your items in a particular locality.

Live Safety Center: Also known as Live OneCare. This is Microsoft's entry in to the Anti-virus and desktop security market competing against Symantec, McAfee and other established players. Microsoft's service offers one year of coverage for three PCs for $49.95/year.

Live Local: A global mapping and search service. Interesting features offered with this service include ÒCall for FreeÓ which places a call between the subscriber and a business that they want to contact. Live local leverages Microsoft's Virtual Earth product.

Live Writer: Released in to beta this week. A windows desktop application for blog editing with no need to know HTML. The application not only integrates with Live Spaces but also works with other leading blog platforms including: Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad and WordPress.

Live Mobile: Microsoft has invested heavily in the smartphone market so it is not surprising that there is a Mobile service for Windows Live providing local, Web and Live spaces search. We expect to see more development of the feature set offered for mobile Live subscribers. At present this service is heavily based upon the existing MSN Mobile search features. Signing up for Live Mobile will take you to the MSN site to register for the service. Given that Google is putting a lot of emphasis on support for mobile phones expect to see more activity in this area.

A Serious Competitor To Watch

Windows Live is still in its formative stages of development but the significant investment looks to be paying off. It is already demonstrating great potential and clearly shows that Microsoft gets Web 2.0 and how to leverage the ecosystem it has developed around the Windows platform. You can also expect to see the XBox Live service integrated with Windows Live. Hooks are already in place on the site. This is clearly a serious competitor to watch and one that current popular Web 2.0 services cannot afford to ignore.

Office Live appears to be a different service to the one that many people had been hoping to see. Expect to see collaborative tools and business oriented applications that are attractive to small businesses and workgroups within larger enterprises. Don't expect to see Microsoft cannibalizing its Office customer base by providing the Office Suite online. Instead expect hooks in Office Live that will only work with the latest versions of the Office Suite, thereby preserving the valuable upgrade revenues that Office generates.

What do you or don't you like about Microsoft's foray into Ajax, SaaS, and Web 2.0?