Internet statistics company Ipwalk has recently issued a study which indicates that Microsoft Office Live has passed the 100.000 users milestone. The web community has received this announcement with circumspection, referring to it as a propaganda tool, and a Microsoft marketing strategy to promote the product. Microsoft's web hosting, email and collaboration service for small businesses has been launched in February 2006 as a beta.

The fact that it has accumulated over 100.000 users is a clear mark of its success, even considering the fact that Microsoft had imposed certain limiting factors on the number of users able to join in. Among the limiting factors was an initial wait list restricting the amount of users, a limited release of product keys weekly and the fact that Office Live Beta was only made available exclusively to US users.

In the context of the results of the study, the Redmond Company welcomed the high demand of the service, announcing that it plans to release a final version of the product by the end of 2006.
"We are super excited about the positive reaction and demand from our customers," said Baris Cetinok, director of product management and marketing for Office Live at Microsoft.