Microsoft unfolds 'Live' internet applications

Advertising will help software vendor to offer free hosted applications

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates yesterday unveiled the firm's Live Software strategy for online applications.

The software maker is developing a host of applications under the Windows Live and Office Live brands that allow users to take their settings and data with them as they move between different machines and devices.

"The kind of software that we are building here will be very dramatic," said Gates at the launch event in San Francisco.

"This is a big change for everybody, not just users but developers, business partners and every part of the ecosystem. This is the Live era."

The applications will not replace existing Microsoft products, but will offer additional services. Users of Windows and Office will keep the option to use the software as a standalone, locally installed product.

The hosted technology is targeted at consumers and small businesses with up to 10 employees. It will be made available free of charge with advertisements, and Microsoft plans to offer a premium version for a fee.

Windows Live is a collection of applications for end users including email, blogging and instant messaging. Existing MSN products will be added to this group, including MSN Messenger and Hotmail. These two will be rebranded Windows Live Messenger (video demonstration) and Windows Live Mail (video demonstration).  

The product also includes a new homepage on the Windows Live website where users can add information from a range of online and offline sources (video demonstration). 

Possible items on the page include saved searches on MSN Search, RSS feeds, a list of recently viewed documents and system information, along with corporate data including a Sharepoint server.

Microsoft also expects to release a series of gadgets (video demonstration) for the Live.com page, which are essentially hosted applications. 

One example of a gadget is the new Windows Live Safety Centre (video demonstration) which provides several security features. It offers a limited version of the capabilities available in the forthcoming OneCare consumer security product. 

Another newly developed feature, Windows Live Folders (video demonstration), allows users to share folders on their computers. Any files that are put in these folders will automatically be shared with the other users. 

Applications will also get more closely integrated. The service will include a Live Contacts (live demonstration) that automatically synchronises contact information between subscribers.

When a user changes a phone number, for example, other contacts will a utomatically receive updates of the change without any user interaction. 

The buddy list in MSN Messenger is scheduled to hold all the contacts stored in the Live Mail address list. The messaging application is also expected to start offering the ability to place phone calls to regular telephone numbers (video demonstration). 

Users will be able to call numbers directly by clicking on a result in Microsoft's local search and mapping technology. The latter service will be made available under the Windows Live Local (video demonstration) brand. 

Many of the features to be made available under Windows Live have been pioneered by Microsoft's competitors. The personalised homepage, for instance, was first offered by My Yahoo and later copied by Google Personal.

Microsoft's gadgets bear a strong resemblance to widgets, the small java-based applications for Yahoo's Konfabulator or Apple's Dashboard in OS X. 

Meanwhile Skype is the largest provider of software that lets users call regular telephone numbers from a messaging application, and the ability to share contact information updates between users has been offered for years by Plaxo.

The Live.com website is currently available in beta. A beta for Live Local is scheduled for release in November and the new Messenger is due out in beta in December.

While Windows Live primarily targets end users, Office Live caters towards small businesses with no more than 10 employees.

The service offers basic web features including website hosting and a total of 10GB of email accounts (video demonstration). The websites hosted by the service will not initially feature advertising, but Microsoft said that it may add this at a later stage. 

Another feature is a project under the codename Mojo (video demonstration) which allows users to collaborate on a single window or application through the internet. Both users will see an identical presentation of the window. 

Microsoft is also expected to introduce a total of 22 business applications (video demonstration) such as an online customer record database that can be synchronised with Outlook. 

Third-party developers (video demonstration) will be able to produce applications for the Office Live platform. 

Payroll processor ADP, for instance, has developed an application that allows businesses to process payments while keeping tabs on tax payments and other criteria.

A beta for Office Live is scheduled for the first quarter of 2006. It too will primarily be supported by advertising revenues, although Microsoft has not yet worked out all the details.

"We are very early in understanding what the ad-based model will fund," said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief technology officer.

"We will be leaders in terms of understanding where ads really serve users' productivity to get their jobs done and not just in a search box on the web."