Microsoft Previews New Windows Live and Office Live Services
Company outlines software-based services strategy. — SAN FRANCISCO — Nov. 1, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today previewed two new Internet-based software services — Windows Live™ and Microsoft® Office Live …
Context & Ripple Effects
Contemporaneous coverage framed the announcement as Microsoft’s Web 2.0 push, while first-day impressions suggested the company was adding web-delivered software without abandoning its desktop business. The beta live.com portal also exposed an immediate execution gap: reported poor performance in Internet Explorer and failure in Firefox undercut the reach expected of an Internet service.
First-order effects
- Microsoft gains Windows Live and Office Live as service layers alongside its established desktop software, while the live.com beta becomes an early test of the company’s web delivery.
- The reported Internet Explorer performance problems and Firefox incompatibility put pressure on Microsoft to improve the portal before it can serve as a broad entry point to the new services.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft’s decision to pair online services with desktop software raises the value of integrating the two product lines, making browser reliability and a coherent service experience central to adoption rather than peripheral features.
Third-order effects
- If Microsoft sustains the combined desktop-and-service model, major software products will compete increasingly on the ongoing web services surrounding them, not only on packaged releases.
The trend: Microsoft’s Live initiative is an early data point in the shift from standalone desktop software toward software businesses built around connected online services.