Sure, sure, Microsoft get a lot of flack for being big, mean, nasty, and money grubbing but recently the company has been doing a whole bunch of things differently. Among these changes are some excellent web applications that you may have missed.
Live Safety Scanner
Even though the OneCare Security package has been phased out in favor for the much better Microsoft Security Essentials suite (still in early beta) it seems that for the web based version of the OneCare scanner is still operational.
Live Sync
An excellent service that lets you sync your files across multiple computer – including Mac (neener neener). You can share folders and files with friends and co-workers as well as access your files remotely via the Sync website (requires download and Live Member ID)
My Phone
A handy service to backup all your information on a cellphone running Windows Mobile 6. Makes upgrading to a new phone a lot easier as well as making the loss of one a little less traumatic since you still have all your data.
SkyDrive
Free online storage that has been increased up to 25 gig of space for you to be able to store stuff on. You can create private, shared or public folders and you can decide who access to what. Oh and it also works on the Mac <snicker>
Office Live Small Business
Just the service you need to create a web presence for free. IT comes with 100 email accounts, easy to use tools for creating the site, and a whole bunch of business applications to help manage customers, projects, and documents while letting you easily share information with employees, vendors and customers.
Microsoft (Bing) Translator
Pretty simple – the Microsoft Translator allows you to translate text between different languages.
Office Live
Besides giving you 5 gig of space to store and share documents you can collaborate with others on any single one of those documents. You can view Word, Excel and Powerpoint files stored there in your browser.
Live Mesh
An excellent free service from Microsoft that will let you synchronize, share and access files from all of your devices. I have been using it since it first became available and while it doesn’t get used that much I really like the whole concept behind it.
And once again while some of the features might not be available yet it will also work on Macs and a growing number of mobile devices.
Silverlight Streaming
A free solution for developers looking to host and stream cross platform, cross browser rich media experiences. Oh and just to make sure – it is also usable by people on Macs.
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