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Microsoft’s new Fluid Office document is Google Docs on steroids

Maple

Maple

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,732
This is pretty cool. It seems they're moving away from creating and sharing documents, and allowing the Fluid framework to be installed in any program, which allows people to edit Excel/Word/Powerpoint content within any app. I guess it's kind of like specific Office widgets within apps that update in real time and can be edited by anyone with access to them from any application.

Microsoft is creating a new kind of Office document. Instead of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, the company has created Lego blocks of Office content that live on the web. The tables, graphs, and lists that you typically find in Office documents are transforming into living, collaborative modules that exist outside of traditional documents.

Microsoft calls its Lego blocks Fluid components, and they can be edited in real time by anyone in any app. The idea is that you could create things like a table without having to switch to multiple apps to get it done, and the table will persist on the web like a Lego block, free for anyone to use and edit.

Microsoft's Fluid Framework sounds a lot like Google Docs, but it's actually Google Docs on steroids. Microsoft is so confident it has built the future of productivity, it's now open-sourcing its Fluid Framework so the rest of the world can help shape what it has created. Some Office.com users will even be able to start getting a taste of this Fluid future in the coming months.
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At the heart of the Fluid Framework is Microsoft's attempt to move away from the decades-old idea of creating and saving documents. Typically, you find the app that lets you create a table, chart, or list of tasks, and then you make a document, save it, and share it so people can contribute collaboratively. That's how Google Docs works, allowing multiple people to jump in and edit a document in real time. It's something we keep seeing in new web-based apps, and it helped make Docs a success at a time when Microsoft was still focused on dedicated desktop-focused apps.

Microsoft is now trying to meet Office users right where they're working on daily tasks. The idea is to be able to create these Fluid components in any app and then immediately share them without switching to a dedicated app in the first place. Fluid is designed to make those tables, charts, and lists always feel alive and editable, no matter where you create them and regardless of how you share and copy them into other apps. Instead of getting a static and dull chart you copied from Excel, you'll get a chart that can be edited anywhere you paste it, and you'll see everyone making edits as they happen. That might be in the middle of an email chain, in a chat app like Microsoft Teams, or even third-party apps eventually.
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fluidcomponent.gif


Microsoft_FluidFramework_Gif_B_1_.gif




www.theverge.com

Microsoft’s new Fluid Office document is Google Docs on steroids

Fluid is Microsoft’s big push for entirely new documents on the web.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com
 
Komo

Komo

Info Analyst
Verified
Jan 3, 2019
7,110
Honestly can't wait for the Windows10 redesign as well.
 
MrCibb

MrCibb

Member
Dec 12, 2018
5,349
UK
Looks awesome. Can already think of how this'll be fantastic to have at my workplace, too. Thumbs up, MS.
 
No_Style

No_Style

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,795
Ottawa, Canada
Finally! This makes so much sense and I love it.

Blue Skied And Clear said:
I'm really ignorant when it comes to this kind of thing, but it seems like a game changer to me.

Would this basically replace PDF files?
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Nah. There will always be instances where people want to lock down a document. This just allows people to create charts, graphs, and other items and allow them to be reusable elements. So no more going to Excel to create a table, then linking it into your Word document, or copying it into Powerpoint.
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
60,124
Finally. MS has been dragging it's feet with collaborative stuff. GDocs is just so ahead.
 
Excuse me

Excuse me

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,020
I tried the preview couple of months back and it was bit sucky. I could only construct very simple table with it, think word table but without all the tools of word. But the idea is cool and some of the videos from MS Press were really impressive (Ignite 2019?). Can't wait it to actually work with Word and Excel. Once this works with Excel I'm so freaking happy. People won't mess up my functions >:)
 
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