Online Net Meeting

Microsoft is announcing today that it has integrated Facebook () and Windows Live Messenger () into Outlook, bringing the streams of millions of Facebook users into inboxes across the world.

Last year, Microsoft launched Outlook Social Connector, a plugin that syncs social networking feeds with your Outlook contacts, giving you immediate data on what they are doing and thinking. It started last year with LinkedIn () integration, but soon the company announced MySpace and Facebook were coming.

Today, Outlook completes the cycle with not only Facebook integration, but support for Windows Live Messenger as well. Not only that, but the company is releasing the plugin for Outlook 2003 and 2007 users as well, bringing Facebook, MySpace (), LinkedIn, and Windows Live Messenger to millions of business and personal inboxes worldwide.

Last week, we got a sneak peek at the new Outlook at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Here’s what you can expect from the new Facebook integration, as well some features that you can expect in the near future:

Facebook + Outlook = Realtime Contact Data

Facebook and Microsoft worked together to get the launch of Facebook’s integration in Outlook Social Connector right. Facebook’s Strategic Partner Manager Rick Armbrust told us that they worked closely with the Office team to make the experience more social. One of the things he immediately highlighted was the pulling of Facebook profile pictures into Outlook.

The entire experience is a step above the Outlook-LinkedIn integration, which itself was pretty strong. Not only does it pull Facebook profile photos so that you can associate a name to a face, but it pulls the news feeds of your contacts into your inbox. When you’re looking at someone’s email, you’ll also get a glance at their status updates, picture uploads and wall posts, among other activities.

When you combine that with LinkedIn, MySpace, Windows Live Messenger, and Outlook data, you get a very detailed history of your interaction with your contacts, as well as an at-a-glance look at their activities and interests. Knowing that a potential client just returned from a trip to Hawaii can be all that you need to have the upper hand against your competition.

Microsoft Group Product Manager Paco Contreras told us that there’s another new feature to the Facebook integration: realtime updates. Thanks to a new update to the social connector platform, also being released today, updates from your contacts will automatically be pushed to your inbox. There’s no need to refresh anything: new Facebook status updates will pop up in realtime within Outlook.

The Facebook integration does have limitations, though: except for friend requests, Outlook can only pull data from Facebook. There is no “liking” posts or updating your status via Outlook, at least right now. Microsoft says that the next step is to provide a richer social experience by integrating the ability to push data to other social networks, improving the look and feel of Outlook Social Connector, and adding other social networks from other regions.

The Social Inbox

Microsoft has known for a while that social technologies are going to dominate the web. That was made evident by its $240 million stake in Facebook and its many partnerships and attempts at social media (some of which have bombed).

However, Outlook Social Connector has always felt like one of the company’s smarter social media plays. Facebook’s Rich Armbrust probably put it best:

“What’s unique is that it’s bringing social elements and context from Facebook form your colleagues and your friends into the Outlook experience, which is pretty unique given that there are so many that use Outlook as their primary communiction tool.”

Email isn’t inherently a “social” experience (it’s not a one-to-many platform), and attempts at integrating social into the inbox (think Google Buzz) have mostly fallen flat. However, social data can be incredibly useful in the business world, especially when you need to understand what your client or colleague is thinking or doing right now. While we’d still love to see Twitter () integration in Outlook, Facebook is far larger and, in most cases, has far more useful information.

Microsoft’s also learned a few lessons from the privacy fiascos Facebook and Google () have undergone in recent months. Outlook will only pull data from emails connected to Facebook accounts. If your business email isn’t linked to your Facebook, your data stream won’t appear in Outlook Social Connector. It gives users a choice, although most people do choose to add their work emails to Facebook in order to join their company’s Facebook network.

If you want to learn more about the announcement, Microsoft has also released a short video articulating Outlook’s new features:

Facebook Outlook Social Connector Announcement Video

internet video collaboration, instant web meetings, atul abraham

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Microsoft Launches Outlook Facebook Integration [Exclusive]

You learn the most interesting things when you poke around in some of the arcane files that are included with Windows 7 beta releases. In the most recent build of Windows 7 that I’ve been able to examine, I’ve confirmed that Microsoft plans to release its next version of Office in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. That’s a detail that my colleague Mary Jo Foley didn’t discover in her December 2008 rundown of what we know about Office 14

The clues to an upcoming x64 Office release are hidden in an obscure XML file used by the Windows Easy Transfer utility, which transfers settings for Windows and selected applications from an old PC to a new one. In the official beta release of Windows 7 (finalized in December 2008), Migwiz.xml includes the same list of applications found in Windows Vista. But in post-beta builds, this file has been updated to include more modern programs.

Earlier today, as I was scanning through the file to assemble an updated list of applications that can be migrated to Windows 7, this heading caught my eye:

Directly underneath this block of code is a list of programs to be detected. It’s the same list of nine programs found under the Office 2003 and Office 2007 headings, except that the Office 14 section includes an extra “_x64” entry for each one. Here, see for yourself:

In addition, there are separate sections labeled “Office x86 detects” and “Office x64 detects”. Elsewhere in the file are sections that cover different upgrade scenarios. For Office 2003, there are three rule sets:

• Office2003to2007SettingsUpgrade
• Office2003to14SettingsUpgrade
• Office2003to14SettingsUpgrade_x64

Similarly, you can use the wizard to upgrade from Office 2007 to Office 14 or Office 14_x64.

The fact that this code is being baked into Windows 7 now suggests that the rumors of an early 2010 ship date for Office 14 are accurate. Having native 64-bit support for all members of the Office family is an extra bonus and welcome news.

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Next Office version to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit versions

Microsoft Word running inside a Web browser.

LOS ANGELES – After dragging its feet for years, Microsoft says it plans to offer Web-based versions of its Office programs that let people create and edit documents inside a browser.

The surprise move, announced here this morning, is a sharp change for one of the Redmond company’s oldest and most profitable franchises. Traditional versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and other programs dominate the market, and Microsoft has been reluctant to offer functional online counterparts — even as Google and other rivals have beaten it to the punch.

It’s part of Microsoft’s broader move toward online services, coming a day after the company announced plans for a new “cloud computing” platform, Windows Azure, that will let software developers create and deliver programs over the Internet from Microsoft’s data centers.

Taken together, the moves reflect a new era for Microsoft under the leadership of Ray Ozzie, the online services guru who has replaced Bill Gates as the company’s chief software architect.

However, the company says it’s not looking to abandon its traditional software businesses. Microsoft describes the Web-based Office applications as “lightweight” versions that aim to complement the standard Office programs without replacing them.

Microsoft says it will offer Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the OneNote note-taking application as Web applications. The company isn’t say when final versions will be made available in final form, except that they will come with the next wave of Office programs. Microsoft says it expects to conduct a private technical preview of the Office Web applications this fall.

An existing Microsoft offering, Office Live Workspace, offers online document sharing and collaboration, but without full-fledged authoring and editing capabilities.

The Web-based Office applications will come with an on-screen interface reminiscent of their PC-based counterparts, with a variation of the “ribbon” navigational menu that was introduced in the most-recent release of the traditional Office programs.

The company isn’t disclosing pricing or other specifics. The Web-based Office programs will be available to consumers through the existing Office Live service, which offers programs and services under both advertising- and subscription-based models. Microsoft says it will offer the applications to businesses through subscriptions and volume licensing agreements.

The programs are expected to be demonstrated this morning at the company’s Professional Developers Conference here. Also at the conference, Microsoft is giving the first detailed look at Windows 7, the next version of the company’s flagship PC operating system.

The Web-based Office applications will come with an on-screen interface reminiscent of their PC-based counterparts, with a variation of the “ribbon” navigational menu that was introduced in the most-recent release of the traditional Office programs. 

The company isn’t disclosing pricing or other specifics. The Web-based Office programs will be available to consumers through the existing Office Live service, which offers programs and services under both advertising- and subscription-based models. Microsoft says it will offer the applications to businesses through subscriptions and volume licensing agreements.

The programs are expected to be demonstrated this morning at the company’s Professional Developers Conference here. Also at the conference, Microsoft is giving the first detailed look at Windows 7, the next version of the company’s flagship PC operating system.

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Microsoft taking Office to the browser