Comments on: Microsoft and Facebook Unveil Docs, but Why?

By: Shawn Berg

Shawn Berg — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:00:47 +0000

The only use I see for this is school projects. Even then, most students probably don't want that in their news feed. Especially if other students who are working on similar projects can see it. Maybe the privacy controls will handle this. I guess we'll wait and see.

By: Mighty Guru

Mighty Guru — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:18:12 +0000

I'm not sure if the author "gets it". Maybe he doesn't have kids. If there are no uses for Office outside of work, why so many people have it on their home computers?

My high school son does a lot of school projects where he researches the problem with his friends and summarizes results in a PPT presentation. They already collaborate using Facebook. For them, DOCS.COM is a blessing. My wife volunteers at the same school to organize meetings. They send around BY EMAIL a signup sheet who brings what formatted as an Excel spreadsheet. Merging all email responses is a hassle. Online spreadsheet is the solution. And if I want to share a cooking recipe for that Christmas cake, what is a better way than a simple Word document, that allows me to put together a description and a picture.

These are all valid examples how DOCS.COM can be used to enhance social interactions within the context of Facebook. Yes, people share pictures more often than cooking recipes, but at the end they do both. As for work, well, Facebook indeed may not be the best place. Office 2010 didn’t launch yet, but we know from the beta that it will offer a similar integration of Web Apps with the corporate SharePoint servers.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:14:02 +0000

They want your information. Stupid monkey people will fall for it.

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By: That Guy

That Guy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:09:58 +0000

Facebook... just stop it. Seriously.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:30:58 +0000

It sounds like they're moving into Google territory. They already announced their own full email service, and this looks like continued momentum in that direction (like you said above re: Google Docs).

By: Brandon Setter

Brandon Setter — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:31:08 +0000

Interesting idea no doubt, but I really can't see talking the people in my office into using Facebook for "work".

Facebook has been a place to have fun and share for so long that doing the office-ish tasks that are usually associated with job responsibilities are unlikely going to end up on Facebook.

That could be changed if Facebook someday offers an email service and project management, calendar, etc... You could do all of your client interaction, staff events, collaboration etc. through Facebook - I could see that. I actually think it would be easier than email. I mean I'm already Friends with most, if not all of my clients. I could always make a company Facebook acct. if I wanted "work" separate from my personal life.

All seems plausible... I could see "work" getting done on FB if the conditions are right.