With Office Web Apps being released to testers this week it got me thinking about Microsoft’s Software + Services strategy as we can now see the Office service in the cloud to accompany the software on PCs.

So what other combinations are there from Microsoft that fulfil the Software + Services strategy?

Current Software + Services

Windows Live – A great example of the strategy

Live Mesh

Part implementation of strategy

Coming Soon Software and/or Services

Looking at what Microsoft currently offer and are planning to offer there are a few areas that need to be addressed before this strategy is truly realised.

Windows Live

The majority of this suite works brilliantly as both software and services but there are a few offerings that need to be added too:

• Web Messenger needs a lot of work done to it to make it a real counter part to the software, currently it looks awful and has such limited functionality it doesn’t feel like a final release of the service but more of a beta version
• I am not sure if the link between Photo Gallery and Photos needs to be changed but seeing how Office applications are now accessible though the internet maybe Microsoft should consider adding editing features to the web service so users can edit their photos online before publishing them to the internet
• I can’t see a version of Movie Maker coming to the browser soon however I think there should be a place to upload and view the movies online
• An online version of Writer would be brilliant and seeing how it is such an internet oriented application it makes sense to have a version accessible through a browser for times when people aren’t at their own PC and can’t install Writer
• A way to access SkyDrive from a PC using explorer really should be added as this would increase the usefulness of the service hugely as users could save their work from their PC directly to the cloud and even use it for things such as backups

Live Mesh

There isn’t much that needs doing to this offering as its works very well however a few more controls of what and when something is syncing would be a great addition. There is talk that this will be moving the Windows Live suite and I would hope it becomes part of the SkyDrive.

Zune + Zune.net

I was surprised to see the addition to the Zune.net website to allow users to listen to music through the browser but if this is the way the team are taking it then maybe there will be the option, in the future, to stream music from your own collection to listen wherever you are.

Windows Mobile + My Phone

I think the My Phone features and functions will be great when its final release launches on October 6th but I do think it need to be combined with Windows Live to create one place to go for all online storage and contact information, it would also keep both offerings more up to date for users to have only the one place for both.

Windows + Windows Azure

I am not entirely sure what Windows Azure will be like when it is finally released but I know I am looking forward to using it in whatever form it may take to bring the PC to the cloud and as I have yet to use it I can’t suggest improvements.

Office + Office Web Apps

The Office Web Apps are still very basic but their potential is huge as I know there have been times when I have needed to alter something but haven’t been at a PC with Office on and with it coming to Mobiles too it will really be a great service.

The Future

The XBox has yet to have any service but that is perfectly understandable seeing as it is so different from anything else, but who knows maybe in the future Microsoft will want to compete with OnLive and bring out a streaming service for games on TVs and PCs.

I know there are plenty of other applications from Microsoft that has no service counterpart at all, such as Visual Studio, but maybe over the next few years we will be seeing more software have a version on the internet as more and more offerings go to the cloud and lets hope Microsoft improve what they have already done to achieve their goal of Software + Services.