Microsoft is <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/12/Microsoft-adds-event-planning-to-Live-services_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/12/Microsoft-adds-event-planning-to-Live-services_1.html">adding an event planning offering to its expanding Windows Live suite</A> of services. Microsoft says the new service, Live Events, offers more than some other existing online invitation services, such as the popular Evite.com. Like those services, users of Live Events will be able to design a Web page and invitation to an event, choosing from over 100 templates. They can customize further by changing the font and background images and dragging and dropping different components of the site.

Users can choose email addresses of people to invite to their event from an address book they may already have in Hotmail or Messenger. They can also type in email addresses. One feature that may set Live Events apart from other similar services is the ability for event participants to visit the invitation site after the event to upload photos or videos or comments, said Jay Fluegel, product manager for Windows Live Events. Then anyone can order prints of the pictures, view slideshows, or download the photos to Windows Live Gallery, a beta service that lets users share photos and other content.