Spaces.msn.com is Microsoft's new blogging service, released in beta to the public Wednesday. I invested most of my Thursday afternoon setting up a new blog on the service, in order to try it out.


I. Overall, I found the Microsoft service to be an attractive beta entry into the field. It has a good, simple interface, and it provides core blogging functions effectively. It is not a visionary product--it is, perhaps not surprisingly, a fast-follower product that looks and feels very much like its leading competitors. Because the service looks and feels most like Typepad, and because I view Typepad as the current market and feature leader, I've focused on comparing and contrasting spaces.msn.com and Typepad in this review.

A. Spaces.msn.com needs a number of improvements, and I expect Microsoft will make many of them over the next few weeks. One big advantage of a service launch is that changes to the service can be made more or less continuously as necessary:


B. There are three major strengths of the service:

II. The strengths and weaknesses of the service are discussed in more detail in the lettered sections below, with special attention to a comparison to Typepad.
A. The display of the basic blog is very much as in Typepad. The look and feel of a site is determined by one, two, or three-panel designs, as in Typepad, with a number of color templates available. Added to the blog, at the very top edge of the page, are handy links to three features intended to make spaces.msn.com AND your site spread by viral action:


Get your own space | Syndicate this site | Tell a friend


And at the bottom of the page is a discrete, and also handy, set of links to communicate with Microsoft about the blog experience, as well as links to ads for Microsoft services:

Try MSN Internet Software for FREE!
Feedback | Report Abuse |Help


For better or worse, the Microsoft brand is obviously, if tastefully, all over your home page. Some will like this, and some won't, of course.

A related problem is that you cannot do domain mapping. That is, you can't register your own domain and then get the Microsoft service to look like it is in your domain. Thus, again, you are in a Microsoft environment. For large companies and experienced bloggers this may be a problem. On the other hand, I know many businesses and individuals that use Hotmail or Yahoo! email addresses, and even Adam Curry uses a Radio address for his blog--and look, I use a Berkman address happily for my blog--so many will appreciate the Microsoft address and, if I may say so, the Microsoft-brand-legitimized sub-namespace.

B. The customization interface is also an easy-to-use (a plus) but feature-lacking (a minus) version of Typepad. The Microsoft interface allows you to quickly select a one, two, or three column blog, and select a color scheme or design. I chose an ecological theme called "rainforest."

You can then select from a number of pre-designed modules, ranging from the basic blog itself, to book and music lists, archives, photo albums, and so on. These modules can then be moved between panels and re-ordered top-to-bottom with an object-oriented interface very much like that in Typepad. The interface for customization improves on Typepad by putting these two features--the list of modules and the presentation of modules--on the same overall screen.

However, there are severe limitations to the customization. To start with, one is limited to the modules that are provided, and to just on in each category. In Typepad, modules--called "lists" are essentially unlimited, and can also be shared among multiple blogs.

Second, a critical module is missing: "recent posts." This module is seen as vital by many active bloggers.

Third, there is no "email this post to a friend" feature--also missing in Typepad but much loved by users of Blogger.

Most important, there is no apparent way to do "advanced" customization of one's template, using html and css, as there is in Typepad. There is no apparent way to create and save alternative versions of template designs, modular or advanced, as there is in Typepad.

C. Posting is more or less effective but primitive. A window opens, into which one puts text, and to which one can add photos.

Most damning, the posting editor is not wysiwyg at all--which puts it behind Typepad, which went full wysiwyg, albeit with some bugs, recently. In the Microsoft service, even very basic functions, like spacing between lines, must be done with html insets, which is a true pain. Another basic function that is missing is automatically turning a reference to a URL active.

There aren't even any "widgets" as in pre-wysiwyg Typepad--and one assumes that widgets would be very easy to implement. All html must be hand-coded, including external links to web sites, highlighting, indenting. Tedious!

The limited nature of the editor seems to me to be a critical problem to solve, if Microsoft hopes to get newby's to post--who don't know html and may not even understand why their line and paragraph spacing is not being displayed "properly" (the editor maintains spacing from session to session, but the display does not handle it). More wysiwyg will also help them connect with prolific users, who want to move more quickly than can be done with html.

The worst aspect of the editor is its handling of photos in posts. Many bloggers now routinely add photos, and Typepad can take any size image and automatically resize it, to create both a thumbnail inserted in the post, and for use in a larger file size in an optional pop-up window. Typepad also allows for instant customization on an insert-by-insert basis of the size of the thumbnail to be displayed in the post, and whether and how text wraps the image. The Microsoft offering requires you to pre-size your image or images to less than 1MB per upload, and does not allow customization of how the images are displayed.

D. Blog management functions are for the most part missing.

Amazingly, there are no hit, unique visitor, or referrer stats provided. Since there is no apparent way to ad html to the blog template, I don't know how I would implement Sitemeter or another similar third--party service.

There is no provision for multiple authors, and since login is by Passport account name and password, no easy way to simply share your spaces.msn.com name and password with a friend or colleague. Needless to say, Typepad is far ahead on this score, with not only multiple author access, with distinct logins, but with provision for "junior authors" whose posts are approved by a "senior author." Senior authors post directly. And Typepad distinguishes the "owner" who can change the nature of the blog. More important, Typepad provides for hand holding of new authors--all one must do, as an owner, is put in the new person's name, email adress, and junior or senior status--and Typepad sends a welcoming message and takes the person through signup and posting instructions.

These multiple author features have turned out to be crucial for those using blogs for political action or social change projects--such as the group human rights blog http://passionofpresent.org or that at Democracy for America.

There is no provision for multiple blogs. This is a big mistake. I believe people will use blogs for distinct purposes--and want a source for proliferating blogs. Each pro account on Typepad can unleash multiple blogs. In addition, Typepad's shared typelists (essentially, shared modules) facilitates the easy development of multiple blogs with related or similar content.

E. Integration wth other Microsoft services is a major focus, and mostly a major plus. Integration is close with Microsoft instant messaging, with Passport (required to set up the blog), with Microsoft Network membership (required to post a profile of oneself on the blog), and with Microsoft hotmail (a way to post).

It is assumed that spaces.msn.com sites will be searched and indexed by the new Microsoft search service.

Overall, the integration of communication services seems a trend for the future, and one where Microsoft is perhaps stealing a march on its competitors.

The integration of identify services, i.e. Passport and Network, seems just a step away from the integration of social networking services. I note two odd little queries as part of the registration process that indicate that dating has been considered explicitly: First, in setting up one's blog you are asked to check a box as to whether your content on the blog is for "adults" and should have restricted promotion, or is appropriate for a general audience. Second, in setting up your profile you are asked it you would like to be sent "photos of singles in your area" by email. This is in addition to the ads for ads Match.com that show almost continuously as you navigate Microsoft Network.

The integration of services also creates certain dependencies. For example, one must sign up for Passport in order to get a blog, and one must use MSN in order to have a personal profile. Neither of these seems too restrictive. However, one also needs to be logged into Passport to post comments. This seems awfully restrictive. On our human rights blog http://passionofthepresent.org for example, many of our commenters are in Africa, on thin connections, in Internet cafes, and sometimes under surviellance. Being able to comment quickly and freely is a godsend to them, and to us. It would seem better to allow the blog owner to decide whether commenters need to be registered.

One set of dependencies seems downright entangling, and perhaps strategically so. The "music list" feature requires that one upload lists from Microsoft Media Player, and be using IE with activeX turned on. Hmmm. And I thought perhaps there would be an interface to iTunes! Or at least a way to use the Music list to serve Podcasts..or perhaps there would be a way to link to Amazon.com...

In fairness, I tested the service with Firefox, Mozilla, and IE, all on a Mac, and found that the service worked beautifully with all three browsers..so the product overall gets a plus for being browser and hardware independent.

F. Global distribution and business ecosystem strategy: This is the big, big, big play.

This introduction puts Microsoft firmly in support of (1) blogging, (2) RSS 2.0--the simplest platform, (3) newby users and market growth for blogging and for RSS, (4) free promotion of basic blogging, which is important around the world and--as a corrolary--(5) global reach in multiple languages.

The entrance of Microsoft may be as big in the blogging/RSS world as IBM stepping in to play in the nascent personal computer world in the early 80s...Microsoft will legitimize the service in the eyes of a larger body of users, and will help correct the misunderstanding that blogs are a service only for teenage girls. Blogs will be seen as respected alternative web sites, more often updated, and much more easily syndicated.

If successful, Microsoft will create global network effects as bloggers come online around the world and link to each other through the Microsoft platform. Microsoft will have at its fingertips links and posts signalling relationships and communication patterns among citizens across the entire world. Wow!

The introduction of the Microsoft service in 17 languages and 26 markets puts it into the hands of people across the world--in a way that no other company has come close to. Typepad has been globalizing, but market-by-market, and in conjuction with Internet providers and telecom companies. This Microsoft introduction, by contrast, introduces a free, highly viral service to the entire world at one time.

Moreover, the integration of the service with Hotmail and with Messenger will help immensely with worldwide adoption. Particularly in the developing world and nations without reliable local internet service and servers, Hotmail and Messenger, as well as Yahoo! mail and instant messaging, are near standards.

Finally, I expect this service to be very popular with small businesses around the world. Small businesses will like the association with the Microsoft brand, they will trust the availability and "future proofing" of the service, and they will like the price.

For a discussion of the global launch as an example of a business ecosystem growth strategy, see my post on Hello Noosphere! permalinked at my blog at Harvard, http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/2004/12/02#a918 or a similar post on my site at spaces.msn.com. See http://spaces.msn.com/members/strategy


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UPDATE from a comment on my Spaces blog, by tahirzaimoglu, in Turkey. Visit his blog at http://the1andonly.blogs.com/:

A problem with the intial release of Spaces is that there is no provision for running ads and making money for the individual. This is in contrast to Typepad and to most other blog services and blog software. Indeed it is counter to most web site hosting services. Ads are crucial. Everybody likes ads, but they are particularly important for a global service. Ad revenue, especially in the developing world, would provide web-based earnings to small businesses and individuals that are among the most connected and progressive in their societies. For example, web ad payments to sites in China are thought by a friend of mine at Human Rights in China to be one of the most important things one can do to help the Chinese to liberty.. The same could be true in Africa, the Middle East, and other parts of the world. Now we just have to work with the US State Department to figure out a way to make the money transfers, and not be seen as shipping funds to terrorists. Of course, where MSN has a local service in the market, this might not be a problem.