Microsoft’s Office Apps have received another update based on user feedback. The popular online productivity suite has already exploded in popularity with Microsoft stating that 50 million people use Office Web Apps on SkyDrive and Hotmail.
Building on that popularity, Microsoft has added a new feature to the mix, the ability to co-author in the Word Web App on SkyDrive. This new feature allows you to work together using Skydrive to polish up content without having to leave your web browser. Microsoft states:
Building on the collaboration features already available in Word 2010 and Word for Mac 2011, co-authoring in the Word Web App on SkyDrive helps you collaborate with others on polished content without having to leave your web browser. Just sign into SkyDrive and you’re ready to get started!
Microsoft is bringing this collaboration tool to the consumers based on feedback they received. This update will allow for a more unified and connected workspace with your peers, even if you are not in the same location.
Microsoft also boasted in their blog post that they did more than just listen to feedback, but that they enhanced what they learned to build a more productive co-authoring tool. They state that “we read a lot of your comments, and watched, asked, and listened to how customers said they wanted to work together when working on Office documents. We discovered that expectations change based on the type of document and style of collaboration in play”.
You can learn more about how the co-authoring works in detail by visiting the Office blog where they go into intricate detail about how the process works. This update is one more step in making the online apps the complete end to end solution for not only productivity tools but also to collaborate with peers.