Microsoft Joins Blogosphere

Microsoft has introduced a new Internet tool for users to develop weblogs. Currently in test form, it's called Microsoft Spaces and it's targeted to home users. The final version is expected next summer.

The service will be free until they can figure out how to extract money from participants. In the meantime, signup requires a Hotmail or MSN Messenger account which will automatically be integrated into the Microsoft Spaces program. In fact, Microsoft Spaces may be a misnomer since it's chock full of bells and whistles.

Microsoft is closely integrating MSN Spaces with its Messenger and Hotmail programs, with the idea that people will hop from one Microsoft product to another for online communications.

For example, users can set up a system that alerts friends on MSN Messenger when they have updated their Web journals. If a blogger chooses to limit access to his or her Web journal to a select group of guests, those people will need to use Microsoft's "Passport" to log in. The most common way to get a Passport login is to sign up for a Hotmail or Messenger account.

Frankly, hopping around Microsoft is something I haven't considered. But wait, there's more.

The MSN Spaces tool that lets a user create a favorite music list will automatically link to Microsoft's MSN Music site, where Microsoft is hoping to build a business selling songs online.

Not only does Microsoft Spaces have a bunch of bells and whistles, but you can hear them, too.

Personally, I have a hard enough time keeping my rudimentary blogging operation functioning as it is and I don't have a lot of extraneous features. It seems that a day doesn't go by that I'm not faced with some kind of software or network problem. I hesitate to make simple changes, forever fearing catastrophic unintended results. If Microsoft Spaces represents future travel in the blogosphere, give my ticket to someone else. I'll surely miss that bus.