Office Live Mail Details Emerge

Serving as one component of Microsoft Office Live, Office Live Mail provides users with the ability to read and recieve emails from any internet-connected computer in the world. Ideal for those on the move, Office Live Mail can be accessed from either a web browser or Outlook 2000/2003. Here are some things to expect upon the release of the beta:

- Free and Subscriber (paid) accounts will be available for Office Live Mail. The main difference between the two types of accounts is the amount of storage that you get. The free account provides 250MB, while the subscriber account will give you 2GB. Definately comparable to the pay/free model that Hotmail currently uses.

- Outlook 2000 and 2003 access via HTTP. This will presumably be available upon release, but it is noted as a “trial service.”

- Use Office Live Mail to manage your POP accounts. For MSN Plus, MSN Premium, and Microsoft Office Live Mail Subscriber accounts, you can read messages from another POP account via Office Live Mail.

- Save messages to a local machine. If you find yourself running low on storage space, you can save messages from your Microsoft Office Live Mail account to your local computer to free up some space. This feature can also be used if you will need to read messages while offline.

- Up to 100 Favorite Contacts and Quicknames. This provides a unique identifier for any contact which you designate as a Favorite Contact or assign a Quickname to.

There’s definately a lot to be excited about there, so we’ll be on the lookout for the official release of Office Live Mail. I’ll leave you with a few teasers.

Office Live offers sophisticated Business Applications

Office Live, a three-tiered set of internet services aimed at small and very small businesses, will offer not only simple website and email services, but an impressive set of more sophisticated business applications, collaboration services, and management tools. To review quickly, the first of the three tiers is Office Live Basics, which includes a 30mb website (with an online website designer and web analytics), 5 email accounts, and a domain name, all free to the customer and advertiser supported. Next is Office Live Essentials, which provides more website space, 50 email accounts, a choice of either the online designer or the use of FrontPage, and “a range of hosted small business applications” in customer, product, and document management. The third tier is called Office Live Collaboration. This is the Sharepoint like private website for “collaborating with employees as well as externally with customers, suppliers, and contractors”, and will also include the business applications and online services provided in the lower tiers.

What is surprising is the depth and breadth of the business applications and services such as the web analytics, offering traffic reporting, site reports, page statistics, and reporting on which search engine was used. While no pricing structure has been announced (other than the fact that Basics will be free), the Office Live Business Applications (about 30 of them) look to be valuable tools for a small business on the web. These will include a Dashboard Manager offering a centralized view of key information, Sales and Marketing Campaign, News and Intelligence, Product information management, and Human Resources management, including managing candidates, employees, expenses, job openings, and training, LiveSide has learned.

MSN Spaces moves towards becoming Live

This week MSN Spaces moves closer to the portfolio of Windows Live services with the launch of its 10.5 release. This long overdue upgrade touts many user-requested features as well as introducing several major additions, including a social networking module, a revamped Profiles service and the introduction of Live Contacts. All three of these center around the concept of a unified contact list, something that we have seen present already in Windows Live Messenger. Thanks to these new services, users will be able to control who is able to interact with them and decide what information to make available to each contact.