Microsoft comes aLIVE!!

Microsoft yesterday announced Windows Live and Office Live. This is a HUGE bold step forward for Microsoft, one of many the company has made in its 30 year history. Richard McManus wrote the best review I have seen in his blog Read/WriteWeb. Please take the time to read his thorough insightful review of Windows/Office Live. I was going to write a review myself but Richard's is much better than I could do.

There is another good review by Michael Arrington on his TechCrunch blog. These guys really get it.

See the announcement  "Microsoft Previews New Windows Live and Office Live Services" on the Microsoft site.

Here is a teaser from Richard's post, but please go to his site and read the whole story.

Summary: My Day 1 impressions of Windows/Office Live are positive and I think Microsoft is taking up the challenge of an increasingly Web-based software world, while at the same time sticking to their desktop software knitting. I'm particularly intrigued by the Xbox 360 relationship and I think we'll see a lot more multimedia coming out of Windows Live in the future.

This morning Microsoft announced Web 2.0 'software as a service' initiatives that went beyond expectations. There is a lot to take in, so this post is me taking a deep breath and trying to gather together the main points - from a Web 2.0 perspective that is.

What was announced?

• Windows Live and Office Live services were the main offerings. 
• Also an upgraded portal homepage at live.com (building on the start.com technology), which will serve as the homepage for Windows Live services. Like start.com, it has RSS and is AJAX-powered, but live.com adds email (an enhanced AJAX version predictably named Windows Live Mail), IM, Voice over IP, and other features to the mix.
• A new advertising network: MSN adCenter (Robert Scoble sees this as an important part of Live).
• Microsoft Gadgets, which are third party applications for Windows Live (Mike Arrington likes 'em).
• Mojo - Niall Kennedy describes it as "a new collaborative editing program".
• Windows Live Messenger and Mail - upgrades to Hotmail and Messenger. Niall has a good wrap.