Spaces

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MSN Spaces
MSN Spaces, Microsoft's blogging service, has opened itself to the
public for beta testing. The service, previously only available in
Japanese, is now available in English. Like the recently launched
search beta, it does appear a little shakey in terms of . Microsoft's
goal with the project is to make getting (and running) a blog as simple
as any other task. After a simple signup process (you pick a name and
url) you're ready to tell the world your views. Spaces have most of the
common features seen on blogs (RSS, track back, etc) and a few more.
Microsoft offers a variety of themes, ranging from the default, to a
variety of others. The 15 custom built themes were created by none
other than The Skins Factory. The Skins Factory have been responsible
for a number of high profile Windows Media Player skins too. One of the
core ideas around Spaces, and many of the new MSN products at the
moment (e.g. MSN 7, see post below), is to integrate them - what MSN
France described as "synergies". This is clear with your Spaces
blog interacting with you MSN Messenger profile, and other peoples
Spaces appearing in their contacts (screenshot). Blogs and Bloggers in
general have received a lot of attention in the mainstream media of
late; some suggesting that they could become the future (if only
perhaps one future) of journalism online. Microsoft is not only
propelling itself into a market, one dominated by other giants, but
offering a great product. It's simple to use, and the integration
into other programs is a killer feature. Blogging just got a whole lot
easier.