When you get past the marketing fluff of "sea changes" and "21st century Internet," Microsoft did not announce a lot of new deliverables during its Tuesday services unveiling.

(Thankfully, the company also didn't try to position any of its newly minted Windows Live or Office Live services as examples of its "Web 2.0" prowess. We didn't notice a single mention of Web 2.0 during Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Technology Officer Ray Ozzie's remarks. That earns Microsoft some big points in our book.)

But we did hear a more cohesive strategy for how the Redmondians intend to package and position the various MSN-branded properties — the Start.com aggregator, MSN Favorites, MSN Spaces, "Kahuna" Hotmail, MSN Messenger, Windows OneCare — that the company has been fielding like hot cakes under the Windows Live brand. And we also heard Tuesday the beginnings of Microsoft's planned repositioning of its small-business services, once known as bCentral, plus a couple of hints about future intended deliverables, as part of Microsoft's Office Live offerings.

There was plenty Microsoft didn't say publicly about its Live announcement. But somebody at the company took some great notes, in terms of questions that company brass anticipated from press and analysts around Tuesday's announcements.

Here are a couple of our favorite Microsoft talking points about Microsoft Live:

Q: You have tried this before with HailStorm (aka .NET my services), and it did not work. What's different this time?

A: Hailstorm was based on a similar vision but there are differences both with our approach as well as the market. For instance, with our live offerings/approach, a clearer, more sustainable business model exists relative to advertising funded approach that enables many of these services to be offered for free. At the same time, the pervasiveness of broadband and wireless connectivity have only driven even more demand for more personalized services as well as broader acceptance of software-based services.

We definitely were thinking Windows Live sounded a lot like the ill-fated Hailstorm, when we heard Microsoft's explanation of Windows Live. In case you need a refresher, Hailstorm, which Microsoft announced back in 2001, was designed to be is "a set of user-centric XML Web services that enable developers to build solutions that work seamlessly with one another over the Internet to deliver a more personalized and consistent user experience." Microsoft tabled Hailstorm shortly after its introduction, as a result of customer and partner concerns over privacy and security of the data.

The talking points continue:

Q: Is this just a response to Google?

A: This is a response to what we hear from our customers and is consistent with a vision we have about the way software plus services can deliver compelling new experiences for users. Whether its Xbox Live or Windows Update (automatic security updates) or MSN, we have deep experience at delivering discrete services running at scale. Today we're simply taking this to the next level with Windows Live and Office Live. Our strength is the breadth of services and products we currently offer and our experience in meeting customer demand.

Q: How is this not just a re-brand of MSN properties? What is new? Isn't this just a name change?

A: No. MSN has not been re-branded to Windows Live. Windows Live is built alongside MSN.com, a global leader in services with more than 215 million active MSN Hotmail users, 185 million MSN Messenger users worldwide and over 25 million MSN Spaces created by individuals to share their photos, Weblogs, and interests with friends. MSN.com will continue to deliver rich programmed content and provide access to Windows Live services. As Windows Live services begin to release to beta and eventually final MSN will be the content brand with a programmed content experience and will work together and synergistically with Windows Live services. New services being announced today are Windows Live Safety Center, Windows Live Messenger, Live.com, Windows Live Favorites, Windows Live Mail, etc.

More than anything else, Tuesday was a rebranding event for Microsoft. And while MSN may not have been rebranded to Windows Live, but almost all of the new, hot MSN deliverables have been. No two ways about that.

Then, there are the inevitable legal questions surrounding any new products or services Microsoft debuts. Can't overlook the U.S. Department of Justice and/or any of the other outstanding antitrust cases when you're developing a new strategy, if you're Microsoft.

Q: Windows is covered by a consent decree, so what now are the antitrust implications for the Windows Live approach?

A: Microsoft will of course continue to adhere rigorously to the Consent Decree. As mentioned, Windows Live will ship separately from Windows and will be built on publicly documented and available APIs (application programming interfaces). Other ISVs are free to develop services that plug into Windows in the very same manner as does Windows Live.

Other Microsoft watchers seemed to agree with our assessment that there was more posturing than substance in the Microsoft Live unveilings.

"The new thing here is really the advertising-based business model – (MSN) adCenter being leveraged far beyond paid search," said Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff. "Also, I think they'll eventually drive to 'platformize' these services, again, similar to HailStorm but with a more coherent business model and partner model this time around."

What say you, Microsoft Watchers? Did you pick up any interesting strategy tidbits from Microsoft's Live launch? Or were you nonplussed by what the top strategists in Redmond had to say?

Talk back below or write me at mswatch@ziffdavis.com and
let me know what you think.