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As a long-time fan of MSN--see my exhaustive showcase, MSN: The Inside Story, for details--this reorg gave me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I felt that the somnolent Windows group could use the injection of energy, excitement, and innovation that MSN would no doubt provide. But on the other hand, I was fearful that the enormous Windows division would simply destroy MSN and the many benefits of MSN's rapid release mantra.

Two months later, it's not clear how this combination of Windows and MSN will turn out. However, I am reasonably confident that the numerous Windows Live services that Microsoft plans to ship in the weeks and months ahead will be interesting and compelling for a wide range of consumers. And it's important to note that the Windows Live services are indeed aimed at consumers, and not businesses. This stands in sharp contrast with the Office Live services (see my showcase, Office Live Preview), which are aimed at small businesses, and Xbox Live, which is aimed at gamers.

In this article, I'll examine the genesis of Windows Live, and take a look at how Microsoft plans to capitalize on the integration of Windows with various Web-based services and products. Then, I'll briefly examine each of the Windows Live services that the company plans to ship this year, saving full reviews of each service for their eventual ship dates.



"Windows Live came about when we began reexamining Windows," Adam Sohn, Microsoft Director of Global Sales and Marketing PR, told me during a recent briefing. "We have a set of experiences in Windows, and platform capabilities there that nicely position it to take advantages of services. We had a bunch of great Windows experiences and we had a bunch of great online and mobile experiences but they were siloed."

Microsoft executives such as Bill Gates, David Cole, Ray Ozzie, Steve Ballmer, and Jim Allchin determined how to bring the company's Windows, online, and mobile experiences together in ways that were seamless but didn't run into any of the debatable problems presented by previous integration strategies around Internet Explorer (IE) and Windows Media Player (WMP). "All these guys, they get it," Sohn told me.

Full preview: Windows Live Preview