While reviewing my site logs, I found a link to my site from www.live.com. What is live.com? Upon entering the URL, I found a new beta app from Microsoft. It appears to use AJAX to provide an assortment of Internet services, for example, my hotmail shows up in a Mail compoment. You can sign in to Windows Live using your Hotmail account, so that makes sense. The various componenets are drag and drag, too. Also, you can build extensions, called Gadgets, using DHTML, JavaScript and CSS. Pretty cool, but what is Microsoft up to?

Apparently, Windows Live (still in beta) is Microsoft moving more into Web applications. So far, Microsoft's model ws based mostly on desktop applications, and I am sure that will continue, but they must see a new space opening up in Web applications that they want to compete in (with Google, for example).

Google has a slew of Web applications, the most notable (besides their search engine) is Google Maps. Microsoft now had their own version, Windows Live Local. Yahoo has also released several Web applications, including their own mapping application, Yahoo! Maps.

After reading this press release Microsoft Previews New Windows Live and Office Live Services I see they have a site up for Microsoft Office Live, which is something I had heard about before.

A very interesting feature is that a Windows Live account will be extensible using Gadgets built using DHTML, JavaScript and CSS by third-party developers.