This morning, Microsoft launched a new MSN subscription service called Microsoft Office Outlook Live, which combines the company's best-selling email and personal information solution, Microsoft Outlook, with MSN's Hotmail Plus email service. Microsoft Office Outlook Live, known as MOOL informally, provides a special version of Microsoft Office to subscribers through which they can access and share their Hotmail-based email, contacts, and calendar.
"We're really excited by the collaboration between MSN and the Office team," MSN product manager Karen Muskops told me during a briefing this week. "Microsoft Office Outlook Live provides the power of both Outlook and Hotmail together in one place." MOOL marks the first time Microsoft has provided any of its Office applications to customers via download; the MOOL version of Outlook, dubbed Outlook 2003 for Subscription Services, has been winnowed down to a 60 MB download that broadband users should be able to grab in less than 15 minutes. MOOL also includes the Microsoft Outlook Connector, which lets Hotmail and MSN users access their account's email, contacts, and calendar items via Outlook.

In addition to Microsoft Office and the Outlook Connector, MOOL provides subscribers with all of the benefits of Hotmail Plus, including 2 GB of email storage space and the ability to send 20 MB of attachments per email. Designed for power users who would like to access both work and personal email simultaneously, MOOL lets subscribers view multiple calendars side-by-side in Outlook, say from both Exchange Server and Hotmail, letting them compare work and home schedules more easily.
MOOL will cost $59.95 a year but is available through April 19, 2004 for $44.95 for the first year. The product will be made available to customers in the United States, UK, and Canada (English and French) initially. My initial review of Microsoft Office Outlook Live will be available on the SuperSite for Windows later today.