Wouldn't it be great to bring the power of Windows Live to your own domain?  Think about being about to utilize Spaces, Windows Live Mail, etc. all using your own domain name.  How cool is that?

For years I have had my own domain name -- robertstinnett.com -- that points to my web site, that I use for my email, etc.  In fact, I think everyone should register their own name as a domain.  It makes it real easy for friends and family to find you (which may or may not be a good thing).  To host my e-mail I used to run a dedicated server with Exchange 2000 on it.  Exchange is a great product, but it was never, ever meant to be used for personal e-mail hosting for one person (or a family).  I spent more time tinkering with Exchange than I did getting the benefit out of it. 

About a year or so ago, Microsoft Live Hotmail launched and I knew I had found "the" interface for my e-mail.  As luck would have it, Windows Live lets you use your own domain name so you don't have to use a @hotmail.com address.  It's really quite simple, and again makes it easy for people to find you and remember your e-mail address!

So how do you do it?  It's pretty straightforward....

First, go to domains.live.com which is Windows Live Custom Domains.  If you already have your own domain (yournamehere.com, etc.) then you are halfway done already!  If not, no worries -- Microsoft Live will help you find a domain name in no time flat.  Just follow the prompts!

Once you have a domain name, you need to create an e-mail account to go with it.  The cool thing is you can use your new account (such as you@yournamehere.com) as your Windows Live ID.  No more having to remember multiple e-mail addresses or accounts!

You can have up to 500 e-mail accounts for your domain on Windows Live.  Great for a family or to create accounts for use with shopping, mailing lists, etc.

With your accounts created, you are ready to go!  If your domain is managed by Windows Live Domains, they will make the necessary changes for you to get your e-mail flowing.  If your domain is "managed" outside of Windows Live Domains (such as GoDaddy, etc.) then you will need to make a very simple change to your DNS records to get things rolling.

Before you know it, you now have the Windows Live Hotmail interface for your own e-mail address!

However, the fun doesn't end there -- you can expand almost all of the Windows Live services to use your with own domain.

For example, instead of telling people to access my Windows Live Spaces through the traditional http://robertstinnett.spaces.live.com URL I can now just tell them to go to http://blog.robertstinnett.com.  Much easier!

Thanks to Windows Live Domains, Mail and Spaces I have my own little slice of Windows Live customized to fit my needs and making it easier than ever to get things done without worrying about all the machinery in the background making it happen!