It's a real industry now: Microsoft Launches Soapbox

After watching from the sidelines for a year while MySpace was acquired and while YouTube went from 0 to 60, Microsoft has entered the game through its MSN Video division with their user-generated site, Soapbox.

In a suprisingly savvy move, Soapbox is billed as a public beta and open by invitation only. This is a surprising and refreshing play as most of the online media sites hang the 'Beta' or 'Preview' moniker but then don't limit access to the service. Or update their services very often.

While generally not a Microsoft fan, THR is optimistic that Soapbox will raise the bar for the online, user-generated content experience - both for publishers and viewers. One interesting technology note - Soapbox produced a cutesy video to promote the service. Said video is embedded on the Soapbox home page ... in Adobe's Flash. Not as a streaming Windows Media file.