Microsoft recently released two noteworthy pre-configured VPCs. One for Office 2007 and one for Microsoft’s Business Intelligence products.
VPCs from Microsoft come in-handy for demos. They also work well when you want to learn how to use Microsoft software for your development projects.
Both VPCs below provide you with pre-configured environments.
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2007 Office System Demo and Hands-On-Labs VPC |
Microsoft Business Intelligence VPC 5.1 Part 1 Part 2 |
The newly released Microsoft Office Live for Small Business (OLSB) targets the largest group of businesses in our economy …small businesses. OLSB just might be the start of a Software +Services platform that attracts a significant developer community and provides them with an instant customer base.
I took a look at the OLSB feature list and I think MSFT just might have something, especially because they offer developers tools to extend OLSB. But now they have released OLSB, MSFT should move aggressively to build a developer community around the OLSB platform. Salesforce.com has proven that software + services works. The key for MSFT will be to pay attention to their developer community and build a profitable marketplace around Office Live where 3rd-party solutions thrive.
A healthy marketplace will be a key factor to ensure customers that sign-up for Office Live Small Business remain as a customer. A small business owner will want to know Office Live is flexible enough to handle the fluid nature of their small business. A healthy marketplace of 3rd party solutions that automate processes and solve problems only help sell Office Live.
I have followed SalesForce.com’s development capabilities for a few years now (I even wrote an article about it). SalesForce.com has built an impressive development platform that you can use to (fairly) quickly build custom solutions and then publish to the SF user base via their AppExchange marketplace.
I’ve always thought Microsoft could dominate the software + services world if they could figure out how to change directions and support the business model. Office Live Small Business could be their ticket.
So is Office Live a viable platform (e.g. profitable) for building custom solutions? I don’t know but I am going to sign up for a free developer account and see what’s possible.
If you want to become rich by selling solutions for Office Live Small Business, 
check out the developer and partnering opportunities page. You can create a developer account and receive a free 12 month Office Live Small Business Premium account. Also, Microsoft would not be Microsoft if they didn’t give you content that tells you how huge the opportunity is, etc. So be sure and read that too and be inspired. There is money to made.
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UPDATE: I found a site filled with Office Live training content. It’s worth a look.