MS Office Live … NOT

by Pankaj on Feb.21, 2006, under Misc.

Microsoft recently unveiled the highly anticipated MS Office Live Beta. There are 3 packages available.

Microsoft Office Live Basics - Free
Microsoft Office Live Collaboration - Free during the Beta, $29.95/month thereafter
Microsoft Office Live Essentials - Free during the Beta, $29.95/month thereafter

Not too shabby for the SMB Market. But guess what, MS Office Live is NOT a true online collaboration application like JotSpot. It is not cross platform, it DOES install software on your PC, and it is completely locked into Microsoft operating systems. IE 5.5 with Service Pack 4 is required along with Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. Certain features also require you to have at least MS Office 2000 already installed on your PC

MS had an opportunity here to do something innovative and in the best interests of users but they stayed true to their nature and found a way to lock-in their users.

technorati tags: microsoft, office, officelive, collaboration