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Microsoft wants to drag online every mom and pop shop it can, and if it has to give away Web hosting, Web site building tools, custom domain names and business-branded e-mail accounts to get them there, that’s exactly what it’s planning to do.
The company will announce on Feb. 11 that it’s collapsing what was once a three-tier product in Microsoft Office Live Small Business — its suite of Web-based software and services, rolled out 18 months ago and designed to get small businesses up and running online – into one product, with more products and services now offered for free.
That means that those small businesses who sign up for Office Live Small Business will get a free Web site, free e-mail, 5 gigabytes of storage, direct connection and syncing with Outlook, and the ability to use a free intranet for sharing company documents or the use of a password-protected extranet for sharing documents with clients.