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Sway: A new presentation application from Microsoft

sway.com

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Re: Sway: A new presentation application from Microsoft

#62

Post by theatraine »

ycitm wrote: post #27

Interestingly it looks like the "sways" do a lot of their layout calculations on the server. Resizing the window triggers a call back that returns what looks like a bunch of styling information (this div goes here, with this Z index, etc.) which would ordinarily be left to the browser. Perhaps this allows them achieve more than they could with the browser's layout engine? Certainly an interesting approach. (edit: wor…

From their blog entry: "Sway’s built-in design engine takes the hassle out of formatting your content by putting all of it into a cohesive layout as you create. ... This is thanks to a lot of Microsoft Research technology we’ve brought together in the background. As you add more of your content, Sway continues to analyze and arrange it based on the algorithms and design styles we’ve incorporated."

It sounds like they're doing some more complication computation on the fly than typical responsive CSS. I suspect that it's related to some of the "Reading mode" work that they've done with IE.

Re: Sway: A new presentation application from Microsoft

#64

Post by crazychrome »

Business wise, i feel the product is not well targeted. Maybe MS has enough $$ to push it everywhere but for whom exactly this product is designed? for pro-consumers to create contents? i doubt. for the purpose of communication?seems overweight. maybe the best use case is for kids to do their course work. I'm a little bit of disoriented. Seems to me MS wants to re-invent the multimedia doc creation tool (which imho never really took off).

I think the big question is if people value presentation over contents. If people in general values contents (or refrained presentation) then Sway probably going to lose, and Medium going to win.

Re: Sway: A new presentation application from Microsoft

#65

Post by vanderZwan »

vermooten wrote: post #61

I'm embarrassed on Microsoft's behalf for that video.

Why? I mean, sure, the lack of clear information of what it does is irritating, as is the vocal fry of the narrator, which is an incredibly ear-torturing fad that should die out. But those are both annoyances that apply to ads in general.

Re: Sway: A new presentation application from Microsoft

#66

Post by spyspy »

justinlloyd wrote: post #33
drivingmenuts wrote: post #17

1. Interesting that they showed an Apple logo on the back of the iPad (it would be hard to hide that it was an iPad), but no evidence whatsoever of any Microsoft mobile device (does a laptop count?) 2. I kinda want that umbrella.

Brands and icons that I could identify in order of appearance: Moleskine Apple iPhone Generic PC OneDrive Twitter Facebook Youtube Generic 3D Printer Apple iPad Room full of macs Generic LCD Television Twitter Surface 3 IE Desktop Windows Store IE Metro Outlook iPad Mini Nokia Phone Microsoft Office Microsoft I may have missed a few. It is a connected world. Smart companies "embrace and extend."

Some commas would be nice

Re: Sway: A new presentation application from Microsoft

#68

Post by bhartzer »

jostmey wrote: post #39
coryt wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of startups use this tactic, it's not uncommon. The email clearly says you're on the list, if you don't like waiting, tweet about it. What's wrong with that?

What's wrong with it? It irritates the consumer by making you feel like you are being played with. It really turned me off.

I agree, shouldn't a new service (especially one from Microsoft) be able to get traction without asking people to use another social network to help publicize itself?
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