The beta version of the Windows Live service for Office (and office) users goes live today (2pm GMT). As the unofficial* LiveSide blog revealed yesterday, there are three service levels:
Office Live Basics: Create your own professional Web site in minutes! Microsoft Office Live Basics is the perfect way to get started on the Web. It features all the basics you need to create your first Web site, including free hosting, Web site statistics, personalized domain name, and e-mail addresses.
Office Live Collaboration: Microsoft Office Live Collaboration lets you store, share, and manage your everyday business information in one central online location.
Office Live Essentials: Get the essentials for establishing and managing your business online. Create your own Web site, access e-mail, share documents, and track projects -- in or out of the office from almost any Internet-connected computer.
All products will be free during the beta as testers will be supplied with products keys they enter online. After the beta period, Basics will remain free and packages for Collaboration and Essentials start at $29.95 USD per month.
With the Basic version, Microsoft will host your (free) domain name and Web site, and you get five email addresses with 2GB of storage each. You get 30MB of Web space and 10GB of bandwidth per month.
Users can register at http://www.officelive.com/ and Microsoft is looking for about 100,000 beta testers. The target market is small businesses that use Microsoft Office, of which there could be more than 100 million.
* corrected
Update: There's now a press release....
