Actually, a lot more than just that. Lifehacker reports:

Microsoft Office Live Small Business is a web hosting service that gives you a domain name (any available .com, .net, .org, or .info), email, business management tools, collaboration tools, and more, for a surprising price tag: $0.

It’s only free for a year, after which it’s $15/month, which is still a pretty good deal. The offering is a bit like Google’s Apps, but it includes a domain name as well. The monetization strategy is different too: Microsoft is offering a pay service for free for an extended period before charges kick in; Google is offering a free, light version of a premium service (the premium service is really a product of another order, costing $50/year per user and offering sophisticated IT integration capabilities).

The Web was never going to live on ad revenue alone. It makes sense that Google is trying to sell services and it makes sense that they are giving light versions away for free (after all, most of their products are free for the entire Web). Microsoft, on the other hand, isn’t known for the $0 price tag.

Is Microsoft’s goal here just to get paying customers for this product? Maybe, but is Google’s goal with search or gmail or any other free product just to sell ads? Part of the “free” strategy on the Web is certainly about making money later, but it also might be about establishing visibility and presence. It certainly worked for Google, arguably to the detriment of Microsoft (at least image-wise). This isn’t a bid to get more positive attention from consumers, but trying to convince small businesses of the idea that Microsoft can be an affordable and friendly solution for basic Web presence does push back at least some against Google’s hegemony online.