MS też ma blogg

IT-Director.com: Microsoft provides weblogging with MSN Spa
Microsoft provides weblogging with MSN Spaces
Published: 9th December 2004
By: Martin Langham [Contact Author]
Channel: Content and Collaboration

One of the interesting topics Bill Gates mentioned at the 2004 Microsoft CEO Summit back in May, was his enthusiasm for Weblogs and RSS as an efficient way to publish and share information without creating information overload. One result of his enthusiasm is Microsoft’s release of a new Blogging and RSS application for Microsoft MSN called MSN Spaces.

The essence of a Weblog is that you can publish information quickly and easily on the Internet using simple editing tools enabling anyone to create an online diary or sets of interesting links. RSS is another key innovation that makes Weblogs very effective. RSS defines an XML format for syndicating content over the Internet. (The acronym stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary depending on your preference). You can use RSS to subscribe to a Weblog and be notified when it changes. All you need to do is paste the RSS address into a free newsreader to see a list of the new items in a Weblog. You avoid email overload and you don’t have to revisit sites to keep up-to-date. Bloor Research first described this new collaboration tool here.

Microsoft is delivering its Blogging service later than most of its rivals but not too late to catch the first wave of adoption. America Online Inc has provided a Blogging service called Journals since the middle of last year. Google, a key Microsoft rival, offers a free Blogging service through Blogger.com.

Microsoft has invested considerable resources in MSN Spaces and released a beta version at the beginning of December. MSN Spaces is free and available in 14 languages and 26 markets worldwide. You can sign up to MSN Spaces through MSN messenger or by going to http://spaces.msn.com.

MSN Spaces allows users to create their own personal space on the Web, tied closely to MSN Messenger and Hotmail. Like all Blogging tools it is very simple to use so almost anyone can publish to the Internet. Because MSN Spaces supports RSS 2.0 it automatically notifies online contacts when you change your Space. MSN Spaces also goes beyond the basic Blogging facilities of text publication. Microsoft describes it as a dynamic online scrapbook where you can share photo albums, personal music playlists and other media.

You can control access to your Space with three levels of security. You can display and share your music playlists and, when visitors click on playlists, they are taken to a MSN Music site to sample clips or to (Microsoft hopes) buy songs. When you want to update your MSN Space you are not limited to your own PC. You can do it remotely using email or mobile phone. And in common with many of Microsoft’s collaboration tools you can tailor the appearance of your MSN Space using various templates.

The introduction of blogging spaces by Yahoo, Google and Microsoft coupled with massive increases in online storage for Web mail from these vendors, marks a pronounced shift from desk-based to internet-based working. It is early days yet, but it is clear from the popularity of these networked services that people, especially young people, are increasingly happy with the security and reliability of the Internet as a repository of information. The centre of gravity of information is inexorably moving towards the Internet.