Microsoft launched Windows Live Spaces today,
extending its integration across different components of Windows Live.
The company is talking up Live Spaces as the next generation of its popular
blogging and social networking site, MSN Spaces.
But while it has taken a few steps forward into the world of Web 2.0, it
still comes up short in certain areas.
One novelty of Live Spaces is that users who are already on one another’s
Windows Live Messenger contact lists can initiate instant messaging
conversations from within the Windows Live Spaces.
Live Spaces also adds its long-awaited friends-of-friends feature, which
allows users to meet people beyond their immediate circle of friends.
It also lets users add gadgets, which they can use to
personalize their blogs.
And in a bow to current security concerns, Live Spaces makes it easy to customize settings to determine who can see the users’ spaces.
The default landing page also includes a highly visible security information
page with safety suggestions and a video about predators made by one of its
users.
Microsoft also announced that it has launched Windows Live Toolbar, which
includes a raft of safety features.
Among those is OneCare Advisor, which protects users from sites that may And like SiteAdvisor, OneCare Advisor is free.
No coincidence there, as Microsoft is competing more fiercely against
“Microsoft has substantially increased its competition in a lot of areas to
Microsoft is also offering a 90-day free trial of Live
It costs the same as the recent solution announced last week by Symantec
The company has made no secret of the fact that Windows Live and
The software giant is thus following through on its “all-Microsoft,
“Windows Live is a whole lot bigger than the consumer market,” noted Wilcox.
He said that giving up on its MSN brand only makes sense in the larger context of addressing both consumers and businesses.
But if Microsoft is banking on Live Spaces to lock down consumers, it’s
Its feature for discovering friends of friends is much less intuitive, for
It also lags behind MySpace and Flickr in terms of photo quality.
“If Spaces is supposed to be for photos, shouldn’t users be allowed to do
launch malware or engage in phishing
OneCare behaves much like SiteAdvisor, which McAfee launched
earlier this year. Aside from different
color schemes on warning labels, it looks almost exactly alike as well.
current and erstwhile partners in areas where it feels its desktop hegemony is threatened.
protect Windows and Office,” said Joe Wilcox, an analyst with JupiterResearch.
OneCare. The solution is available as a subscription service. and Yahoo
.
Internet-based, ad-funded software and services are critical to its strategy
for driving growth.
all-the-time” strategy, with both consumers
and businesses in mind.
going to have to do a better job in certain areas.
instance, than the similar feature on MySpace.
higher-quality photos?” asked Wilcox.
