A report yesterday by Microsoft Watch said that Microsoft is about to launch a blogging service, MSN Spaces, this week:
MSN is expected to tout MSN Spaces as a direct competitor to blog-creation and hosting tools, such as Blogger, Blog*Spot, LiveJournal and TypePad. Microsoft also will position MSN Spaces as a way to allow users to more easily share photo albums and music lists, too, insiders said. Some users have been speculating that MSN will allow users to post to their blogs via MSN Messenger 7, the latest version of Microsoft’s consumer instant-messaging client, which is in beta now and due to ship in early 2005.
In early August, Microsoft began test-marketing a blogging service in Japan – see my post Blog Wars Episode 1, quoting a Reuters report.
Microsoft Watch | MSN Readies New Blogging Service
UPDATE: The new service has now launched: http://spaces.msn.com (via Scobleizer).