Office Live vs. SampaSite

Tuesday when Microsoft announced the Windows Live and Office Live I was eager to find out what it was about. I went to www.live.com to check the new Windows Live and I was happy. Is that it? I was somehow relieved. Windows Live would not be competing with me.

Wednesday they gave more detail on Office Live and I've got a few good reviews and comments from some blogs like A VC, Techcrunch and  Read/WriteWeb. And, guess what? It is almost exactly what I'm doing with SampaSite.

The Good News is that it strongly validates my product/company. There is a market and it is important and big enough for Microsoft to enter with a massive VaporWare/FUD campaign (I'm sure it will be real in a short period of time, but for now it looked like a "PowerPoint/Flash" product).

The Bad News is that if the offerings between me and MSFT are almost identical, I won't have the marketing budget to compete with it. However, I have a very good marketing and distribution plan, that can completely avoid a face-to-face confrotation with Office Live.

A final confession:

I've spent almost a year (between mid-2003 and mid-2004) trying to convince many VPs and GMs at Microsoft to do exactly that. When I got tired of talking, I left the company to do it myself, and here I'm writing the best Web Presence solution on the Internet.

Comments

[Brian Benzinger]

SampaSite sounds very interesting, even if it is similar to that of Windows Live/Office live. I hope for the best for your company. I'm very interested in it and how it will compete with Microsofts product. I love the name too, SampaSite. I'll stay tuned in.

[Pierre de Vries]

I've always liked Paul Saffo's line: "Don't confuse a clear view with a short distance."

Your experience giving up in disgust and leaving MSFT to build something they ignored, and then having them eventually enter the market suggests something similar: "Don't confuse inaction with lack of understanding."

I believe that MS management understands the problems and opportunities they face more clearly than it often appears, but it takes them longer to take a bead on a target and press the trigger than one expects.