Free domain name, free web host, free Email and free web tools at MS Office Live (beta)

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 8 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #3,121 in Tech & Geek, #75,823 overall

Yes, you can indeed get all these things free. The link is provided below, but WAIT!

There are some things you need to know before you go charging in and this lens lays these things out:

 

- What it is and what it isn't?

- Who can benefit most?

- Who should not bother?

- Some gotchas

- Some tips 

- What the reviewers are saying

What MS Office Live is NOT! 

don't think word processing ...

This offering from Microsoft is NOT an on-line version of MSOffice Suite! The name choice for this new product is curious to say the least. It's not a bad name but it does cause confusion in the marketplace. Don't look here for on-line word processing, spreadsheets and the like.

What is Office Live? 

Microsoft Office Live provides a free domain name, Web site hosting, and e-mail accounts. These services are offered at three different levels: Office Live Basics (free), Office Live Collaboration (monthly fee), and Office Live Essentials (monthly fee). The fee-based service adds business management applications, such as customer, project, and document management tools.

We are going to focus on the Office Live Basics package because that's where you get all those free things mentioned in the lens title.

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What is in the Office Live Basics package? 

In a nutshell you get your own domain name, tools to make you own web site, and you get that site hosted for free. Based on my experience (see below), you can have a web site up in less than an hour and live to the world in less than a day.
  • Free domain name - pick an available domain name and Microsoft has it registered for free (see the gotchas)
  • Web site design tool - a fairly easy to use tool with a bunch of templates and options to make you feel like you have a little creative control.
  • Free site hosting - for the Basics, as long as you stay with Microsoft's program.
  • 5 free personalized e-mail accounts - Use your new personalized domain name as your Email address.
  • Free Storage and data transfer - up to 30 MB of storage and 10 GB of bandwidth.
  • Web site traffic analysis and reporting tools - see how often people visit your site, what pages they visit the most, and their system and browser information.
  • Backup - data retained for up to 30 days.
  • Support - the usual on-line support from Microsoft.

Who can benefit most? 

Think resume or electronic brochure

Basics is a perfect name for this package service because the people who will benefit most are those with the most basic needs. It is perfect as a resume site for an individual, an electronic brochure for a small business or public mission statement for an organization. Think of it as a presentation site package.
If your needs stay small then the site endures, if your needs grow then think of this as a starter site (but look at the gotchas).

Who should pass on Office Live? 

This service allows you to setup a simple site, easily and economically. If simple won't suffice, then Basics is not for you.
  • Think text - Website construction is through a proprietary template system. HTML is not spoken here! You can't link to Technorati, adjust or hack your code, etc.
  • Think small - They say you can have unlimited web pages, but 30 MB isn't a lot of storage.
  • Think simple - A creative person can get more out of the web site templates than I can, but there are serious limits to how you can differentiate your site.
  • Think presentation - this not going to be a commercial site, or an interactive site.

Gotcha! 

There's always got to be a gotcha! While these are probably not deal killers for many, you need to be aware of some things.

Free service? - If it's free why did I have to give my credit card info to get my site started? Microsoft said that they needed the card to verify that I was a legitimate person; only a nominal $1 charge would be made, and then credited.

Free domain name? - If you move your domain name to another host, as you probably will if the site grows appreciably, then you have to pay for the lease of your domain name.

Free hosting? - If you move your site, of course, you will probably have hosting fees.

You can't take it with you! - If you move to another host you can't really take the site with you. Since you are dealing with MS templates, and not your own HTM pages your site is not portable.

Web tool is not an option! - It is the only way you can build your site. No HTML in the Basics package.
(Saw some reference to small changes here in forums.)

IE spoken here - No surprise that Microsoft's offering doesn't work as well in Mozilla Firefox. You have to use IE for site editing and management. I used a Weather feature on my home page that doesn't come up in Firefox. This is supposed to get better.

My experience with Office Live 

I came across an Ad for Microsoft's Office Live Beta when I was doing some research on webrings for my Squidoo lenses. One click led to another and I decided to do a test site. I registered my last name as a domain name and now own stankevicz.com courtesy of Microsoft. You can see my initial efforts at www.stankevicz.com

I had to give my credit card info but was assured that it was for identification purposes. Makes me wonder if I went over my storage limits if there would be charges to that card. Hmmm.

I was immediately allowed to start building my web site. Microsoft parked my domain files temporarily until the registration process was completed. I had the rough form up and running within a half hour. The registration process was completed and www.stankevicz.com was live to the public within 12 hours!

Now, I tend to dive into things like this and save reading instructions for later, or when backed into a corner. As a result I got a little frustrated trying to find controls and maneuver. Just like building a Squidoo lens for the first time, it seems harder at first.

There are real frustrations. Not having HTML ability really sucks. The templates and construction choices are really basic. This gives WYSIWYG refreshed meaning! I'm sure that those of you with more layout skills and patience will get better visual results than I did.

My experiment convinced me that most users could get a basic presentation site up readily, and that free didn't really cost much this time!

What the reviewers have to say ... 

Keep in mind that there are levels - the Basics version is free, and the Essentials version has a monthly fee. Most reviews focused more on the Essentials.
EWeek
"Office Live Will Give Small Firms a Web Business Boost ... Microsofts set of Web-based services is a good choice for small businesses that can't manage an e-mail server, Web site or collaboration platform..."
CNET
"Contrary to what its name might suggest, Microsoft Office Live beta is not an online version of productivity tools Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Instead, this hosted suite provides businesses with a staff of 10 or fewer with tools to build and host a Web site, manage contacts, and share projects. For free, the Basic service provides a company with a domain name registration, hosting, and e-mail, along with Web design tools and reports on site traffic ... Why give away the store? Microsoft hopes to snag a large share of the market of small businesses still looking to develop a Web presence and manage operations via the Internet..."
PC Magazine
"Still in beta, Microsoft Office Live is powerful and innovative, but not quite simple or complete enough to take over this product category... It's a mixed bag of elegant features, confusing navigation, and incompatible parts that, in our testing, often seemed rough, inconsistent, and unfinished..."
Computer Business Review
"Rivals balk at Microsoft Office Live threat - Industry reaction to Microsoft Corps newly announced Office Live service has been easy to come by in Silicon Valley. Whether it was fear or bravado or skepticism, its clear Microsofts latest push into web services cant be ignored..."

Step right up and get a free web site! 

here is the link I promised in the beginning

If this lens has encouraged you to check further, then click here ...

Microsoft Office Live, sign up here

Please provide feedback in the Guestbook and by rating this lens. Thanks for visiting.

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by Cavecreek

I'm a management consultant and focus on information technology (IT). My strengths are in: troubleshooting, problem solving amd making things work.


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