I’ve been playing around

with Microsoft’s Live.com and I don’t see how it can be anything but a colossal

failure.

Not that it won’t do what

Microsoft claims and not that it will be really dangerously insecure.

Discounting both of those and assuming it works perfectly, I don’t understand

what the point is.

I understand why Microsoft had to do it, but, I mean, who would use such a
thing?

Businesses probably have

something better already, or at least wouldn’t trust their security and

scheduling to Microsoft, especially Microsoft online.

Savvy home users have
already learned to put up with the quirks of Yahoo!

 Of course I never understood

who would use the similar collaborative services available on Yahoo!, although I did test

them out pretty thoroughly. They work, but so what?

 
For example, I thought the

Yahoo! Groups it would be a great way to centrally manage emergency management

for my county – posting events, training sessions, any important news, and

generally providing a simple, easy-to-use portal to help coordinate all the

widely separated municipalities and send targeted emails just to the coordinators.

I set it up and it worked fine. No one ever used it.

I already had more

sophisticated tools available and everyone else either couldn’t see the point

or couldn’t learn how to log on.

Of course I could be wrong. Perhaps there is a vast untapped group of people just waiting for Microsoft to
bring them a Web portal, online collaborative tools, and online security (Microsoft secutiry!) but somehow I just missed the clamoring crowds.

For a less opinionated view

of Live.com and some of the other Microsoft beta tools including OneCare, Essentials, Live

Office, and such, check out my Locksmith column. And, while you’re at it, check out  ideas.live.com too, perhaps you ‘ll find something you like, or at least something to give you a good laugh.