MS To Launch Internet Versions of Office And Windows 530
daria42 writes "In a press conference this morning, Bill Gates said Microsoft plans to launch Internet-based complements to its core products, dubbed 'Windows Live' and 'Office Live'. Windows Live is a set of Internet-based personal services, such as e-mail, blogging and instant messaging. It will be primarily supported by advertising and be separate from the operating system itself. Office Live will come in both ad-based and subscription versions that augment MS' Office suite. The programs won't replace the paid software but instead seem aimed at diminishing Google's ad revenue. Windows Live already appears to have 'gone live' in a preview format on the web."
That can't be Microsoft (Score:4, Interesting)
Firefox support is coming soon. Please be patient
. Did I read that right? MS supporting Firefox?
Hmm. Cool.
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
No, NO. (Score:2, Funny)
They're not just gonna hurt Google. They're gonna fucking kill them!
...or maybe not, but they (and Yahoo!) did made their personalized-portal-type things before teh Go0gley*...God knows what'll happen.
*Google, NOT this Go0gley [atspace.com].
Re:No, NO. (Score:5, Interesting)
When it comes to searching the web... I don't want a portal and I'm going to assume that most people don't care. Portal services I use Yahoo, but I never use Yahoo for searching I use Google. It's simple and clean which is what i want in a search engine.
Microsoft is likely to hurt Yahoo in the portal arena for me if they can match and surpass what Yahoo currently offers though.
just my
Re:No, NO. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No, NO. (Score:3, Insightful)
Heck, on Linux you can go one step further and bind a key combo to pop-up a text box [sourceforge.net], then have a shell script use the text to launch Google in Firefox, or Beagle on your documents, or IM someone.
I'd say the "live" desktop is already here. Of course, integration is still a
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft Revenues Grow 6 Percent, Profit Soars to $3.1 Billion [itjungle.com] Back-to-school sales were good. Server sales are strong. Windows MCE looks to be a big winner.
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:5, Funny)
People who stay in abusive relationships all sound exactly alike...
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
Naw, hell no! That's why Microsoft has to be defended every ten minutes by one of you Whack-moles poking your head out of the hole to chatter Microsoft-isn't-really-evil-and-get-that-Bill-Gat e s-as-Borg-icon-outta-here-already and then disappear one hair's breadth ahead of the hammers. The day I have to go around trying to bash it into people's heads that Linux, Unix, BSD, Macintosh, OS X, BeOS, Novell, and Sun Microsystems don't deserve their Evil Overlord reputations, then we'll be
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
IF that's what you really want then MS is your enemy. They don't want the same thing that you do. In fact they are spending millions of dollars trying to make sure you don't get what you want. They are bribing politicians to make sure you don't get what you want. They are rigging their produ
Re:Yes microsoft is bad (Score:5, Interesting)
Fooled me once, shame on me- fooled me at least 15 to 20 times- well I guess I should assume you are trying to fool me on any future attempts. (convicted of stealing competitors products, well known tendency of breaking competitors products by tweaking the operating system, well known tendency to slow competitors products by tweaking the operating system or using illegal API's and still certifying product, bundling, giving away products for free until the competition is dead then never innovating, "embracing and extending" java, j++, the halloween memoes, "collaborating" on products with a competitor and then bringing out their own version using knowledge they picked up during the collaboration, etc. etc. etc.).
They are not just another large capitalist company. They are something unique and they want to lock that in forever. They bought or drove out of business every legitimate business that competed with them either legally or illegally (Stak/doublespace comes to mind- there are others).
Trust me, you don't know it but you really do want 4 to 5 solid OS's competing with many different products so that they keep each other honest.
Re:No, they are not (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately what you want doesn't matter at all.
What Microsoft wants is to kill all competitors by 'cutting off their oxygen supply'. BTW, every other IT company is seen as a competitor. This is ingrained in the corporate culture, and starts at the very top with Gates/Balmer. That is why no one trusts them, not because they love Linux and hate MS (or whatever), but because they hate the things Microsoft has done and wants to do.
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:5, Funny)
Desperate times... (Score:2, Interesting)
I definately smell a hint of doom on Microsoft, though... but in business, as good as it seems now... we'll just be trading one tyrant for another... call it FUD, but I guess we'll all see in time
Re:Desperate times... (Score:2, Interesting)
My reaction, avid OSS user that I am, was basically "Wow. This is actually pretty cool - they've surprised me." I needn't point out that google has said publicly that they have no plans to in any way turn OO.org into a web-based product, so if anyone has an edge here it is clearly the people who just released a beta of their web-based office suite...
Indeed... (Score:4, Insightful)
===
From the POV I think Google is looking from...
It's a lot easier not to look like a bad guy when you are letting other people do your work for you, I think... Google's got a good edge on that... the open source community is large and just needs money to help it along... it'll edge in on Microsoft's turf while being respectful towards Google for helping it originally.
They don't need to branch into these areas because they are basically paying other people to possibly do it for them... putting them in a better position to indirectly influence that part of the market...
It's a good long term strategy... very sneaky
Re:Desperate times... (Score:2, Insightful)
Also, isn't this MS leveraging their existing monopoly to gain an edge in a new market? Anti-competitive?
Re:Desperate times... (Score:5, Insightful)
All that this says is, "All of these years, the reason that I've hated MS is because they were successful. All of that bitching and moaning was because MS made money. I have never had anything objective to say about Microsoft. It's all been lies."
Seriosuly. What did Google do? All that anyone has accused them of is 1) Stealing all of the talent in software (damn, people want to work there, sounds evil) and 2) Raising the prices of software engineers (shit, and now I make more money).
News flash, the only people who complain about Google are the evil corporate masters that you're also supposedly railing against. Really. If their company was all that good, people would want to work their anyway. Amazon.com is not having any problems hiring talented people. Trust me. I've met some of their people.
What you're saying is that nobody can succeed and not be evil. I disbelieve that. I believe that honest people can make an honest living and still, at the end of the day, be honest. Call me old fashioned like that, but believe it or not, one day I'd like to be successful too. Also, I'd appreciate it if you don't call me a tyrant when I am.
Not just corporations complain... (Score:3, Interesting)
I bitch about Google enough as a user, and I suspect I'm not alone. You see, I don't use WinXP. They have a couple of really good apps that I'd love to see ported to open platforms, Picassa and Google Earth being two worth mentioning.
It's all well and good to say that Google's pro-open source, but when they fail to actually deliver the cool apps to an open platform, what
Re:Desperate times... (Score:3, Insightful)
And if you think that throwing money at a problem solves it, you're a fool.
Re:Desperate times... (Score:3, Insightful)
Intelligence is how you fix problems. Money is the tool that lets you leverage that intelligence to fix problems. Just thinking wisely at the problem rarely works.
You know what this means? (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, is it just me, or does firefox do the same thing IE does there? Tried both, and it looks the same, with just the little Firefox users... banner at the top.
Re:You know what this means? (Score:3, Interesting)
BTW, if anyone is interested, you're not missing anything on live.com. I just went there in IE and it immediately tried to install a bunch of spyware cr
Re:You know what this means? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is that why they made more income in Q2-2005 than they have ever made before?
"They are downright paranoid about us slashdotters, as well they should be."
No, they aren't. Slashdot isn't even 0.1% of their userbase. Firefox, on the other hand, represents 8-10% of web users - a significant enough potion that it's only logical to support them.
Re:You know what this means? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Funny)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
Somehow, I have a feeling that Office Live might turn out to be more useful (and practical) than Windows Live. I mean, isn't the whole point of the World Wide Web that your computer's operating system doesn't matter? What featu
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow, did I just say that
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Informative)
Really? I personally don't see how. Colors are a bit easier on the eyes, but that's it. There's no better features.
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)
Are we looking at some new, cuddly Microsoft? A fracking emoticon?
Weird. Let's just hope this doesn't turn out to be "we'll support you...by helping you go back and open this webpage with IE."
difinetly M$$.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:difinetly M$$.. (Score:4, Interesting)
That's the effect of the "C" word... (Score:2)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:5, Funny)
actually I just tried IE : A runtime Error has occured. Do you wish to Debug?
Line:2
Error: 'fun' is undefined
HAHAHHHHAHAHA
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:2)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:2)
Re:That can't be Microsoft (Score:2)
Only the blue screens. The "accessing A:" and "Cannot find CD named HomeConstruction" feel all too familiar. Not to mention, "Cannot delete because the file is in use." Or the 500+ popups for the same thing. (There's a bug in explorer where you can manage to cause more than one delete confirm box to show up when using the Shift+Delete combination. The first one works, and the rest error out when you try to delete.) Plus I think the whole "
Bill Gates was quoted as saying (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Bill Gates was quoted as saying (Score:2, Insightful)
Beta is the new buzzword... (Score:3, Interesting)
I remember the good old days when Microsoft's "beta" products were full versions... ahhhh...
Good to see Google's eminent technological takeover is at least causing Microsoft to be a little more honest
What? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What? (Score:3)
So I will detail my feelings in a story for you.
Once upon a time there was MS-DOS. It was alright. It got the job done.
Then there was a program called Windows, let us say, Windows 3.0. It was buggy and problematic.
Then an upgrade came out to what was, in my opinion, only beta quality software (that was released as a final release)
Go for it, Microsoft... (Score:5, Insightful)
All I can say is "Microsoft, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE 'bet the farm' on this".
Re:Go for it, Microsoft... (Score:5, Insightful)
The market has repeatedly shown that there is no interest in the concept of remote software or slimmed down computers. People really do like their personal computers. I had thought Microsoft understood this well, though it looks as if I've now been proven wrong. Are customers asking for this?
Like a JUNKIE (Score:4, Informative)
No. And, I don't think, as I'm sure will be said here, that it has anything at all to do with Google. It has to do with Microsoft wanting to figure out a way to develop an bottomless income stream. For example, many people where quite happy with Windows 95 untill they where forced to upgrade. Many people saw no particular reason to migrate from Windows 2000, untill they where forced. Many companies have built very expensive internal server applications around NT and Windows 2000 Server, but soon, they will be forced to upgrade. Over many of these platforms, people have stuck with Office 95 or Office 2000, because they sill functioned on the platforms and did what the users needed, not reason to upgrade. Microsoft sees revenue here, basically locking users into forced upgrades because once you buy into Subscription Office, you have to keep paying like a junkie if you want to access your documents.
Re:Go for it, Microsoft... (Score:4, Interesting)
HTML & server side scripting are another form of "dumb terminal",
Hands up if you use a remote X session to a server for something, ditto VNC or NX
AND suns sunray thin client workstations are works of F***ing art damn it, they can pull more central server based tricks with those than any company buying them could ever want id. there are people that want these kinds of machines because it IS cheaper for them. If you are working on a number of platforms simultaneously with a number of groups/projects, its simpler to deal with one central server (real or virtual) for each reasonably sized team and platform they need and give them all their necessary enviroments. When the projects over theres only one machine to wipe and reinstall, not 10 or 20. They arent for everyone but they arent the rejected has beens you make them out to be.
Above all. the remote software pardigim is becoming more useful to the end users only now, while there has always been a set of proffessionals and technical types making use of it in various forms. Its only now with the explosion of the (god i hate using this term like this) Web 2.0 revoloution, that they have become aware that they dont have to be stuck on their computer all the time. They dont want to be. they want to be able to show someoen their stuff when theyre vistiting a freinds place, they want to be able to do stuff at work, or on vacation they did at home without the hassle. They want "their stuff" to be more available to them than ever. MS is tapping this in a big way now.
I just hope it kicks google to counter it, and revamp their now becoming stale personalised google.com/ig page design.
Minimalism like google is only one way to get a great UI,
and MS seem to have gotten a good one to counter it subtly.
overall, im pissed im hearing this from MS, come on google & sun, i cant stand this.
Re:Go for it, Microsoft... (Score:4, Funny)
Ripping off Google (Score:2, Interesting)
This time, however, the deck is stacked against them. Developers are leaving Microsoft and going to Google in hopes to make millions like early Microsoft employees did. Also Microsoft is stuck using their own software as a development platform which is not as flexible as Google or even Apple to make changes. Google can simply outcode Microsoft
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:3, Insightful)
I expect this to be a flop.
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:2)
According to Microsoft, Instant Messaging is part of the operating system... [com.com]
I suppose e-mail and blogging will become so, as well, in Vista.
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:5, Informative)
That's what used to be known as a "portal". About 10 years ago, anyone who could slap together a page like that could instantly IPO for a billion dollars. It's hardly something Google invented.
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure the folks over at Google are laughing and yelling a big collective, "Nigg@#$ Pleeeeeeeeze!"
MicroSoft is choosing to compete in territory where it tends to do badly. E.g. Hotmail is 3rd, compared to Yahoo! or Google. MicroSoft isn't a service organization -- they don't do continuous uptime, no bugs, rapid releases well.
I'm sure Google is happy MicroSoft is trying to do this; they'll hemorrage money and generally be feeling like they are
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope you're kidding. It seems, more and more, that there are the deluded who believe that Google, along with Apple, are responsible for everything.
This is nothing more than a rehash of portals [yafla.com], such that we saw in the late 90s. Excite was one of the biggest and most configurable portals, and of course many of us configured it, setting up our stocks and our weather, and then never used it again.
Developers are leaving Microsoft and going to Google in hopes to make millions like early Microsoft employees did.
It's a bit late for that at Google now: It's too big of a company for that get-rich-quick type nonsense. However it is true that a lot of ex-Microsofters have left to join small startups, or to create one themselves. This is especially true too now that Microsoft is becoming just like every other traditional "where careers go to die" organization.
Also Microsoft is stuck using their own software as a development platform
Nonsense. Microsoft's development platform is extraordinarily powerful, and it certainly isn't a detriment that they use it.
The problem that Microsoft's internet ventures have, and it's always been this way, is that they do the absolute minimum amount possible to ensure that they aren't eviscerated, but no more. If you remember, the IE team smoked Netscape, and then they were promptly disbanded. Why? Because that team and group represented a threat to the Microsoft cash cows - Office and Windows. These "web versions" of Office and Windows are almost laughable - if anything they'll complement, and most certainly they won't replace until Microsoft is on its deathbed and the revenue has completely dried up.
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:2)
In seriousness, once Jobs gets the brains to partner up with Google, MS is going to be a distant memory (not that this scenario is neces
Re:Ripping off Google (Score:3, Insightful)
Have you even tried using Live.com? Sure, it's superficially like Google's personalized home page, but it does more than that. First of
Painfully bad? (Score:2)
Painfully bad? Wel
I was more impressed... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I was more impressed... (Score:2)
Re:I was more impressed... (Score:5, Insightful)
Impressive (Score:2, Interesting)
Plus I get a warm and fuzzy feeling using "Windows Live" from Linux.
Hope it don't use ajax or java script (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Hope it don't use ajax or java script (Score:2)
Dude, IE is great! </blatantly-asking-for-it>
That sound you hear... (Score:5, Funny)
Unless they can really trim the fat, this will be the biggest motivation for broadband since pr0n.
I saw some versions of this when I worked there (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I saw some versions of this when I worked there (Score:3, Insightful)
Most likely you're thinking about NetDocs [eweek.com], which, though it never shipped as a single product, did actually contribute many pieces to Office (InfoPath in particular), MSN (parts of their billing and support system, Messenger, pieces of MSN Explorer), and other Microsoft products that did ship. Alternatively, you might have seen pieces of Hailstorm [coverpages.org], which was
Ha! It's fun to watch ... (Score:2, Insightful)
I love marketing-talk (Score:5, Funny)
Translation: "We really missed the boat on that one, and are desperately trying to catch up."
"The live phenomenon is not just about Microsoft. It's partners, it's competitors...the whole space is being transformed."
Translation: "I woke up one day and suddenly there was this technology company making alot of money... and to my surprise it wasn't Microsoft! I knew I had to take over that tech sector ASAP so I asked someone what all this 'online' stuff was about."
live.com domain (Score:4, Interesting)
Not even paying for 1st choice! (Score:5, Funny)
http://evil.com/ [evil.com] was already taken, so they thought laterally!
Make that 3rd, http://vile.com/ [vile.com] is taken too...
Riding the Bear (Score:3, Insightful)
the point of windows live is... (Score:2, Informative)
I'm posting this in the context that live.com is COMPLETELY broken in opera and mostly broken in firefox on my linux machine, which is all I have access to right now.
worst. service. ever.
heh (Score:2)
Not entirely bad idea, access to word at home could be handy at times
Bad Move? (Score:5, Interesting)
Windows Live (Score:2, Funny)
Looks a lot like Start.com (Score:2)
Wow. Great Name (Score:2)
And the RSS reader is pretty darn neat too.
It doesn't actually do anything I use Windows and Office for (playing games and pretending to do work, respectively), but eh...interesting.
This crashes my IE in XP (Score:2)
Interesting (Score:2)
Excellent (Score:2)
Internet Versions of Office And Windows
A great idea! Just as long as the security is rock solid ... oh wait....
Deficit of Ideas (Score:2)
Windows users would sign up for droves for something like Apple's .Mac [apple.com], this would have been a great way for Microsoft to get more revenue stream, offer backup services, personal home pages, file exchange, groups, and what not. Sure, Windows is crappy enough already, but a service like that, for Windows would have been a great thing. I'm sure Google will introduce it soon enough anyway.
Instead, they're in full reaction mode to Google with this really crappy site that seem
Holy Crap! (Score:3, Funny)
www.live.com -- the best drag-and-drop web implementation I have ever seen. Everything feels light and slick ... delightful.
Watch out, Google -- MS is on the move. This is an *awesome* implementation of an interactive web interface.
Sam
subscription versions.. (Score:2)
Its been tried before, but it will happen. This just might be the final nail in the coffin, reducing us to 'media appliances'.. With that pesky monthly fee.
It failed.... Google just won. (Score:2, Funny)
Whoops (Score:3, Funny)
What bugs me most about this .... (Score:4, Interesting)
When Sun was saying "The Network Is The Computer", Micosoft was busily saying "Network? What Network? There's no network -- Hey, look, Clippy!".
And, now that they're trotting out what is, oh, what, a 10 or 15 year old idea, they're going to spin this and say they've innovated, and look at what they came up with.
The simple fact (IMO) is that Microsoft couldn't innovate the shit into a diaper. They rehash ideas other people have done, make incompatible implementations, and bray really loudly about how they're giving the consumer what they want.
It's only because Google is lining up to completely eat Microsoft's lunch in the area of web-delievered technologies that they're even beginning to look at this market segment. The difference being, Google implements it, releases it (and free SDKs for it), and then moves on to making other stuff. [ Witness an earlier story about a Carmen San Diego-esque game based on Google maps, Google pedometers, and god knows what else I've missed ]
As has been pointed out by smarter people than I, Google is leaving the actual technology in their wake. Microsoft is leaving press-releases and open-ended promises about what they might deliver in the future.
Obnoxious PR-Speak (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft has the most obnoxious PR-speak of any corporation on earth. On the other hand, Google or Apple would just tell you what their product does and why you need it, usually in one sentence.
Re:Obnoxious PR-Speak (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Again... (Score:2)
Re:They just don't get it. (Score:3, Insightful)
How long will it take until a Linux or Mac version of Google Earth comes out? Google Desktop Search?
Almost 90% of the market uses both Windows and IE. It should come as no surprise that they're the first priority. That Microsoft intends to support Firefox at all is a step forward.
Microsoft loves us! (Score:2)
Not just the web (Score:2)
We are living in a virtual sea of ads. its sick.
Re:Hoax? (Score:3, Interesting)
MS Office makes up a large amount of MS's income with the recent resignation of Offices key executive and just a day after google goes public about contributing actual paid employees into open office it does make you wonder...
This whole www.live.com thing looks nice but two things i dont get is a) the slashdot feed is there (linux users haven) and i saw the netscape logo there too b) its all beta beta beta, MS has a reputation of releasing stuff with a little more
Re:Anti-Competitive? (Score:3, Insightful)
First, there's no online office product yet, and Microsoft hasn't been crushing anything like that.
Second, live.com is, as everyone else has been saying, another web portal (albeit with some interesting features and probably Windows integration). Nothing prevents anyone else from implementing all the same ideas.
If you're the first to make something, that makes you a monopoly by default. So should we punish all inventors?