Microsoft SharePoint Designer Team Blog : Office Live and SharePoint

Office Live snapshot; Office Live is built on SharePoint -- it's essentially a software-as-a-service SharePoint offering with, for now, some apps optimized for small businesses. 

A Microsoft Office Live solution can range from a simple template that a customer uploads as an .stp file using the built in Upload Wizard, to a light mashup that incorporates a third-party Web Service, to a composite application that exposes an existing client or hosted application to a Microsoft Office Live based WSS template using SOAP. You can also modify and redistribute one of the Business Applications that are included in a Microsoft Office Live Premium subscription – change field headings, add columns, incorporate some logic that you support, and make it more applicable for customers in a specific industry.

The Microsoft Office Live partner community is just ramping up, but there are already some very cool solutions out there like Solution Canvas in the UK who has developed a practice management system for small legal offices, and Qdabra in the US who offers Qdabra Project Tracker, an InfoPath based solution that streamlines creating estimates and statements of work for all types of consulting projects. The Microsoft Office Live team thinks there is great potential for the SharePoint Designer community to tap into the Microsoft Office Live customer base and add value to their subscriptions. They would love to see some you create solutions for Microsoft Office Live over the next 2 months and place them in the free Marketplace. If you are interested in this opportunity then check out the Microsoft Office Live Developer Portal to learn more about developing on Microsoft Office Live, and visit the Microsoft Office Live Partner page to learn more about the opportunity and the requirements for the marketplace. You can also sign up for a free 30 day trial of Microsoft Office Live Premium to try it for yourself. If you still have questions or want to provide feedback, then please send us an e-mail.

Source: Microsoft SharePoint Designer Team Blog : Office Live and SharePoint