Microsoft Office Live

Adding to its expansive line of products sporting the Office name, Microsoft today announced that it will launch Office Live, a robust Web hosting service, on 15 November. The service will be available in both a free, ad-supported version as well as a premium, fee-based package.

Office Live, in addition to hosting domain name servers for anyone who signs up for an account, also provides a wide range of features to help manage websites.

It provides the domain owners with traffic reports, an unlimited amount of Web pages, and a proprietary site design tool. In addition, Office Live allows up to 50 e-mail accounts to be set up, depending on the version.

Taking a page from Google's book, users will be able to use the service for free on an ad-supported basis. Premium, subscription-based services will also be available for customers who do not want ads to get in the way.

Customers subscribed to the fee-based versions, which are at two tiers of $19.95 a month and $39.95 a month, also receive extra bandwidth, e-mail accounts, and disk space, as well as compatibility with future supplemental features.

Premium customers will also have access to extra business management features, including an integrated contact manager/customer support tool and a slate of sales & marketing services