MS offers free domain names, websites, accounting on Nov 15

This will be useful for webmasters in marketing to small biz

[weeks]

David Pogue in the New York Times reports that Microsoft will offer its new web service starting on November 15.

Besides the free web site the free plan, known as Office Live Basics, also offers 25 matching e-mail accounts, a password-protected online calendar.

Most interestingly was that the free service something called AdManager to manage search-engine advertising. According to Pogue, MS is working with Google, Yahoo and other search sites, which it will add to the options soon after the introduction.

Getting small biz into the web is the hard part. This will help. Once they get on, they'll want help in managing their web site. That's where the pros here come in.

I thought this was a bit over the top:
"The free account also includes a brand-new program called Office Accounting Express, a basic, very simple accounting program. It’s designed for what Microsoft calls the 80 percent of small businesses that keep their books in shoeboxes, or on Excel spreadsheets or Quicken."

"Accounting Express is no QuickBooks. But it does have useful links to PayPal, eBay, credit card companies and payroll servicing companies — all features, once again, made to let small-time operators play in the big leagues without hiring consultants or system administrators."

The article can be seen here: As usual, Pogue does a very good job.
[nytimes.com...]

[bill]

Development of Office Live was announced almost exactly a year ago. The idea was not to just offer software or online services, but to integrate the two of them into this new package.

Read more about the Office Live program on the Windows Live Ideas site: Microsoft Office Live Beta [ideas.live.com]