Microsoft is shutting down Start.com, the predecessor of Windows Live, next week

Microsoft plans to officially shut down Start.com, and starting next week, users who visit Start.com will be redirected to Live.com. From Sanaz, lead program manager for Microsoft Live Search. Ahari confirmed the news.

Sart.com is an experimental Microsoft project, launched in February 2005, using the popular AJAX technology, was once a "preview" version of Microsoft's online search service, part of Microsoft's "Sandbox" project. Many of the site's features now end up on the Live.com front page.