Somehow this just skirted right past Facebook themselves during their Modern Messaging System event. No worries though, Microsoft’s Office blog has got Facebook covered with their own announcement that Office Web Apps will be tightly integrated with the new Facebook messages.
According to the official blog post, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files can be viewed within Facebook with just one click. As an avid supporter of Office, this makes my life that much better, but is also more vital than I think most people realize.
Facebook is an addiction amongst college students. I honestly don’t think you can be considered a true college student if you aren’t on Facebook, it’s a blasphemous concept. We also like to share our files, it is not uncommon for me to get a Facebook message from someone in my class asking if I can send them or view a file, usually in an Office format, for various projects. Most of these files don’t need to be edited, and if they do, they just need some light editing. With Microsoft Office Web Apps integration, I can cut open opening my big and bulky Office applications by at least a half.
Thank god.
As much as I love Office, I do hate having to open it on the very regular basis I am required to do so.
I am still curious as to how Facebook completely left this out, it isn’t mentioned anywhere on Facebook that I am aware of, but it is understandable. The new Facebook Messages is a huge product announcement for Facebook, and Office Web Apps integration is on the bottom of the list of feature announcements for today. Still, there will definitely be a large segment of the Facebook ecosystem that will appreciate this feature, whether the population realizes it or not.
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