Microsoft fires Web conferencing salvo
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
Microsoft this week will unveil Office Live Meeting, the first service offered as part of its Office productivity suite. Although the first version will pepper only a few enhancements above the service Microsoft acquired from PlaceWare earlier this year, the move signals Microsoft's long-term aspiration to bring online meetings into the enterprise collaboration platform fold.
As a hosted service, Live Meeting will continue the PlaceWare legacy, competing against market leader WebEx and a host of other players. In this initial incarnation, Live Meeting has not yet been integrated into Office and as such will not immediately alter enterprise decision-making for Web conferencing, according to analyst Mike Gotta, senior vice president of Meta Group.