Looks like Joel Spolsky doesn't think too much of Microsoft's new portal page, live.com. Aside from completely breaking down in Firefox, and only partially working in IE, it appears Joel has a beef with the tack that Microsoft has taken. It's something you hear a lot of in the energetic startups in Silicon Valley and elsewhere: ship early, ship often. Let's face it, some of the best tools in the Web 2.0 stratosphere are still beta products. So what's the diff when Microsoft shows off a beta product? Well, they are Microsoft.

Yeah, it'd be easy for me to say Windows is just one big beta. Based on what I've seen of Vista, I'm going to just say I feel those days will be over (eventually). However, for Microsoft to release a half-baked bizarro version of their own start.com page, well that's just weird. Joel calls it the Marimba phenomenon. Anyone remember Marimba? Yeah, that's what I thought. Long story short, don't let PR write a check the developers can't cash. At least, don't post-date those checks. You could just as easily call it the Apple phenomenon though (remember the Apple III, the Lisa?), or any number of botched launches. Point is, Microsoft is too big and too smart to do such a thing. According to Joel, a company with their resources should really be spending a little more time fixing things than promoting things... I'd have to agree there.

While it may be nice for the pundits to ponder the competition between MS, Yahoo, and Google "heating up" because of things like Live's launch, to me it seems like MS just getting in to the game. And while I think Joel has a point, I think he may have underestimated MS. They will not let live.com sit still for long. I fully believe it will continue to morph, expand, and extend its usefulness over time. And frankly, I don't think it will take a long time. 2006 is going to be a banner year for Microsoft, and somehow little pieces like this fit into the larger puzzle. It's the classic "watch this space and it will change" gag from the old newspaper days.