Microsofts Office Live is a set of useful Web-based services targeted at small businesses that do not have the time, finances, or IT expertise for managing an e-mail server, collaboration platform, or a Web site. The three versions of the offering include: Office Live Basics, Office Live Collaboration, and Office Live Essentials. The products offer small organizations a free domain name and hosted e-mail, among other business applications. With Office Live Collaboration and Office Live Essentials, Microsoft offers its SharePoint Services technology, allowing subscribers to access a Shared Sites capability that will allow for the creation of online work spaces where users both inside and outside of a firm can collaborate and share data. Users can set permissions for each site, which ensures, for example, that customers can access only the information that is relevant to a specific project. This component of the Microsoft offering is one of the most valuable, since the SharePoint capabilities can bring significant returns to businesses. For a small company with limited resources, these kinds of applications are a real bonus. A downside for some users is the fact that Office Live supports only Internet Explorer 5.5 and higher. Office Live will go officially live later in 2006. The Collaboration and Essentials components will have a subscription-based structure. Office Live Basics will be free of charge, but users should note that its revenue model is based on support for advertising.