Not to be confused with its Office line of software, Office is Microsoft’s latest foray into offering web based services.

The service is mainly for the small company of less than 25 people whose IT department is that one guy who took a introduction to computers class in college.

Office Live comes in three flavors of varying prices (all are free in the beta though). First there’s the Basic Live edition (which will remain free even when it goes Gold). This one contains general website development tools, the ability to have your own domain name, like, www.website.com, instead of something like www.bigwebsite.com/thing/ohwow/768865554.htm, five email accounts, and a website traffic report.

The next version of the software…. wait, is this software? It does not install on your computer. I hereby call it “serverware.” The next version is the Collaboration edition. It will cost around $30 once the beta ends and does not add much more to the Basic edition to justify its price.

The last one is Essentials, cost starts at $30 and it adds a whole slew of more email addresses (50), keyword reports, and more online workspace.

I signed up for the service, but since it’s a beta test, Microsoft itself picks who it wants to participate. If selected, I’ll report on the creation process with a self-made website.