Everybody seems to be getting on the Online Office bandwagon nowadays, not only several smaller companies with products such as Zoho reviewed previously by me but also the big boys who steam-rolled the "Digital Office" concept itself. Today I'll be looking into Microsoft Office Live.
Currently in beta, the free service provides online file storage (500 MB), document sharing, desktop presentation features; calendar (much like Outlook), to-do lists and notes.
Difference between Office Live and other Online Office services
Office Live is not a full-blown online office suite like Zoho and Google Docs but rather an online storage addon/plugin to the already established Microsoft Office Suite.
Yes you heard it right, a plugin! That is you cannot edit any of your documents online unless it's a simple Note (rich-text document), but you can view them, save them to your own hard drive and share them with others online. Therefore comparing Microsoft Office Live to other online services is fruitless as it aims at something quite different.
So how does it work?
It's quite simple actually. You need a Windows Live ID such as Hotmail/MSN id to start off with. If you don't have one, you can create one for free easily.
Go to the Sign up page and click on Sign up for Free under Microsoft Office Live Workspace Beta .
After filling out the essential formalities, you can login by going to the same link as above.
Under My Workspaces, is located Documents which hold all of the documents be it Word, Excel, Powerpoint, or plain text, they all will be listed here for a quick view, much like Windows Live Mail inbox.
Now this is the innovative part, you can choose various 'Workspaces' that you'd like to use, such as if you want to make a resume/CV,
1. Click on New Workspace
2. Scroll down to select the appropriate workspace, in this case Job Search Workspace.
Doing so will open up default documents that you'd need to start off with, such as a resume, covering letter, interview schedule time, job contacts, questions you'd like to ask the interviewer, etc. It's a good way to get organized if you don't know where to start. Even if you don't want to use the given templates it does make it an interesting read and a good indication to structure your own CV. The same goes for all the other workspaces, each with its own individual touch to it and useful pointers. Do note this is an Americanised way of doing things. The structure and the language used in it may not suit your situation. Scrutiny is advised.
