Microsoft is understood to have invited beta testers to
try out a new product offering a series of online applications in a
single bundle.
News of the forthcoming Windows Live Essentials has leaked onto
the web via independent blogs. A post on the ActiveWin.com website
apparently quotes a Microsoft e-mail inviting people to apply to
beta test the new product.
It describes Windows Live Essentials as a way to get the bundle
of Windows Live online services - e-mail, instant messaging and
security – as a single, simple download. Comments added by readers
compare the product to the Google Pack bundle of free software.
The product also includes a Windows Live Dashboard, offering a
view of the services the user already has and any new services
available.
The emerging product looks set to step up rivalry with Google,
which this week launched a beta of its new Apps for Your Domain
service, adding free productivity applications – including instant
messaging, a calendar application and website design software – to
its hosted domain service.
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