Microsoft Office Live
Microsoft Office Live is a Microsoft provided web-based service which gives online documents storing, sharing and website creation tools for small business and common users. In other words Microsoft Office Live is an online office suite along with website creation tools which can be used for word, power point and excel document and also for creating small business websites which are used on a very beginning level.
Microsoft Office Live mainly comprises of two services, out of which first is Office Live Workspace, which is superseded by Windows Live Sky Drive.
And Second service is Office Live Small Business, which will be superseded by Office 365.
1. Office Live Workspace
Office Live Workspace was a free service for storing and sharing documents online. The service required web access and a compatible browser; the interface was available in over 25 languages. Certain functionalities were tied to a browser plug-in called Silverlight, reducing the portability of the service in comparison to other providers of online office suites. In order for workspaces to be accessed directly from Office, users of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint needed to install an Office Live Update. Files couldn't be edited from within a workspace, but clicking on “edit” would open them up in Microsoft Office. The workspace didn't offer offline collaboration — instead documents were “checked out” and “checked in” — but the service did integrate with Shared View for real-time screen sharing.
Features of Office Live Workspace
| Online Storage | Up to 5GB |
| Information Sharing | Single document or Workspace containing multiple documents |
| Sharing of Information | Up to 100 People |
| Software Compatibility | MS-Office XP, 2003, 2007, 2008 for MAC |
| Resource and Support | Microsoft website, blogs and communities |
System requirements
| Browser | Current or later versions of:- Internet Explorer 6.0, Firefox 2.0, Safari 3.0 |
| Operating System | Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. |
Office Live Workspace is currently not supported on Office 2010.
In May 2010, it was announced that Office Live Workspace customers would be moved to Microsoft's Sky Drive service.
2. Microsoft Sky Drive service
Microsoft's Sky Drive service is a free-of-charge file hosting service that allows users to upload files to cloud storage and then access them from a Web browser. It is part of Windows Live range of online services and allows users to keep the files private, share them with contacts, or make the files public. Publicly-shared files do not require a Windows Live ID to access. The service offers 25 GB of free personal storage, with individual files limited to 100 MB.The service is built using HTML5 technologies, and files can be uploaded via drag and drop.
Features of Sky Drive service
| Office Web Apps | Allow to upload, edit and share Microsoft Office documents(of all type) for individual or multiple users at the same time |
| Office Desktop App Integration | Collaborative real-time editing.Multiple users can use combinations of desktop applications and the web apps to edit a document. |
| Hotmail integration | Allow to upload, save and edit Microsoft office document for Hotmail users directly within the web browser. |
| Bing integration | Allow users to save search history for Bing searches |
| Windows Live Groups integration | Group members of each Windows Live Group are allowed to use Sky drive functionalities with 5GB storage for each group. |
| RSS feeds | Subscription allowed |
System requirements
| Browser Supported | Current or later versions of:- Internet Explorer 6.0, Firefox 2.0, Safari 3.0 |
| Operating System | Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. |
3. Office Live Small Business
Office Live Small Business was an Internet-based service designed to assist non-technical users with the creation of a professional-looking website.
Features of Office Live Small Business
| Web site design tools (with template) | Easy to use, design along with New features like, PayPal button, Google checkout, map etc. |
| Web hosting space | Up to 500 MB(additional space is purchasable) |
| Domain name registration | Can be chosen by user or can be redirected if already registered |
| Domain based business e-mail | Up to 100 (additional email accounts are purchasable in $ 14.95/yr) |
| Applications | Contact Manager, Document Manager & Team Workspace |
| Resources and support | 24 hour support via phone & community sites |
Security
Office Live Small Business user data is stored on the Microsoft network where network firewall services help protect documents, email and other stored data. Built-in password-protection features are included for Business Applications such as Team Workspace and Document Manager.
System requirements
| Browser Supported | Current or later versions of:- Internet Explorer 6.0, Firefox 2.0 |
| Operating System | Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Mac OS X 10.2.x and later. |
4. Microsoft Office 365
Microsoft Office 365 is commercial software along with services offering a set of products provided from Microsoft, with the initial plan including a Professional subscription (for organizations of 25 and smaller) and an Enterprise subscription (for organizations with more individuals).
Microsoft Office 365 includes the Microsoft Office suite of desktop applications and hosted versions of Microsoft's Server products (including Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Lync Server), delivered and accessed over the Internet, in effect, the next version of Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).
Features of Office 365
| Microsoft Exchange Online | Offers 25 GB storage for each user for sharing and managing their E-Mail, Contacts and calendar. Exchange ActiveSync provides mobile connectivity for this App. |
| Microsoft SharePoint Online | Offers collaboration, sharing, and document editing services |
| Microsoft Lync Online | Offers communications features including presence information, instant messaging, PC-to-PC audio/video calling & conferencing with application sharing, whiteboards, and other collaboration tools. |
| Office Professional Plus | Offers an Online document solution for professionals. |
| Office Web Apps | Offers viewing and lightweight editing of Office documents in Web browsers while preserving the original documents. |
Different Plans of Office 365 Offered by Microsoft
| Office 365 for enterprise | Used for business having internal or partner-supported IT staff and resources. |
| Office 365 for small business | Used for small business without dedicated IT staff or resources |
| Office 365 for education | Used for schools and colleges. |
System Requirements
| Browsers supported | Current or above versions of
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| OS Supported | Windows XP SP3, Vista SP2,7, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard), Windows Server 2003, 2008 |