3 ms·
I have to imagine that this is part of a larger plan to rope people into an MS ecosystem by getting folks to use useful utilities one at a time. I can think of
by jordanpg 12y ago
I have to imagine that this is part of a larger plan to rope people into an MS ecosystem by getting folks to use useful utilities one at a time. I can think of another company that did this a few years back with disparate utilities: Google. Recall gmail, Picasa, Reader, Maps, etc. Standalone in the early 2000s and now if you use one, you likely use them all.
Also, a pretty unsubtle rebranding campaign: "Made with love by Microsoft Research FUSE Labs"??
- stormbrew 12y ago> Recall gmail, Picasa, Reader, Maps, etc. Standalone in the early 2000s and now if you use one, you likely use them all. I don't think I know anyone who uses 'them all' even from this small list. Of course, Reader doesn't even exist anymore. And I know no one who uses picasa as far as I know. People use gmail and maps, but not really as integrated components or because of their use of anything else in the google ecosystem. I mean yes, I agree that this is a very google-ish strategy, but I also don't think it's really driven a lot of cross-app use. And when they tried to push G+ through that channel people screamed bloody murder at it.
- vertex-four 12y agoPicasa doesn't exist any more as a standalone product - its backend is just what you use if you upload a photo to G+, or share a photo from an Android phone, these days.
- Scuds 12y agoGroup within MS research, which runs more or less independent of MS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FUSE_Labs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FUSE_Labs http://fuse.microsoft.com/ http://fuse.microsoft.com/ not really branding as it is a one-off "what if we..." toy application