MSN Spaces, Where's the Space?

March 2, 2005

Now that blogging has taken the Web by storm, in its true, come-from-behind style Microsoft has joined the fray with its MSN Spaces offering and it is rapidly adding subscribers to this free blogging service which is currently in beta.

Spurred by an enticing link in my Hotmail account, I recently paid a visit to MSN Spaces. All I can say is that this service has a long way to go before it can catch up with the other blogosphere titans such as Blogger and Movable Type (and by extension the TypePad service).

MSN Spaces is designed nicely, but it is cluttered and cumbersome to navigate. There are no options to save the blogs to an external site, and the space provided (10 MB) is inadequate for an active blogger who uses lots of images. I use Movable Type at work and Blogger at home, and both of these products provide a superior blogging experience. They have simpler interfaces, provide better functionality, and have more useful options.

I am certain that with time Spaces will improve. Whether or not it can catch up with the old reliables, we'll have to wait and see. For now, this is the only blog I'm going to place in my Spaces account. I must try everything at least once.