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You are here: Home / Archives for Facebook

Microsoft Docs – Microsoft Office 2010 Web Apps + Facebook > Google Docs ?

published on 27/04/2010 by Remo Knops

Last week Facebook announced the release of Microsoft Docs -a collaborative project of Microsoft and Facebook- during the Facebook F8 conference.

In addition to the Microsoft Docs introduction of Lili Cheng, General Manager of FUSE Labs, you can read the following description of Microsoft Docs on the Fuse Labs website: 

“Discover. Create. Share.

Now you can discover, create, and share Microsoft Office documents with your Facebook friends. Built using Microsoft Office 2010 – Docs for Facebook provides the best possible document service for the Facebook environment.

Docs gives you a great, flexible social–productivity experience. You can decide who to share with… from privately creating, editing, and collaborating around docs, all the way to public sharing on the web. You can upload or start doc online, have someone help you edit it, incorporate feedback, and then share it with the world. Docs can be viewed and edited directly within a web browser – or, with a single click, you can edit them more richly and powerfully through the Microsoft Office software on your PC or Mac.

Seamless integration with Facebook means that the service is all about sharing your documents. Finally docs can be friendly too!”

 

Microsoft Docs – Some hands-on experiences

On the Microsoft Docs website you can find two video’s: (1) Welcome to Docs – Video Tutorial and (2) Getting Started for Docs – Video Tutorial. These video’s should give you a basic impression of the capabilities of Microsoft Docs. 

Furthermore I would like to recommend a Microsoft Docs hands-on tour article published on PCWorld by JR Raphael, a  contributing editor @ PCWorld and and the co-founder of eSarcasm. The article consists of pictures of the different steps of the document lifecycle.

Matt Singley, Senior Director of Social Media Strategy for M80, the leading provider of social media marketing and digital publicity services to Fortune 500 brands, has written an excellent article about Microsoft Docs as well and has some interesting feedback to share:

  • “You can visit the site and download existing homepage docs, but unfortunately full participation is still limited to beta users that have received an invite code. That means that until you are in the beta test group, you cannot actually upload anything…too bad.
  • I should also mention that I tried this site in four browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Chrome. It worked great in all of them except Chrome initially; I got a compatibility error in the Google-born browser.”

 

 

Microsoft Docs vs. Google Docs

Just like Matt Singley and Jeremiah Owyang, Partner, Customer Strategy @ Altimeter Group  and Columnist for Forbes CMO Network, I expected this result from the strategic Microsoft Facebook partnership as an attempt to compete with the Google Docs service.

Mary-Jo Foley, Editor from the All About Microsoft Blog on ZDNet, describes Microsoft Docs as “a version of Office Web Apps tailored for Facebook users“, while she furthermore states in the ZDNet article:

“Office Web Apps is going to be available to different sets of customers in different ways, Microsoft officials have said. Business users who want to run them inside a company on their own servers and/or via a Microsoft-hosted server will be required to pay some still-unknown subscription fee.”

Therefore I do think that it is fair to conclude that the Microsoft Docs vs Google Docs comparison is clearly wrong, since this is a different product offering aimed at a different target audience. I would decribe Microsoft Docs as a derivative of the Microsoft Office Web Apps that serve the more “general” market. I think it would make more sence to make a comparison between these two services !

Pat Kinsel from FUSE Labs also addresses the comparison with Google Docs in the Microsoft Docs overview on the website:

“There are other services out there that let you create and collaborate on documents.  And there are others that support sharing, discussing and discovering documents.  But what makes Docs special is it’s the only service that supports the complete document lifecycle.  That coupled with seamless integration of Microsoft Office 2010 and Facebook makes Docs the best possible document service for the Facebook environment.”

  

Overall thoughts and wrap-up

Microsoft and Facebook have already sucessfully teamed-up in the past, for example with the development of Facebook for Windows Phone that brings the Facebook experience to your Windows Mobile powered smartphone. 

If you think about Microsoft Docs from a more abstract level, than it is the combination of the world’s leading Office suite with one of the most powerful global social networks. A clever combination that might result in a new market opportunities for both Microsoft and Facebook. However I’m trying to think a little more about the business- and revenue model behind, mainly because of the currently advertising driven Facebook network.

John Obeto, Microsoft MVP and owner of Absolutely Windows, proposed an integrsting question in this context: “Will Facebook expose the contents of the docs on docs.com to advertisers?“ Are revnues mainly created on the continued advertising model with the resulting yes answer to the question above, or will Microsoft simply get a license fee for leveraging the Microsoft Office Web Apps ?? Remark also the quote from the Mary-Jo Foley article that Microsoft Office Web Apps will be available in different ways to different sets of customers.

Business users might use the more traditional Microsoft Office Web Apps as an extention of the Microsoft Office 2010 software on the workstations and notebooks, while I wouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft Docs, as a more consumer oriented offering, become part of the well known Windows Live bundle.

However these are just some thoughts and with the current information available there are no insights in the mid- and longterm goals of this start-up project. Furthermore the comparison of Microsoft Docs and Google Docs is clearly wrong, mainly due to the derivative character of Microsoft Docs. In order to complete the wrap-up I would love to hear your thoughts and invite you to sign-up for the beta of Microsoft Docs. Twelve of my friends did also sign-up as you can see in the screenshot above.

 

UPDATE

Takeshi Numoto, Corporate Vice President, Office Product Management Group, just published the article “Cloud creates new opportunities for Office: thoughts on Docs.com for Facebook” with his thoughts about- and the explorative nature of the Microsoft Docs approach.

  

 

About Microsoft Fuse Labs

“FUSE Labs works in partnership with product and research teams to ideate, develop, and deliver new social, real-time, and media-rich experiences for home and work. FUSE Labs experiences give users new ways to create, connect and collaborate with the people, information and ideas that matter to them.”

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Open Innovation, Windows Tagged With: Facebook, Google Docs, Microsoft Docs, Microsoft Office 2010, Office 2010 Web Apps

CTIA 2009: Microsoft announces partners in Windows Marketplace for Mobile and more.

published on 31/03/2009 by Remo Knops

During the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Windows Mobile 6.5 was announced, however not much information was revealed about the second service: Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Just befor the start of CTIA 2009 Microsoft has a lot of new things to announce:

  1. More details on Windows Marketplace for Mobile, 
  2. Individual customization of the Windows Phone,
  3. New ways to connect with friends and family (social networking).

This article looks at al the three key topics in more detail, complemented with some early thoughts.

marketplace_list_240px     marketplace_operator_240px 

1.  Windows Marketplace for Mobile

The screenshots above provide a good idea how the Windows Marketplace for  Mobile will look like. The press  release provides a list a of top application developers who commited to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile program. Personally it is good to see such an extensive list, and there are really great developers on this list, which means quality on-board !!

“Companies representing the top-selling categories of mobile applications today signed on to be among the first to offer applications through Windows Marketplace for Mobile. They include AccuWeather.com., The Associated Press, CNBC, Developer One Mobile Software, EA Mobile, Facebook, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Handmark, Ilium Software Inc., Jeyo Inc., Kinoma, LiteScape, Magmic Games, Melodis Corp., MySpace, Namco Networks, Netflix, Pandora, PhatWare Corp., Resco s.r.o., ShoZu Inc., Sling Media Inc., SBSH Mobile Software, Spb Software, Web Information Solutions Inc. and Zagat Survey.” [ref01]

However the Windows Marketplace for Mobile seems to be announced -at leat according to the press release- for the next generation of Windows Phone, which simply means Windows Mobile 6.5 devices. Personally I think this is the wrong decision, because the Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 userbase is large, while Windows Mobile 6.5 will be on relative few devices by the end of the year. Windows Marketplace for Mobile should be a downloadable application, that is backwards compatible with Windows Mobile 6.

“Resulting applications will provide new and unique gaming, social networking, media, utility and personal productivity experiences for the next generation of Windows phones.” [ref01]

Finally an interesting option is that Mobile Operators can partner with Microsoft on the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The operator can get access to a specific (branded) set of software titels from the whole population of titels on the Marketplace. Although I live in the Netherlands I won a Samsung BlackJack II, which is fully loaded with AT&T custom software. I hope that throught partnering the amount of this specific software is limited so that end-users can add their own prefered software titles.

 

isaacm_home_240px     isaacm_start_240px

2. Customized Themes for Windows Mobile 6.5

On the current Windows Mobile devices it is sometimes tricky to personalize the device in terms graphics.  Apple iPhone, Google Android, Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile all serve a specific set of customers. The buying process of a mobile device is becoming more and more comperable with buying a car:  “an emotional purchase”. Microsoft takes the personal representation, customization and individualization of a Windows Phone to the next level !

“Through new partnerships with the Design Museum London and Council of Fashion Designers of America, Microsoft will offer a variety of free* designer themes to help people express their personal style on Windows phones. Microsoft today announced Mizrahi as the first in a series of designers to create exclusive themes, including color palettes and wallpaper.” [ref01]

The Mizrahi designs are shown in the screenshots above.

“In addition, the new Theme Generator will provide people with yet another way to personalize their Windows phone. The Theme Generator, available at http://www.windowsmobile.com later this year, will enable Windows phone users to select pictures from their PC to set as background images, as well as choose colors to personalize their navigation bar, scroll bar and highlighted text. Once finished, their personal theme will be sent to their phone.” [ref01]

This theme generator is a very cool tool to easily personalize your device, and could be combined with the MyPhone Service I wrote about earlier this year, or other services. However currently it seems like the Theme Generator will only support Windows Mobile Professional devices, and not Windows Mobile Standard devices. It’s a fair decision since the whole process of customizing a skinning is totally different, which means two different products and two different development cycles.

 

facebook_profile_240px     facebook_photo_240px

3.  Social networking and more 

I think the booming of social networking doesn’t need any further explenation.  Screenshots of the new Facebook application are shown above. Microsoft did also three announcements in the social networking area:

“Windows Mobile users will be able to engage and experience some of the most popular global social networks right from their Windows phone, including Facebook, MySpace and Windows Live.

  • Microsoft has created a new Facebook application, available for Windows phones for free* in April, that makes it easy for people to capture video on their phone and upload it to Facebook.
  • A new MySpace application, available for free* this summer, gives Windows phone customers real-time access to their global MySpace network. LG Electronics Inc. will preload the MySpace application on its Windows phones.
  • Microsoft also announced that Windows Live for Mobile will be available for free download this week for customers in 25 languages. Windows Live for Mobile is the company’s mobile suite of Internet services designed specifically to take advantage of the Windows Mobile platform. It includes mobile versions of Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft Live Search and enhanced photo upload capabilities.” [ref01]

The Facebook application will be compatible with Windows Mobile 6.1 and higher. Within the Live services there is some additional good news on the Hotmail-front.

“The company also will launch a new beta version of Windows Live Hotmail available through a mobile Web browser. The release includes a new and improved user interface, navigation enhancements for touch-screen devices, the ability to see full HTML pages within e-mail messages and a new search feature that enables people to find important e-mail messages more easily.” [ref01] 

 

Some personal thoughts

At first I simply CAN’T understand the business reasoning why the Windows Marketplace for Mobile isn’t Windows Mobile 6.0 (and higher) compatible. I had the chance to use the Google Android G1 with the linked Android Marketplace. There I became aware how easy and convenient it is to search for, download and install top applications from one central place without accessing each developers website. This ease of use is also applicable to the CURRENT userbase, since not everyone is an early-adopter or geek buying the latest device.

It is a cool trend to see large companies hooking up with designers from the fashion sector, like HP did for the Vivienne Tam edition of the HP Mini 1000 netbook. The theme generator can become a very cool feature, since sometimes it is not easy to create a theme for your Windows Mobile device.  Furthermore it is a unique service, which no other mobile platform offers (to my knowledge).

Finally social networking is becoming more and more important. And in line with the strategy of using software or services on your pc, in the cloud and on you mobile device, it’s good to see Microsoft developing on this front. Special interest has the Facebook application, as well as the Windows Live Messenger. I like the idea that these programs are offered via download, and can be installed on any device (if compatible of course). This concept should also be applied to IE6 for Mobile, which currently only is available pre-loaded in the Palm Treo Pro ROM. To get your applications out to the large public, your business model needs to outperform competition …

I’m looking forward to the keynote of Mobile Entertainment & Devices President Robbie Bach @ CTIA 2009. Hopefully we can see some very nice live demo’s of the applications and services addressed in this article.

 

Reference list

  1. MICROSOFT PRESSPASS:  Microsoft gains support for next generation Windows Phones
  2. THEUNWIRED:  ROADMAP: Microsoft gains support for next generation Windows Phones
  3. ENGADGET MOBILE:  Microsoft announces Windows Marketplace partners, tweaked policies, designer WinMo 6.5 themes

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Windows Phone Tagged With: Facebook, Mihzrahi, MySpace, SPB Softwarehouse, Window Live, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Marketplace for Mobile

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