On Nov. 1, Bill Gates proclaimed this the era of “Live” software and insisted that Microsoft will play a major role in birthing a new generation of computing.

He laid out plans to create two families of Web services, one for consumers, called Windows Live, and one for small businesses, called Office Live.

Unlike traditional programs, such as Microsoft’s Office productivity suite, which reside on a PC, Web services run on Web sites and can be accessed via any browser.