Bnpositive Communication

I received this e-mail from Microsoft earlier today announcing Microsoft Office Live is just around the corner:

Microsoft Office Live is just around the corner.
Whether you asked to be part of our beta late last year, or just last week, we want to thank you for your patience. We’ve been working hard to build these exciting new services. We trust you’ll find them worth the wait.

What is Microsoft Office Live?
Microsoft® Office Live consists of three different packages of online services, each designed with the small business owner in mind, that deliver remarkable new ways to grow and run your business online.* The best part – it’s all FREE during beta.**

Microsoft Office Live Basics
Domain name, Web hosting, company e-mail and more
With Microsoft Office Live Basics you can start by claiming your own domain name (for example, www.northwindtraders.com) and, using our easy Site Designer tool, get a professional Web site up and running in minutes. Web traffic reports let you manage your own business Web site without being a Web expert. Company-branded e-mail accounts that match your business domain (for example, jsmith@northwindtraders.com) helps give your company the professional image it deserves.

Microsoft Office Live Collaboration
Shared Sites and online business applications
Microsoft Office Live Collaboration is ideal for any business where ongoing information sharing and collaboration are essential. Create your own Shared Sites to access and share information – even when you’re on the go – using your company’s own password-protected Web site.^ We also include a variety of online business applications so you can easily manage your customer, project, sales and company information, all in one place.

Microsoft Office Live Essentials
Web hosting, company e-mail, Shared Sites and more.
With Microsoft Office Live Essentials, you get all the benefits of Office Live Basics and Office Live Collaboration, and more. Additional company e-mail accounts with enhanced access features, advanced Web traffic reports, and Microsoft Office FrontPage® software support provide an all-in-one, comprehensive solution for growing and managing your business online.
How will participants join the beta?
Soon we’ll be e-mailing invitations to qualified beta registrants. The invitations will include information on where to go to sign-up, along with a unique product key that lets you access our beta services. So stay tuned for future e-mails from your Microsoft Office Live Team.

Again, thanks for your patience and interest in the Microsoft Office Live beta.

Best Regards,

Your Microsoft Office Live Team
www.officelive.com

The fact that Microsoft recently announced it wouldn’t be releasing a second beta candidate to the public for Vista, instead using CTP’s, doesn’t interest me very much.

The article that does interest me though is that Jim Allchin has stated that he would accept a delay of the release of Vista as well as his coincided retirement if the product isn’t up the level he would prefer at the original release date.

The reason that interests me is the fact that I’m sure the blogosphere will be abuzz with comments about Microsoft delaying another release. Yet, if they released on schedule and the new OS has bugs and issues, Microsoft would again be lambasted for releasing shoddy code.

Regretfully, it seems Microsoft can’t win for losing on either front! Mr. Allchin, you release the product you’ll be proud of, we’ll wait!

Source: Microsoft would delay Windows Vista for quality on Bink.nu