I just picked up a story by Pamela Parker over at ClickZ News announcing that Microsoft is releasing its classified ads project once called "Fremont" but now called Windows Live Expo to U.S. users today. Microsoft expects to launch an open beta to users nationwide at expo.live.com this afternoon.

"Microsoft hopes that its approach of tying classifieds to social networks allows it to differentiate its product in an increasingly crowded market," Pamela reports. Windows Live Expo will compete with recently launched Google Base as well as aggregators Edgeio, Oodle and Indeed, all of whom look unseat those who currently dominate the market including Craig's List and eBay.

"What sets Windows Live Expo apart is that people can set their own search parameters for goods and services. They can define their own marketplace universe," said Garry Wiseman, product unit manager for Windows Live Expo at Microsoft, in a statement.

Users will be able to see ads from people in their social network or search geographically such as by a radius of miles surrounding a certain zip code.

Finally Pamela informs us that this release is tied into Microsoft's instant messenger application and alerts service, but is not yet integrated with the MSN Spaces blog service.