New Microsoft Facebook app allows IT professionals to use Office via social media

4/23/2010 8:02 AM

While the attention of most of the tech world's pundits was focused on Microsoft's Office Web Apps as a possible competitor to Google Docs, a new partnership with Facebook called Microsoft Docs arrived with relatively little build-up.

The system allows the integration of Facebook friends into document creation and sharing in much the same way as Google contacts in Docs, but experts like Zack Whittaker at ZDNet say that "with Microsoft sharing a slimmed down, online and free version of the world's most popular office suite, only to network and connect with the world's largest social network, has in effect killed Google Docs."

The timing of Microsoft's release may well be related to the recent roll-out of significant new updates to Google Docs - including "improved editing and formatting, a faster, more useful spreadsheet and new collaborative drawing software," according to Computer World's Preston Gralla.

Regardless of which tech giant wins the day, the trend toward interoperability and cloud-based work environments for enterprise software is an undeniable one, and IT professionals hoping to stay relevant need to keep up with the times.

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