Soapbox from Microsoft, a YouTube-like user uploaded video product formerly known as ‘Warhol,” may launch by the time you read this according to a few generally accurate sources in the blogosphere.Here’s what we know. The beta signup page says users will “be able to upload your own videos, watch those made by other contributors, post comments on what you’ve seen, and much more.” Om Malik says, via a commenter, that “Soapbox autodetects your browser + platform and streams WM for IE/Windows users, but Flash for Firefox/Windows and Firefox+Safari on Mac.” LiveSide says videos up to 100 MB in size can be uploaded in AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV, MPEG 1/2/4, 3GPP, DV file formats.
Soapbox users can rate, comment on and tag the videos they view, share links with their friends via e-mail, and include the embeddable Soapbox player directly on their Web site or blog.
Deep integration with Live Spaces, a huge blogging platform, will in itself drive a lot of usage.
The press release has just been put up on Microsoft. Very little new information. Stay tuned!
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