Window Live and Office Live - First Take

Michael Gartenberg | November 01, 2005, 01:31 PM

We spent a lot of time with Microsoft talking about this over the last few months and today, it's all been revealed. Microsoft announced a new series of online services today, called Office Live and Windows Live. It's a nice collection of some old MSN stuff re-branded and some new offerings incorporating a lot of things users have been asking for and in some cases, have been getting from others. There's been a lot of chatter about how this is a response to Google or how it's Microsoft being dragged into offering these type of services at the expense of losing it's traditional market for Office apps. Well, that analysis is all wrong. Microsoft has been planning this for quite some time, long before it would appear as a response to Google or anyone else. Let's also make one thing clear, these services aren't about replacing Windows or Office nor is this a retreat from the traditional Office applications. If you're looking to replace your Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook with this set of offerings, you're looking in the wrong place. Likewise, this is not about a retreat from Windows as the core environment for most folks.

What this is about is a recognizing that there's an attempt by others to co-opt the traditional Microsoft space with new offerings. Yes, there's been a lot of buzz about using AJAX for rich web development and people have done some amazing things. At the same time, Microsoft knows that the rich applications and OS model still have a lot of life left in them. It's not about one vs. the other for Microsoft. It's about both, working together and the synergy you get from them. These new services recognize the importance of connectivity and the near ubiquitous nature of high speed access but also combine with the richness that you can only get from traditional model. These are not replacements for Office or Windows but extensions of them.

Overall, this is a strategy that makes sense to me. It's a way for Microsoft to participate in the next generation of Web applications while at the same time, further the reach of their core business for Windows and Office. Look for this extension to continue as we get closer to real beta of Vista and see how Microsoft will make sure that it also re-positions itself against the likes of things like Google desktop. It also re-positions MSN as a content portal and allows the MSN technologies to tie directly into the Windows brand. It will also be interesting to see how MSN evolves over time but that's a story for another post.