Request: Microsoft Office Real-Time Collaboration

An open letter to the Microsoft Office team:

You have to produce ONE specific feature to secure your future.  If you do as I suggest, you will kneecap Google Docs and breath new life into MS Office.  Just one feature.  It may not be easy, but you have smart engineers and they can figure it out.

Feature: Multiple people need to edit documents from a network share at the same time and see live updates.

I’m talking about the entire Office Suite.  I don’t care about any other 500 features you have planned.  They are all bullshit.  There is only one thing that makes me want to use Google Spreadsheets or Etherpad instead of Office.  Multiple people can work on a document at the same time.  This is the killer app of the future.  Real-time collaboration.  As someone types I need to see it.

I know it’s hard.  Cry me a river.  You have thousands of people.  Move mountains.  Change the operating system.  Invent something.  Do whatever it takes.

If you fail to do this one feature, you will never take a positive step forward.  Consider yourself warned.

Love,

Glen

Help make this feature a reality
If anyone knows someone at Microsoft…pass the message along.  Maybe just click the “Tweet” button below.  Help yourself out by pressuring Microsoft.


Comments

2 responses to “Request: Microsoft Office Real-Time Collaboration”

  1. Word.

  2. Tom Quaile Avatar
    Tom Quaile

    You ask and Google responds.

    http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2010/03/google-may-become-more-office-friendly-with-docverse-buyout.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

    If Google does this before Microsoft that would be the coup of the decade.

Whatya think?