Live on a Roll

Good summary article from C|Net:

Windows Live offers Microsoft a quicker turnaround

Although it has taken Microsoft five years to develop the next version of Windows, the software maker seems to crank out a new Windows Live service every five minutes.

This is the first real positive article I’ve seen on the Windows Live stuff since we’ve rolled out all these new services; and if you actually look at the Windows Live chart that C|Net has compiled, it actually looks quite impressive.  Now let’s see how long before these services get adopted by mainstream users.

Windows Live

[As usual, I come out with entries days later than everyone else.]

Microsoft Previews New Windows Live and Office Live Strategies

There’s a plethora of blog/opinions/explanations of Windows Live on the web. Just go MSN Windows Live Search it. I don’t need to spend time explaining why I think this is A Good Thing (although it could definitely be less confusing).

I’m curious what Google and Yahoo! think about this. Are they worried? Do they think it’s brilliant? Or do they view this as just a marketing ploy / last-ditch effort by MS to stay competitive? (I think it would be a little of both–and I would most definitely be a little worried.)

On Live.com you can add Search queries to pin to your page. There’s only one reason I could see people using this for–to search for their own name and see if their site has gone up/down in the rankings.

I love Live.com/Start.com. I love Windows Live Mail Beta (aka Kahuna). [I don’t (yet) love the Windows Live Messenger Beta, but that might change closer to release. Overdo has a bunch of screenshots/info if you’re curious.]

I need to head over to the Company Store to stock up on the plush butterflies.

Who noticed that Live spelt backwards is eviL?? Ingenious!

Regrouping the Troops

Microsoft Realigns for Next Wave of Innovation and Growth

MSN has now been re-org’ed into the "Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division, which comprises Windows Client, Server and Tools, and MSN®." I now work for Windows. Strange.

From News.com: Bloggers debate what reorg means for Microsoft. If I were Google I would take note. Microsoft may be big and slow (and *ahem* employees may be frustrated), but we’ve always been good at taking on competition. And leveraging Windows, one of the world’s biggest platforms, is a great step in the right direction.

Randomness (from watching execs talk the talk lately) – Common words used by Executives and management in general: (It’s like they have a very limited vocabulary or something. Here are some synonyms to help them out.)

 

Main Entry:   super Part of Speech:   adjective Definition:   excellent Synonyms:   cool, divine, glorious, great, groovy, hot, incomparable, keen, magnificent, marvelous, matchless, neat, outstanding, peerless, sensational, smashing, superb, terrific, topnotch, wonderful Antonyms:   lousy, rotten Main Entry:   innovation Part of Speech:   noun Definition:   change Synonyms:   addition, alteration, contraption, cutting edge, departure, deviation, in thing, introduction, last word, latest thing, latest wrinkle, leading edge, modernism, modernization, modification, mutation, new wrinkle, newfangled idea, newness, notion, novelty, permutation, shift, variation, vicissitude, what’s happening, wrinkle Main Entry:   agile Part of Speech:   adjective Definition:   nimble Synonyms:   active, acute, alert, athletic, brisk, buoyant, bustling, clever, deft, dexterous, easy-moving, energetic, fleet, frisky, limber, lithe, lively, mercurial, prompt, quick, quick-witted, rapid, ready, sharp, spirited, sportive, spright, sprightly, spry, stirring, supple, swift, vigorous, vivacious, winged, zippy Antonyms:   brittle, clumsy, oafish, ponderous, stiff Main Entry:   cooperation Part of Speech:   noun Definition:   mutual effort Synonyms:   aid, alliance, assistance, cahoots, coaction, coadjuvancy, coalition, collaboration, combination, combined effort, communion, company, concert, concurrence, confederacy, confederation, confunction, conspiracy, federation, fusion, give-and-take, harmony, help, helpfulness, logrolling, participation, partisanship, partnership, playing ball, reciprocity, service, society, symbiosis, synergism, synergy, teaming, teamwork, unanimity, union, unity Antonyms:   autonomy, competition, opposition, rivalry, undermining Source:   Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2005 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.   Friday is the Company Meeting. Can’t wait to drink the Microsoft Kool-Aid. I am super excited to hear about how synergy has driven the innovation pipeline and proven just how agile we are. [Wow, they should make me an exec.]

MSN Messenger Rants et al.

Everyone has rants. Everyone has issues with MSN Messenger. I love reading rants about MSN Messenger. And writing rants is fun too. But I think I’ll save that for another time. Overdo and Jerome seem to have done a superb job of it: The MSN Messenger team represents a huge lumbering hippopotamus when compared to Spaces or Start.com. Note that you can count the number of people working on Start.com on one hand (well, you used to; now, only if you have an extra finger or two), and Spaces is only a year or two old. Messenger is a dinosaur that needs to shed some skin and become a gecko or something. (ok that was a lame attempt at an analogy.) It’ll be interesting to see how long before Spaces/Start becomes an elephant, because it doesn’t look like Messenger is slimming down anytime soon. (Ok, ok, enough animals.)

Other random news:

• Mattress people on RedWest: Seattle Start-ups want to Hire You. The job market seems to be on the upswing. Good news if you’re looking for a move; bad news if you aren’t.
• Dare‘s got a list of MSN related stuff at the PDC next week. It feels like this year’s PDC has been super-hyped. We’ll see what interesting stuff next week brings.
• When I was an intern the supply rooms here were stocked with goodies (pens, highlighters, notebooks, notepads, scissors, etc etc.) At some point (I think last year), they decided to cut back and only store that kind of stuff on the first floor of every building. I’ve had to print some docs over the past couple days, and I found that I couldn’t even find a single stapler anywhere. Anywhere. They have a ton of those black clips, but no staplers. How do you function without a stapler? ARGH!