Microsoft’s Office Live Workspace goes beta – but still no document editing

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Wednesday, 05 March 2008

Page 2 of 3 Microsoft says that Office Live Workspace is aimed at more than just the business community, and since “the unveiling of the private beta last October, hundreds of thousands of people have signed up for the beta, and thousands from the pre-registration have been invited to provide feedback on the service”. In a nod to the world of education, Microsoft says that the “Office team has also been working with a number of U.S. colleges and universities, including Florida Community College at Jacksonville, University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Vanderbilt University, where it is being used by participating students, faculty members and administrators to enhance sharing and collaboration within the classroom and among student team and extracurricular projects”. Matthew Jett Hall, assistant vice chancellor, information technology services and associate chief information architect, enterprise infrastructure at Vanderbilt University said that “Both in the classroom and in our IT operations, we have tried various forms of collaboration. Microsoft Office Live Workspace combines all the amazing ease of use that you expect from Microsoft Office with the convenience and security of Web-based storage. The best of both worlds allows you to collaborate, edit and share in ways that previously never existed. This is a great execution of a wonderful concept.” Another converted fan of the service, Jason Liu, a senior biomedical engineering student at Duke University, said that: “Office Live Workspace is a lifesaver. It has not only helped me get organized but also had tremendous impact on how I access and share my documents”. “With this service, keeping control of document versions as I work on my engineering research project from different computers is so much easier. I no longer have to worry about carrying a thumb drive or e-mailing files to myself, and the integration with Microsoft Office just lets me open and save files directly from and to my workspace, so there was hardly a learning curve. Access to my documents from anywhere and the ability to easily share information using Office Live Workspace — whether in the lab, at my office on campus or at my apartment — is truly improving my computing experience”, enthused Liu. Microsoft explains in their press release explains that “Office Live Workspace also represents a critical collaboration component of the Microsoft Live@edu initiative”. “In addition to Office Live Workspace, the Live@edu program offers students and alumni 5 GB e-mail inboxes, 5 GB of password-protected online storage space, shared calendars, blogging tools, and access to these services on a mobile phone, all at no costs to the schools or students”. “The collaboration opportunity afforded by Office Live Workspace is important to allowing students and faculty to work together online. Since Microsoft Live@edu launched in March 2005, more than 600 schools in 40 countries have chosen the Live@edu suite".  So, what is the fabulous competition that Microsoft has unveiled to get US users excited about Office Live Workspace, something that we here in Australia sadly can’t enter (but any US readers may well be interested in)? Please read onto page 3. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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