Office Live Small Business | Highlights

I would like to highlight a few reasons why I think Office Live Small Business is a great product. Just to be clear I am not a Microsoft Sales person, I am simply a consumer.

1. It's Free (Check it out HERE)
• That's right boys and girls it will cost you nothing to create your own web site. If you want to have your own domain name without the "Officelive"  (Example: www.mydomain.officelive.com) then it would be free for the first year and then $14.95 for every year after that. If you already have your own domain name registered, you can simply configure the DNS to point to Microsoft's Servers free of charge. But the best thing is that the hosting is free (Currently right now 1Gig)!
2. It's SharePoint
• Both the Business Application side and the Public Website side are built on SharePoint technologies.
3. It's Easy to use
• The content management part of the product is basically like any other rich text editing application. I found it relatively simple to create pages and organize them. They allow for two levels of Parent/Child sites.
4. It has a great Community behind it
• If you have a question about how to do something either basic or advanced more than likely someone has already asked and gotten a solution for it HERE.
5. Integrated with .Net Passport Authentication
• You can use either your own existing Hotmail or live account or you can create your own.
6. Allows for customizations
• Since it is based on SharePoint technologies, you will be able to create custom applications with SharePoint Designer or Visual Studio.
7. Business Applications
• Maybe you have your own public website and you are simply looking for a cost effective way to collaborate with your peers. If you cannot afford the full SharePoint product, or have the servers to host it the functionality within the Business applications might be the next best thing.
8. Pushing Content to and from Business Application and Public Website.
• Have you ever struggled with creating those annoying online forms? I have and now its a simple as creating a custom list, and adding the Form Module(webpart) to the public website. Or if you wanted to publish list content on the site you can simply use the List Publisher Module.
9. Oh and did I mention its Free!

So if you are looking for a cost effective way of getting a web presence out there, or if you simply need a way of collaborating on a document, Office Live Small Business might be your answer. You actually don't have to have a business either, you could use this technology for Family, Sports, Recreation, and even personal expression.

In any event take it for a spin, who knows you might just like it.