Saturdays at CPA Success are usually spent reviewing online tools that can help increase our productivity. Keep in mind that we do not endorse any of these services. We simply offer them up for your consideration. Do your own homework and find the service that best meets your needs.

We’ve got a guest post today from the Ohio Society of CPAs‘ Chris Jenkins, who has a few things to say about Microsoft Live services. Chris, it’s all yours.

Microsoft’s marketing efforts never cease to frustrate me, yet strangely I never thought a lack of marketing would be one of my complaints. Still, here I am wondering how I ever knew about products like MS Works, Windows ME and Urge. Meanwhile, Office Live Workspace, Office Live Small Business and Windows Live FolderShare get no press.  While I’m not nearly as skilled as the folks who once sold Microsoft Bob, let me share some information with you.

• Office Live Workspace: Extending MS Office productivity by adding seamless online collaboration, Office Live workspace is a gold star for Microsoft. While the 500MB storage cap is limiting, the ability to store, manage, share and remotely access documents from an Internet accessible computer is impressive. Seamless integration with MS Office, an interface that mimics the SharePoint tools and remote screen-sharing make it a best-of-breed productivity tool. Best of all, it doesn’t break the bank. In fact, it’s free.
• Office Live Small Business: Expanding the service offerings provided by Office Live Workspace, the small business product line brings an enterprise software feature set to the masses. Starting with free Web site hosting, then moving into e-mail, CRM and marketing management tools, the small business package is right priced and right sized to meet a number of today’s business needs.
• Windows Live FolderShare: Foldershare automatically synchronizes files and folders across multiple machines. Simply visit the Web site, install the client and register your computers. Once registered, access documents where you need them and when you need them. Best of all, changes are updated to your machine as updates are made. The days of e-mailing yourself files or using USB keys are over.

Hey, Microsoft folks — these things are pretty cool! Let some folks know about them …