Microsoft has turned on the Windows Live tap and software services are starting to really flow from it.

On Tuesday, February 28, Microsoft announced the start of the U.S. beta of Windows Live Expo, its online classified service, code-named Fremont. Earlier this month, Microsoft had provided some testers with a private beta release of Windows Live Expo, only to later pull the code back, according to a report on the LiveSide.Net blog, an independent tracker of all things Microsoft-Live-related.

Microsoft also released to testers on Tuesday a technical preview of a new Windows Live Local map-searching feature, known as "Street Side." It also refreshed the beta bits for Windows Live Mail, its Web-based mail offering, code-named "Kahuna."

The company unveiled on Tuesday another new Live service, known as Windows Live Desktop Mail, an e-mail client similar to Outlook Express that is optimized to work with Windows Live Mail and other Windows Live services.

Microsoft said it will begin offering in March a preview of the Live Mail Desktop service, which the company is describing as "a PC-based program that will create a central place for accessing e-mail from various Web-based e-mail accounts." Both subscription-based and free, ad-supported versions will be available.

There are other Windows Live services in the pipeline that Microsoft still has yet to discuss officially. Among these are Windows Live Family Safety Settings, code-named "Vegas." Family Safety Settings, for which testers received invites in February, are expected to be an outgrowth of the parental controls settings that are in Windows Vista.

Also on tap is a new Windows Live service tentatively known as Windows Live Identity, which is an outgrowth of the Microsoft Passport online-identification service. Windows Live Identity is expected to make use of Microsoft's evolving InfoCard technology.

Microsoft also is readying Windows Live FolderShare, a software service designed to synchronize files and folders. The FolderShare service is based on the FolderShare technology that Microsoft acquired last November, and is expected to complement the folder-sharing technology that will be baked into Windows Vista.

Microsoft won't divulge the total number of Windows Live software-service add-ons that it plans to unveil this year. Some company watchers have said they believe Microsoft is aiming to field between 30 and 50 Windows Live services in the coming year.

Microsoft is designing Windows Live services to interoperate with each other. In some cases, some of the Live services are interdependent, with certain offerings relying on capabilities provided by companion Live services in order to function fully. Windows Live Expo, for example, is "integrated and accessible from all Windows Live communications applications," according to a Microsoft statement.

Microsoft unveiled on November 1 last year its plan to develop a family of Web-service add-ons to Windows, Office and other core Microsoft applications and products as part of its Microsoft Live strategy.

This article was updated on February 28 to include additional details on the Windows Live Desktop Mail and Windows Live FolderShare services.