The following article will appear in the Boonville Daily News in my MKT Tech Talk column on June 9, 2008. It is reprinted here to share with non-BDN readers.
The Internet has come a long way since I first used it in 1992. Back then there was no such thing as Google or Yahoo; and most of the communications were text-based. Graphics were few and far between, and high speed meant you could download a document in about 2-3 minutes! Things have certainly changed in the past 16 years, but a few things remain the same – one of the challenges many people face today is how to keep their online life organized. Many have a system for keeping their finances and households organized at home, but when it comes to online activities it’s a free for all of different sites, different passwords and more often than not different social networks that don’t interact well or at all – such as your Flickr (www.flickr.com) friends not being connected to your Messenger (messenger.live.com) buddies list. The question becomes, how do we take away the hassle of maintaining our online life while getting the best benefit out of what the internet has to offer?
Luckily, Microsoft has an answer for this question in their Live services, a suite of services designed around the principle that people should be able to easily navigate through their digital life without having to hire a virtual moving truck to transport their friends, favorites and social networks to each different site.
Live is made up of two categories:
· Live Search – This is your traditional search engine that you can use without creating a Live ID, or you can link into your free Microsoft Live account to help organize your searches better and make navigating the web a little easier.
· Windows Live – Here you’ll find all the staples that make your Internet experience so great: Blogging tools, maps, e-mail, social networking, photo sharing and more. It’s the “meat” of the entire Live experience.
Like most Internet users, you probably have your photos stores on one site, your blog on another and your favorites list spread all over the place – some of us still write them down on pieces of paper! With Live, all of this and more comes together in a connected network. You can talk with your online friends, post your daily thoughts to your blog and share photos with your family all using one ID and using a fairly common interface. Its beauty lies in the simplicity of most of the products, but underneath the hood they all have powerful tools that can help advanced geeks get the most out of their Internet experience.
Getting started with Microsoft Live is easy – fire up your web browser and head over to get.live.com to find all of your favorite social networking tools; or head on over to www.live.com to take their search engine for a spin. In less than 15 minutes you’ll be on your way to simplifying your digital life and discovering new and interesting ways to do some of your favorite online activities.
After all, who wants to come home from work and go back to work managing their digital life?
