You would think that Microsoft’s initiative on Monday to open up the beta testing to the wide public, absolutely free of charge, is enough to raise interest in its latest creation: Microsoft Live Workspace, an online service combining the Office experience with flexible, intuitive service offerings.

They didn’t seem to think so, and doubled the announcement with a $100,000 sweepstakes for the U.S.-based users, awarding more than 30,000 prizes each day until May 11, 2008. All you have to do is register to the Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta testing, and you’re in for the prizes competition, which includes sweet rewards, such as Xbox 360 Elite Video Game Systems, Samsung Blackjack Ii Smartphone devices, 30GB Zune players, Expedia hotel and package coupons, and, of course, Microsoft Office Professional 2007.

 The sweepstakes officially started on March 4, 2008 and will consist of 10 Prize Periods, at the end of which there will be one Overall Prize Period Drawing and seven Daily Drawings. Microsoft also offers bonus entry opportunities for uploading a document to Office Live workspace or by sharing a document on Office Live Workspace. The $100,000 cash grand prize will be given away on May 15, 2008.

Since the October opening of the beta testing – for a limited number of users only – Microsoft Office Live Workspace also started a collaboration with various universities and colleges across the U.S., meant not only to increase feedback on the service, but also to enhance IT collaboration and sharing experiences among students or within a classroom.

“Microsoft Office Live Workspace combines all the amazing ease of use that you expect from Microsoft Office with the convenience and security of Web-based storage,” said Matthew Jett Hall, assistant vice-chancellor, information technology services and associate chief information architect, enterprise infrastructure at Vanderbilt University in a statement. “The best of both worlds allows you to collaborate, edit and share in ways that previously never existed. This is a great execution of a wonderful concept.”

The news service addresses to the 500 million Office users worldwide and is directed towards responding to customer demands, which tend to include online activities in everyday life. Microsoft Office Live Workspace will save over 1,000 Office documents and grant accessibility via the Internet.