Microsoft is evolving Office Live Small Business. In this regard, the Redmond company indicated that customer input managed to generate the implementation of a range of enhancements across the board. The end user feedback will be reflected via the improvements delivered to Office Live Small Business. Microsoft revealed that its focus was on making the tools adjacent to the service more accessible and visible, on the addition of new functionality, but also on boosting website navigation. However, the Redmond company referred to the evolution as an upgrade and also pointed to the upcoming availability of new services.

"You'll find enhancements across all three of our services - Office Live Basics, Essentials, and Premium", explained a member of the Microsoft office Live Small Business team. "The upgrade process began January 5th and will last four to six weeks. While we implement new features and functions there will be periods of time when various aspects of the service will be unavailable. We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact to you, but we want you to be prepared. We hope you'll find that the improvements we are making are well worth any inconvenience."

As far as Office Live Basics is concerned, users will be able to enjoy a simplified Site Designer tool, but also enhance customization options, the possibility of adding a blog to the website via the integration with Windows Live Spaces Blogs, streamlined Slideshow creation. From now on, Office Live Basics will feature email, personal contacts, calendar, and tasks full synchronization with Outlook 2007, and a storage capacity of up to 5 GB. The reporting service has also been overhauled, both under the hood and on the surface, coming with a new design.

For Office Live Essentials, Microsoft is introducing a : "Contact Manager redesigned and easier to use
Quick search; [the ability to] preview individual contact information before you select the contact for more details. When a prospect or customer fills out a form on your Web site, they can be automatically added to Contact Manager with notification sent to any e-mail address you want. [And] Team Workspaces are now easier to set up and manage; granting and managing permissions to workspaces is easier than ever, improved ability to take workspace contents offline with Outlook 2007 and data export features and easily display information stored in workspaces on your public Web site."

Both Office Live Essentials and Office Live Premium will feature the entire span of improvements delivered to Office Live Basics. But Microsoft is also permitting Premium users to "re-order tabs with a simple drag-and-drop and to rename tabs and data with a single click, [in addition to being able to enjoy] business applications [that] are redesigned and simpler to use."