Microsoft Goes "Live"

In response to the success of Google's platform-free application development, Microsoft has unveiled its "Live" initiative. Like Google, Windows Live will be a web service-based, data-driven, hardware-independent, ad-supported environment. Office Live will be an "'Internet based services for growing and managing your business online.' extensible, thousands of partners. ad supported level with tier above requiring subscription."

Bill Gates personally announced the initiative today. The blog Read/Write Web describes the Live program as "...a bit of Web 2.0 mixed with Microsoft's live naming theme–Live Meeting, XBox Live. Services = Software, in a broad way, from hosted services like email and CRM to MSN and mapping mashups."

In other words, Microsoft is scrambling to catch up to Google and Yahoo in the web services space. It will be interesting to see how Live pans out... for as Windows 95 and Internet Explorer proved, Microsoft excels (pardon the pun) at coming from behind to take the market lead.

Read the official Microsoft press release and fact sheet on the Live initiatives here. Or, visit the Windows Live Ideas site to try beta versions of some Live applications.

Source: ZDNet