For a second I thought it would be some kind of editor vim style but Microsoft made. But no, just an other photo app. Can you still generate any revenue out of this kind of app in 2014? I feel like the market is pretty dense already, between dropbox, instagram, flickr ... plenty of apps already in the landscape, why an other?
Microsoft Xim
21–30 of 114 posts
Re: Microsoft Xim
#22I 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"??
Re: Microsoft Xim
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that it's not meant to replace those. It's meant to replace the act of passing your phone around in person — say, around a dinner table — in order to show photos to the people you're with.
So what's wrong with passing the phone around? Now I have to ask everyone to pull out their phones. "Mine is in my purse, let me go grab it" "I left mine in the car, oops" "My battery is dead" Then I have to text/email them the link. "I didn't get the link" "I have no service here" Whereas, passing a phone literally takes a millisecond.
Nice that all of your friends are always in the same room with you.
Re: Microsoft Xim
#24For a second I thought it would be some kind of editor vim style but Microsoft made. But no, just an other photo app. Can you still generate any revenue out of this kind of app in 2014? I feel like the market is pretty dense already, between dropbox, instagram, flickr ... plenty of apps already in the landscape, why an other?
It's by Microsoft Research. Not everything they make is meant to be a direct revenue driver.
Re: Microsoft Xim
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that it's not meant to replace those. It's meant to replace the act of passing your phone around in person — say, around a dinner table — in order to show photos to the people you're with.
So what's wrong with passing the phone around? Now I have to ask everyone to pull out their phones. "Mine is in my purse, let me go grab it" "I left mine in the car, oops" "My battery is dead" Then I have to text/email them the link. "I didn't get the link" "I have no service here" Whereas, passing a phone literally takes a millisecond.
It leaves you in control of the "show". If you have a series of pictures, for example, you pick when to move to the next photo, and can narrate as you do. You don't have to think about them flipping beyond the photos you wanted to share. They don't have to figure out how to work your phone.
It's certainly easier to pass around a phone, of course, but I can see the flaws.
This is a place where NFC would really be a step up though. Tap-to-share-screen, instead of having to find contacts and numbers and sending texts.
Re: Microsoft Xim
#26I 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 lov…
> 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.
Re: Microsoft Xim
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that it's not meant to replace those. It's meant to replace the act of passing your phone around in person — say, around a dinner table — in order to show photos to the people you're with.
So what's wrong with passing the phone around? Now I have to ask everyone to pull out their phones. "Mine is in my purse, let me go grab it" "I left mine in the car, oops" "My battery is dead" Then I have to text/email them the link. "I didn't get the link" "I have no service here" Whereas, passing a phone literally takes a millisecond.
I agree. Whoever thought this was going to end up being less troublesome than passing a phone around (which is, admittedly, awkward) hasn't thought through the scenarios. There's no way a bunch of people at "dinner with friends" are all going to pull their phones out and start up a little photo-viewing LAN party.
Re: Microsoft Xim
#28For a second I thought it would be some kind of editor vim style but Microsoft made. But no, just an other photo app. Can you still generate any revenue out of this kind of app in 2014? I feel like the market is pretty dense already, between dropbox, instagram, flickr ... plenty of apps already in the landscape, why an other?
Same here! The name made me think I was going to see a vim 2.0 by Microsoft. I'm sure the majority of their target audience wouldn't have this kind of reaction.
Re: Microsoft Xim
#29Thank god; another way to share photos with my friends.
I know, right! I mean, there's already Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Imgur, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google+, email, MMS, LinkedIn, Myspace, and hosting one's own site. But we need more options to share blurry photos of backgrounds or mediocre desserts.
We got the joke.