Bill wakes up
Microsoft to Debut Real-Time Tools
“You could say it’s one of the big frontiers that Office is moving ahead on,” he said.
Wow. AOL 1.0 comes to Microsoft. OK that is a stretch but what makes this a frontier? This “real time collaboration” has been happening with common internet tools for over a decade. Arguably it was IM that sped things along but how much “real time colloboration” can there be in an Office document? I can see the occasional mulling over something together but that’s not too often a requirement.
The biggest reason to chuckle is that it just sounds like more grand scheming at the promiseware level. A bit like Longhorn.
The software will include upgrades of products that have been available for years, as well as some new offerings. It allows users to write messages in chat groups, watch real-time videos at their computer terminals, receive phone messages delivered by e-mail, edit Word documents, present PowerPoint displays, examine spreadsheets and conduct instant online polls simultaneously with more than 1,000 people worldwide.
Update 03.11.05:
Microsoft buys Groove Networks
Mitch pinged me about Groove and it’s potential. I think this sort of seals my opinion, at least one facet. Groove is built upon closed platforms. That MSFT bought them speaks to how intertwined they are with Windows. That days before Bill Gates was telegraphing this announcement stating that Office would be on the frontier of real time collaboration when in reality I am unsure what this would buy us beyond tools we have now.
Blackboard is a collaboration environment, or could be. Instant messaging is universally used by our students and moreso by faculty/staff. Groove’s power lie in the off-line capabilities that alerts one to changes or other communication. It’s a push rather than a pull. Push died once, will this “real-time collaboration” push die the same death for similar reasons?