Live from San Francisco: Microsoft's Live Platform

Microsoft wants a bigger piece of what it sees as a burgeoning Internet advertising pie, and it intends to battle the competition (mainly Google and Yahoo) fiercely to get it. That's the message I came away with at the end of nearly three hours of demos and presentations at the Sheraton Palace in downtown San Francisco by Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates, chief technical officer Ray Ozzie, and others (including a somewhat frazzled corporate VP Blake Irving, who was at the controls when a key demo stalled due to network problems).

The actual announcements centered around what Gates early on described as "Live" software, which actually isn't software at all but a catchall term for a new generation of Web services to be offered, initially, in three ad-supported bundles: Xbox Live, Windows Live and Office Live. Xbox Live isn't new, but it will be enhanced; Windows Live and Office Live are new.

You can already try out Windows Live in beta. Basically, it's a customizable, personal home page yoou can create using a combination of Web searches, Microsoft "Gadgets" (basically applets such as a clock or, while you're waiting for the rollout of the Windows Live Mail beta, an e-mail reader), RSS feeds, an IM client, programmed content and even information on your PC such as Recent Documents or the results of a virus scan. The page updates itself--a saved Web search, for example, would show current search results, and Recent Documents would always display, well, recent documents.

Microsoft intends to add other popular Web-type functions: social networking and blogging--the latter via MSN Spaces, which is going to become Windows Live Spaces. But while Windows Live will be taking over other MSN.com services, MSN.com isn't going away, Gates said. Microsoft also intends to make at least some Windows Live functionality and information available on Windows Mobile devices.

Windows Live is Microsoft's most ambitious assault to date on personalized portal-type offerings by Internet giants Google and Yahoo. It will be free and ad-supported--and speaking of ads, Microsoft also spoke about its coming MSN adCenter, an advertising network that will address not just the Web but all network-connected media including cell phones and TV (via coming IPTV services).

Office Live, as the name suggests, will address small businesses with offerings ranging from hosted Web sites to collaboration tools (basically hosted Sharepoint services). The services will integrate with Microsoft's Office productivity suite, but you won't need Office to use Office Live. Office Live won't be in beta until early 2006.

Similarly, Windows Live does not require Windows--most of its services will be accessible via any browser. However, Windows user will enjoy enhancements (such as multimedia frills) that won't be available in non-Windows environments. You can read more details about the Live platform--and some reaction to it--in a report by my IDG News Service colleague, Elizabeth Montalbano.

How well Microsoft's campaign plays out remains to be seen. But as the lengthy session dragged on I couldn't help remembering other Microsoft initiatives aimed at leveraging the Internet. Some have been more successful than others--who out there remembers B-Central? And how great is the urge to personalize? Most non-techies I know never change the home page on the browser that comes with their PC, much less even go to the trouble of finding and personalizing a page at a major portal.