Microsoft Office Live was created to empower small businesses with online capabilities that previously have been unaffordable or too technologically complex for to set up and maintain. Microsoft Office Live offerings are geared to small businesses with fewer than 10 employees, and are designed to help you establish an online presence, automate key internal and external business tasks, and collaborate with employees, partners, and customers.

• A professional Web site with a free domain name (for example, www.northwindtraders.com), company-branded e-mail accounts hosted by Microsoft, and easy design and reporting tools to create and maintain a company Web site
• An online repository for organizing company documents and contact information in one place to help you manage your businesses operations in a more secure and integrated manner
• A password-protected workspace, called a Shared Site, for online collaboration with employees, customers, partners, suppliers, and contractors
• A host of rich, yet simple, online applications for managing your customers, projects, and employees, as well as your sales, marketing, and company information

Microsoft Office Live Basics. With Office Live Basics you get your own domain name (for example, www.northwindtraders.com); you can create a professional business Web site in minutes with our easy-to-use Site Designer tool. Plus, Web site traffic reports let you manage your business Web site without being a Web expert. You also get five company-branded e-mail accounts (for example, jsmith@northwindtraders.com) to help give your company the professional image it deserves. Built on Windows SharePoint Services, Office Live Basics helps your business establish a professional Web presence, with 30 MB of Web site storage. All at no charge.

Microsoft Office Live Collaboration. Also built on Windows SharePoint technology, Office Live Collaboration provides a password-protected online work environment, supplemented with richly functional business management applications. It is offered free of charge during the beta period and afterwards on a monthly subscription basis. Office Live Collaboration allows you to create any number of password-protected Web sites, called Shared Sites, for collaborating among internal employees as well as external customers, suppliers, and vendors.

As part of the Office Live Collaboration offering, you have access to more than 20 powerful and versatile business applications important to managing a business. These tools can assist you in everything from customer and project management to sales, marketing, and human resources. Because Microsoft hosts and supports the entire solution, your company saves the cost of expensive IT infrastructure and maintenance.

Microsoft Office Live Essentials. Office Live Essentials provides all of the features of Office Live Basics and Office Live Collaboration, including domain, hosting, and Web design services; password-protected Shared Sites; collaboration tools; and business management applications. In addition, it provides a Web site with 50 MB of storage, 50 e-mail accounts (with 2 GB of storage each), more advanced Web site traffic reports, and Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 support for advanced Web design. Office Live Essentials is offered free of charge during the beta period, and afterwards at an attractively priced monthly subscription rate