Office Live: Why am I not surprised?
Have you heard how Microsoft is shipping Windows Live and Office Live and this-live and that-live? I've seen this movie before and I have to say that I am skeptical. A competitor starts getting successful with a line that Microsoft doesn't own and out comes the "me-too-FUD" based on smoke and mirrors. After all, Office has had ActiveX controls forever , and I would just not be too surprised if Office Live is just a re-assembly of some cool parts that they had lying around with a really great marketing push. Color me skeptical. Or cynical. Anyway, this bit seems to be more or less consistent with that fear:
"The power of Microsoft's branding is so great that slapping the labels 'Live' and 'Office' on a piecemeal bundle of rehashed services seems to have the whole world agog. The evidence doesn 't justify the excitement." (from "Whatever Office Live is, it ain't the Web Office")