The Socialization of Microsoft

In their next version of their Office suite, Microsoft has redefined its product to encompass the growing global demand for collaborative and social features. Microsoft Office 2010 will bring competition to Google Docs and Zoho, which enable users to access their documents from anywhere. These days it’s critical to cater to users’ lifestyles, which don’t always entail being tied down to a desk anymore.

The latest version of Microsoft allows users to save PowerPoint 2010 presentations as movies. Before users had to use additional tools to accomplish this, but now videos can be saved in multiple resolutions: Computers or HD screens, Internet or DVD, Portable media devices, or Screenshot. PowerPoint 2010 also allows users to create a URL so that users can share and broadcast presentations to anywhere in the world.

In Microsoft Word 2010, users are able to co-author documents, as Microsoft makes collaboration an important aspect of Office 2010. Users are capable of comparing and combining different versions of documents, while also blocking specific authors or restricting editing. In addition, with Word 2010 users can share documents as PDFs and XPS.

Getting onboard with the social media craze, Office 2010 allows users to share over Windows Live or Facebook. In an effort to compete with Google Docs, Microsoft designed Office 2010 to enable users to upload and share their documents to Skydrive and edit them from a browser with no need of having the Office suit installed. Microsoft did this through the implementation of Office Web Apps. The company recently teamed with Facebook too and anncouned docs.com, allowing users to create and share office documents with their friends on Facebook.

Outlook 2010 features being able to keep track of your contacts’ social activities on services like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, by showing you their recent status updates.

Given how socially connected things are increasingly becoming, these added features are practical that many are likely to find useful. For a more in-depth look in Microsoft Office 2010, or for a preview of screenshots of the different programs, click here.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member, Trish Wyatt.