Microsoft Livens Up Web 2.0
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.
Context & Ripple Effects
This piece is day-one reaction to Microsoft's Live launch, following a week of buildup in the coverage: ZDNet's report on Microsoft building a fully Web-based Office and live-blogging notes from the Live event itself. The reviewer's verdict — positive impressions of Windows/Office Live as evidence Microsoft is meeting the challenge of an increasingly Web-based software world without abandoning desktop software — lands right as the broader debate about the issues facing Web 2.0 going into 2006 was crystallizing.
First-order effects
- Windows Live and Office Live move from rumor to shipped (if early) services, giving Microsoft's web efforts a concrete product surface to be judged on rather than speculation about a browser-based Office.
- The positive first impression buys Microsoft credibility in the Web 2.0 conversation, where it had been cast as the incumbent at risk from web-native challengers.
Second-order effects
- Web-native competitors — from hosted office suites to consumer web portals — now face a counter-move from the largest desktop software vendor, pressuring them to differentiate on speed and openness before Microsoft's distribution advantage kicks in.
- A dual-track strategy (web services alongside paid desktop licenses) forces Microsoft to manage channel conflict between its own products, a tension competitors will watch closely for signs of hesitation.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, software delivery shifts structurally from packaged releases to continuously updated services, with the desktop suite repositioned as one client among several rather than the product itself.
- The Live strategy foreshadows the platformization arc visible a decade later when Microsoft opened up Office as a platform with apps and add-ins for Outlook.com — suggesting the long-run endpoint is Office as an extensible service ecosystem.
The trend: Microsoft's Live launch is an early data point in the industry's decade-plus migration from licensed desktop software to cloud-delivered, service-based productivity platforms.