Microsoft “Fremont” to Launch
by Michael Arrington on November 28, 2005

Microsoft will be beta launching a new web 2.0 service under the Live.com brand in the next few weeks. The final name is TDB, but the current project name is “Fremont” and the URL fremont.live.com will redirect once its fully live. I had a chance to see a demo of the product – it’s very cool and will definitely shake things up.

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  • john - November 28th, 2005 at 11:31 pm PST

    Any body know if it is a webbased office? or just like picture they show in last event of windows live.

    reply
  • Mark - November 29th, 2005 at 12:14 am PST

    From http://spaces.m...terday/Blog/cns!1p9WWMs3QaYyZ9IUKdl8SJ7w!2561.entry

    “This product represents a unique offering by Microsoft to address the person-to-person marketplace.

    The product, code-named “Fremont,” is a dynamic new listing service that enables people to easily buy, sell, or swap among friends, co-workers, or the public. Fremont enhances your ability to:

    * Connect with those you trust – your messenger buddies and your coworkers,

    * Locate items in your neighborhood or across the country through integration with MapPoint and Windows Live Local (formerly Virtual Earth),

    * List easily, instantly, and for free.”

    So, basically, it’s Google Base, except that it’s more practical/easier to use.

    reply
  • fred - November 29th, 2005 at 2:12 am PST

    Sounds more like eBay

    reply
  • Redford - November 29th, 2005 at 2:55 am PST

    Shame we had to get the relevent info from the comments as opposed to the actual blog posting.

    reply
  • Ian McAllister - November 29th, 2005 at 8:38 am PST

    No, it is not a web-based Office. The other comments are closer to the mark. Stay tuned.

    reply
  • Rich - November 29th, 2005 at 12:38 pm PST

    Use their ideas and then kill them. Nothing new.

    Tough times for craigslist ahead…

    reply
  • Woo - November 29th, 2005 at 3:53 pm PST

    Hey Rich…why the smear?

    ‘Use their ideas and then kill them. Nothing new.’

    Did you forget who Mr. Newmark is now in bed with? I don’t think he has anything to worry about – CL is the original and will continue with a loyal user base. This simply seems to be expanding the marketplace and consumers benefit when that happens, no?

    reply
  • Ed Dunn - November 29th, 2005 at 4:56 pm PST

    USENET was around long before craiglist so craiglist is not an innovative solution by any stretch. I believe execution, not originality matters when the dust settles.

    I thought Citibank C2it(?) payment system was going to kick Paypal butt when Paypal was still paypal.x.com but I was proven wrong. Big companies don’t appear to do well when it comes to community/social network applications.

    Microsoft as well as Apple have proven to be unsuccessful in creating a social networking audience. It’s something about social sites ran by a regular people that is so hipper and cooler than a corporation attempt, especially for word of mouth chatter.

    reply
  • balarkliang - November 29th, 2005 at 8:33 pm PST

    能给抓几张图出来么？
    看看里面的样子

    reply
  • balarkliang - November 29th, 2005 at 8:34 pm PST

    sorry，i am not MVP,can you paste pics on Fremont.:)

    reply
  • Willliam Dyson - November 30th, 2005 at 12:43 am PST

    Microsoft is not the first to do something like this. We have been in Beta (www.darmik.com) for about 3 months and have several large contracts with with media companies that will use our application on their sites.

    Ultimately it is going to come down to execution and focus, and openness. On the openness front; classifieds in an MSN walled garden is not very appealing to most listers, and I don’t think Microsoft is going to take this kind of wall down anytime soon. On execution the Microsoft brand is not synonymous with trust, or the cool factor that it will take to form social networks. On the focus side Microsoft seems to be in a one upsmanship race with google. There focus will shift from this project to the next one that they think will take some press away from google
    .

    reply
  • sohbet - June 5th, 2009 at 11:56 am PDT

    or the cool factor that it will take to form social networks

    reply
  • sohbet - June 5th, 2009 at 12:01 pm PDT

    Ultimately it is going to come down to execution and focus, and openness. On the openness front; classifieds in an MSN walled garden is not very appealing to most listers, and I don’t think Microsoft is going to take this kind of wall down anytime soon.

    reply

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