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  Microsoft testing prototype of Facebook-like social network
Time: 07:59 EST/12:59 GMT | News Source: InfoWorld | Posted By: Kenneth van Surksum

At the request of its SharePoint and Office product development teams, Microsoft 's Office Labs operation has created and is testing a prototype of an internal social network that can provide employees with feeds and updates about their colleagues.

Chris Pratley, general manager of Office Labs , is slated to disclose details of the prototype -- called TownSquare -- Thursday at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston. He spoke to Computerworld about the project, which was launched in January and has already been used by about 8,000 Microsoft employees.

With a layout that is strikingly similar to Facebook.com's (in which Microsoft invested $240 million in October 2007), TownSquare is fueled by enterprise news feeds that use Web services to query SharePoint for public information, such as promotions and company anniversaries, about an employee.

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#1 By 7390 (24.191.94.122) at 6/11/2008 10:31:47 AM
wow, cool, this is going to take off..this is coming at the right time. I am glad to see that Microsoft is ahead of the curve on these creative ideas. </sarcasm>

#2 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 6/11/2008 11:29:13 AM
#1, the perspective is business focused. It uses the beneficial concepts inherent to social networking, but adds things like, complete sentences, rational thought and thoughtfulness in general. These ideals are fused with relevant business information as presented in the form of finalized business intelligence products and appropriately faced toward the right audience - colleagues, trading partners, vendors, customer points of contact and external professionals like accountants, or tax consultants.

We baked very similar things into a business suite (ERP/MRP/BOM/PM/FA/HR/BI/BPM) solution we built for the SMB market. The idea was to make much more democratic, the use and distribution of information - where social networking principles were used to make meaningful connections inside and outside of a business.

#3 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 6/11/2008 11:53:49 AM
It's irrelevant, or at least, it will be soon enough. This is yet another MS "Me too!" effort that will go nowhere. A year from now, MS will kill it and any partners involved will get the shaft. For a prime example, check out the MSN Music fiasco.

#4 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 6/11/2008 12:06:41 PM
it isn't irrelevant to companies using it and bringing together all the people in and outside their businesses. For example, why shouldn't enterprise and project management SW have unique faces for each user? Why shouldn't a shared part of that experience include interactions, information, and communications with one's customer, accountant, or the coach of the user's child's football team? Why shouldn't these parts, whole, or in part, be easy to share and extend beyond any one application, user, or location?

While what we did is cool, it was harder, because there was less of a foundation upon which to build it. Ok, so there may be more tools and certainly a way to reach a much larger audience, great. That will not make this kind of evolution in how we apply software less usable and even if MS's initiative fails, the concepts behind it are sound. If they make it easier and less costly to develop and effectively extend this to a much larger audience, it'll be even better.

#5 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 6/11/2008 12:25:58 PM
MS could do some great things if they had the tenacity because they certainly have the resources. Unfortunately, like a lot of corporations these days, they're more concerned with short-term profit or market gains and perceived shareholder value instead of investing in longer-term projects whose benefits they can build on. Their current flailing, "throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks" tack gives them a perceived lack of stability (especially when they scuttle projects prematurely), and this in turn ensures that there is no confidence from the public in what they're doing.

#6 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 6/11/2008 12:39:09 PM
#5, That I agree with in many ways. I can however, understand how it happens. When yoiu have a lot going on and you have to continue to grow (or else) what is there to do? This is why Gates' vision was so important - he set clearly defined strategic goals in some cases and where he did, it worked out. "A computer on every desk and in every home..."

You set direction
You establish standards
You train and operate according to standards
You inspect
You reward and take corrective action based upon performance and adherence to standards
and the direction set
You get the heck out of and stay the heck out of the way of people "doing" things
You never take credit
You always take the blame - even when it isn't "your fault directly"
All failures are failures in leadership

I learned these things from great men kind enough to teach me (while they put up with my failures).

I think the vision has to change - whether MS sets that course, or not is not up to us.

Perhaps it should be: "Information in the form of products has to follow the person and the people around them - regardless of location and or device" - e.g., cloud computing is not about code bits in the cloud, but data bits existing within a weather system one can control.

#7 By 82766 (122.107.28.2) at 6/12/2008 6:57:29 AM
In regards to Microsoft's "social networking" ideas... has anyone seen the new TechNet forums etc? lots of extra "social networking" baked into the new TechNet and forum!

#8 By 92283 (142.32.208.233) at 6/12/2008 3:06:29 PM
I think Microsoft can afford to try things when their competitors spend billions on sites like YouTube ... and don't make any money off them.

"Eric Schmidt, the search giant's chief executive, said it "seemed obvious" that Google should be able to generate "significant amounts of money" from YouTube, on which hundreds of millions of videos are watched every day, but that as yet it hadn't figured out how to go about it."

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4120860.ece

#9 By 28801 (71.58.231.46) at 6/12/2008 6:44:01 PM
wrong thread...

This post was edited by rxcall on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 18:54.

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