Microsoft opened up the beta of its Office Live Workspace to all comers today. The service, which is a hosted version of Sharepoint, is designed to let you share Office documents and sync edits. It does provide a decent (if crippled) Web-based word processor, but for the most part it forces you to use Microsoft’s desktop software to create all of your documents. It also doesn’t work that great with a Mac. You can read my earlier review for more details.
Microsoft says that hundreds of thousands of people have signed up for the beta. Now they can check it out. The service is also adding these features:
• Activity panel. A new activity panel shows all the activity in a workspace at a glance.
• Notifications. People can now receive e-mail notifications about changes made to their workspaces or documents.
• Direct links. People can now bookmark their workspace or a workspace item via a unique URL in a browser window.
• Multi-file upload. People can now upload several files simultaneously by simply dragging and dropping from their desktop.
• Improved sharing. New sharing functionality includes an easier user interface and auto-completion of e-mail addresses.