3 ms·

Before people jump on the "M$ Sucks" Bandwagon, please read the About page [1] and note that this is a Research Project. It is not intended to be a competitor t

Before people jump on the "M$ Sucks" Bandwagon, please read the About page [1] and note that this is a Research Project. It is not intended to be a competitor to Facebook, Twitter, and such, but an experiment as to how social search can be used to enhance learning and education. [1] http://www.so.cl/about/faq http://www.so.cl/about/faq

kshatrea 14y ago
On Techmeme, one of the first articles linked to is that of Robert Scoble. I know MS is an easy target, but I really feel taking such potshots at your former employer, especially when you pride yourself on being a tech dilettante and should clearly know better, is unwarranted. Of course, my personal opinion is that this is an interesting project and will hopefully lead to something.
- shareme 14y ago
  RS is not tech but a pretend Journalist pretending that PR is a tech article..
jonnathanson 14y ago
Perhaps, but you have to admit that it's a bit convenient to wrap oneself in the shroud of "research experiment" when launching a public-facing service or application. If the service takes off, MS can drop the "experiment" description. If it falls flat, they can rally behind it and claim plausible deniability over the fact that so.cl was ever truly in the social networking arms race. It may indeed be an experiment, or at least have begun in the lab. But consider that it's got the consumer-facing web presence of a full product/service rollout. There are plenty of ways to get a true experiment, or learning tool, widely disseminated without making it appear to be a full-fledged product launch. At our most charitable, we could probably describe the insistence on the experimental nature of so.cl as bet hedging. [I say all this as just about the last person who wants to hop onto an anti-MS bandwagon. I bear no ill will toward Microsoft in general, or so.cl specifically. In fact, I wish them both the best of luck in this endeavor. I think the world could use more options in social networking.]
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- untog 14y ago
  Perhaps, but you have to admit that it's a bit convenient to wrap oneself in the shroud of "research experiment" when launching a public-facing service or application. Sure. But I don't think it's that rare- Apple has wrapped Siri in a "beta" tag to basically excuse any and all failures of the product. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but making a beta product the key feature in a new product (and advertising on TV accordingly) seemed like a slightly dishonest move to me.
sneak 14y ago
Google Plus is a research project into the question of whether or not Google can monetize the social web.
johncoltrane 14y ago
Is "Research Project" poised to become the new "Beta"?

kshatrea 14y ago

On Techmeme, one of the first articles linked to is that of Robert Scoble. I know MS is an easy target, but I really feel taking such potshots at your former employer, especially when you pride yourself on being a tech dilettante and should clearly know better, is unwarranted. Of course, my personal opinion is that this is an interesting project and will hopefully lead to something.

shareme 14y ago
RS is not tech but a pretend Journalist pretending that PR is a tech article..

jonnathanson 14y ago

Perhaps, but you have to admit that it's a bit convenient to wrap oneself in the shroud of "research experiment" when launching a public-facing service or application. If the service takes off, MS can drop the "experiment" description. If it falls flat, they can rally behind it and claim plausible deniability over the fact that so.cl was ever truly in the social networking arms race. It may indeed be an experiment, or at least have begun in the lab. But consider that it's got the consumer-facing web presence of a full product/service rollout. There are plenty of ways to get a true experiment, or learning tool, widely disseminated without making it appear to be a full-fledged product launch. At our most charitable, we could probably describe the insistence on the experimental nature of so.cl as bet hedging. [I say all this as just about the last person who wants to hop onto an anti-MS bandwagon. I bear no ill will toward Microsoft in general, or so.cl specifically. In fact, I wish them both the best of luck in this endeavor. I think the world could use more options in social networking.]

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
untog 14y ago
Perhaps, but you have to admit that it's a bit convenient to wrap oneself in the shroud of "research experiment" when launching a public-facing service or application. Sure. But I don't think it's that rare- Apple has wrapped Siri in a "beta" tag to basically excuse any and all failures of the product. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but making a beta product the key feature in a new product (and advertising on TV accordingly) seemed like a slightly dishonest move to me.

sneak 14y ago

Google Plus is a research project into the question of whether or not Google can monetize the social web.

johncoltrane 14y ago

Is "Research Project" poised to become the new "Beta"?