WebDesignsBlog.com

The software maker is announcing Office Live Workspace, a free online tool for viewing, sharing and storing–but not editing–Office documents online. (Its existing Office Live efforts will be rebranded as Office Live Small Business.) It’s not quite ready–starting Monday customers will be able to put in their name to be part of a beta testing program expected to begin later this year.

Still, the effort is a recognition that competition is heating up in the productivity arena, an area that large rivals had basically ceded to Microsoft a few years ago. In addition to Google’s effort, which as of earlier this month also includes presentation software, IBM announced its free Lotus Symphony productivity software, which prompted 100,000 downloads in its first week of availability.

Adobe, meanwhile, on Monday is expected to announce it has acquired Virtual Ubiquity, a start-up that has built a Web-based word processor, called Buzzword, using Adobe’s Flash and AIR technologies. Adobe is also introducing a service, code-named Share, that allows people to share and store documents via the Web. Full Article.

Microsoft had high expectations for customer adoption of Vista, and claimed the launch would be one of the most successful in Windows history. Unfortunately for the company, those predictions so far haven’t panned out, and in July, Microsoft lowered its projections for customer adoption of Vista. The company had said the split between XP and Vista sales in its fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, would be 15 percent to 85 percent; now the company is saying the split will be 22 percent XP and 78 percent Vista.

According to some, that may even be optimistic. Paul Ghysels, a custom system builder who owns the Neighborhood Computer Store in Moraga, California, said that Microsoft has “really blown Vista.” He said he’s not surprised Microsoft extended the availability of XP for OEMs. “I figured Microsoft would have to come up with something because Vista is so unprepared for the market right now,” Ghysels said. Full article.

The program applies only to Windows Vista Business and Ultimate versions, and it is up to PC makers to decide how, if at all, they want to make XP available. Fujitsu has been among the most aggressive, starting last month to include an XP disc in the box with its laptops and tablets.

“That’s going to help out small- and medium-size businesses,” Fujitsu marketing manager Brandon Farris told CNET News.com.

Hewlett-Packard also started a program in August for many of its business models. “For business desktops, workstations and select business notebooks and tablet PCs, customers can configure their systems to include the XP Pro restore disc for little or no charge,” HP spokeswoman Tiffany Smith said in an e-mail. She said it was too soon to gauge how high customer interest has been. “Since we’ve only been offering (it) for about a month, we don’t really have anything to share on demand.” Full article.

            Tired of emptying your wallet for links to build up your Search Engine Optimization? Sick of getting poor Google, MSN, or Yahoo Search Engine statistics? Great news, now you don’t have to be with New Way Links. New Way Links is a revolutionary and easy way of building one-way links for your site. How? New Way Links has a unique algorithm that connects the sites in the program all in a one way direction.

All links are one way; no installation is required, permanent one way links, and even 30 day money back guarantee. This all seems way too good to be true. The catch? There is none! All you have to do is manually install outgoing links on your site which can’t take more than a couple minutes.

Why is New Way Links a necessity for any aspiring web developer? Every experienced web developer would tell you that link building is the key for any success for any site. Now, you don’t have to toil for links. Almost everything is done by the staff of New Way Links, yet you reap all the success. At just 25$ a month, it can turn out to be a great investment.

Google’s pagerank is directly related to how many links your site has and the relevance of the links. Not only will New Way Links provide you with one way links, it will provide you with relevant links boosting your pagerank significantly. With just a pagerank of 6 you can be earning hundreds of dollars a month all without breaking a sweat.

There are many sites that offer lots of links such as link farms, or reciprocal links. However, search engines have made it clear that reciprocal links and link farms will affect your site negatively. On the other hand, search engines also have made it clear that they’re looking specifically for relevant one way links.

Where does New Way Links get all these links from? We already have volunteer sites to start up the program. Once the program gets started, the volunteer sites will link to the registered sites, which will return link to other sites causing a massive chain reaction. If you decide that this program is not for you, there is a 30 day refund and the best part is that the links linking to your site are 100% permanent even after cancellation of membership.

In this modern age, the Internet is becoming more and more competitive. New Way Links is a great way to get ahead of the game with absolutely no hassle. If you register now, you will get a whole month FREE on top of the 30 day refund making it completely without risks. The only question left is what are you waiting for?

What does this mean for you?

• More reach. With Content Ads, you can access the valued MSN audience on high-quality Microsoft content network pages, starting with day one, MSN® Tech & Gadgets, Money, Real Estate, and Windows Marketplace. Over time, we will introduce the rest of MSN, other Microsoft-owned properties, and premium partner sites. Until now, this premium inventory has been available directly only through the MSN sales team and has commanded premium pricing. Today, we are making it available to everyone at a price you will decide.
• Automatic Expansion. At the time of the upgrade, your campaigns will be automatically expanded to include content distribution.
• Key Controls. After the upgrade, you’ll be able to select where your ads distribute (search pages or content pages) and how much you pay per click.   Read full article.