The first beta of Windows Live was released to the public yesterday. That’s as much as i can say with certainty, since WL does not (yet) work with Firefox. Nor does it work with Konqueror, but i am not surprised. Windows on Linux? From Redmond? That’ll be the day. The press is bablbing incoherently, but what is Windows Live, behind all the hype words? (update: Tim O’Reilly gets a clue) To me, Windows Live is MSN with Business Cred. At least, that’s the picture i get from Microsoft. They’re redoing their web mail, which is going to be a lot niftier than Hotmail currently. It’s going to feel like an application, which is good stuff to me. Except of course that i don’t really use Hotmail (btw, does anyone still need a GMail invitation?) anymore, but from a purely academic or AJAX perspective, it’s interesting. Windows Live contains other features from MSN too: a news portal, a search engine and, uh, Live Messenger. Which confuses me a lot, since like all IM programs, Messenger’s always been live to me. Microsoft’s managed to cram a few genuinely useful features into Windows Live too, which actually starts justifying the name Windows Live — i mean, it’s just a web site, innit? — web-assisted security assistance (cracker target if i ever saw one) to help the user set his/her firewall, avoid spam and virii and other nasties, and –lo and behold– web enabled bookmarks (favorites in the MS lingo). Linux couldn’t do it. Firefox couldn’t do it. Delicious couldn’t do it. They still miss a truly common platform and browser integration, there is no real market leader, nobody wants to give away free server space, and there’s the ever-present gnarl for privacy (these damn users and their damn demands). But Microsoft can do it. They ownz the platform. They pwn the browser. They can charge you or ad you. Heck, they’ve got the money to invest in such a service before anybody else establishes themselves too much in the online bookmarks deal. And you can trust Microsoft with your personal information (Microsoft is your friend). (Though, if the truth is to be told, i would like to live in a universe where Microsoft is trustworthy, non-evil and wants to evolve with others instead of just engulf them) Then comes the hot potato. Microsoft is going to throw MS Office on the web. As a web application. Which is nifty, even if it (as always) isn’t completely original. But MS has the size advantage to be the first ones to do it on a grander scale. And hotness of the potato is of course that Google is rumoured going to put an office application on the web too, but this time MS got the announcement first. Google has been pretty silent on their project, but i’m sure MS has got them a bit nervous. About time i think. Companies should keep each other on their toes. So where does this leave me and my Linux box? We’ll see. The thought of having ones (non-secret) documents available on the web, editable with a web application sounds very practical. Throw in some team features, and i’m game. Maybe i am running Windows on Linux soon.