So you thought that Microsoft had already cornered the market on digital tools for the office? The company has certainly bulk-licensed its software to big institutions for decades, while fending off anti-trust courts. Now Microsoft hopes to serve small startups and one-man bands. To that end, the beta version of Microsoft Office Live is giving away tools to help companies maintain a Web presence and manage operations via the Internet. The product comes in three flavours, and our slide show gives you a taste of the features on offer. Read our preview for more details.
At the moment, only US residents can participate in the Office Live beta program, so the service previewed here is optimised for US businesses. A Microsoft UK spokesperson said that the company will announce its international strategy for Office Live later this year.
Your domain name, please
Once you enter Microsoft Office Live beta, you can't proceed without registering a new domain name or transferring an existing one to Redmond's servers.
Drag-and-drop designs
Site Designer offers dozens of templates and colour combinations (Microsoft says there are 50,000 permutations). The tool's drag-and-drop interface has design novices in mind. You can also choose to use Microsoft FrontPage instead of the online tool.
Who's visiting your Web site?
Site reports show you numbers and charts that describe the flow of traffic to your Web site. Details include the type of browsers that visitors use.
On the Dashboard
The Today Dashboard places personal and company calendars alongside most of Microsoft Office Live beta's tools within one window. From here, paid users can access the business applications and link their calendars with Microsoft Outlook.
Collaborate on projects
The paid versions of Microsoft Office Live beta allow you to track projects using multiple views, customise them and set specific milestones and tasks.
Working with you
Microsoft Office Live beta Collaboration and Essentials allow you to access a list of employees and track online their hiring, training, work hours and expenses.
Add more work
Microsoft Office Live beta walks you through creating a new project. You can follow its steps or personalise the task.
Your own private work flow
The Shared Sites feature within the paid versions of Microsoft Office Live beta allows you to invite co-workers to collaborate via intranet or extranet, protecting work with a password.
Backup plans
Microsoft Office Live backs up your data daily or returns to an earlier version of your work.
Frequently asked questions
The business applications within Microsoft Office Live beta allow you to track customer contacts and projects without having to build a system in-house. From the Customers module, you can create FAQs to keep on hand for answering clients' common questions.
On-site training
The Learning Center provides clear instructions -- and plenty of ad space -- to step you through the common tasks. We liked the assistance, shown here, with managing a company logo throughout Web pages, communications, and projects. See the Microsoft Office Live beta preview for more details.
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