In the past seven weeks, more than 2 million people have downloaded the beta for Microsoft Office 2010. That's a whopping 40,000 downloads per day. It's a record breaking pace, surpassing the beta release for Microsoft Office 2007. It begs the question: In the face of so many free options, why are people so loyal to Microsoft Office? Sponsor There are a few possible reasons: Microsoft has a locked in user base. It is an enterprise standard. As the story goes, no one has ever been fired for buying Microsoft. As one person replied to the question on Aardvark : "A lot of the free options simply aren't suitable for corporate use. You are basically out of luck if your free-no-guarantees Google Docs spreadsheet disappears. The free products do not have the complex formulas, interconnecting tables and client data that comes with Microsoft Office." Another person stated on Aardvark: "That is because it is the most accepted office package. Try doing business without the capability. I had to purchase it just to be able to work at home instead of extended office hours. Now I am loading Open Office on all computers I repair and send out. I also think Google is going to do a large bite into Microsoft business." How long will the loyalty last? This is where we wonder about how the events over the past few days may affect the future of Microsoft Office. Google is coming on strong with it's Nexus One . Couple that with its big push into the enterprise and you have to wonder what Microsoft is going to do to counter Google's undeniable momentum. We are still waiting Windows Mobile 7. LG did let it slip at CES yesterday that Windows Mobile 7 will be available later this year. The Microsoft Office Web Apps are in beta with limited usability. The full-featured version will be available in the Spring. It will require a Sharepoint server. The free edition will only allow you to view documents. Enterprise 2.0 applications are a whole other issue. Its user interfaces are web-oriented and mobile-friendly. This new breed of applications will be increasingly enticing to Office customers. Two million downloads is impressive but loyalty is a fickle thing. The real test is still to come. Discuss
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2 Million Downloads and Counting: Why Such Loyalty for Microsoft Office?
Social media is likely to be factored into your ad budget for the new year, but the problem is deciding which format best suits you. While highly controversial, tech influencers like Chris Pirillo and Robert Scoble are being paid to tweet periodic product endorsements. The question is: Are sponsored tweets are worth it? ReadWriteWeb caught up with Likes.com co-founders Bindu Reddy and Arvind Sundararajan as they make the case for conversational advertising and the sponsored tweets landscape. Sponsor Similar to Ad.ly and Sponsored Tweets , MyLikes is a service that pays influencers to Tweet about specific products. In what resembles an AdWords -style dashboard, advertisers create a budget for their campaign and set the parameters and URL for where they'd like endorsers to redirect their friends. This month, Moo created a campaign in the hopes of selling business card packages to US-based users. Rather than being forced to endorse Moo, members chose to endorse them from a long list of companies. From there the endorser creates a short line about why they like a particular company with a link to pre-populated images, video and the campaign URL from their blogs and Twitter accounts. Bindu believes that because the network gives users options in who to endorse, the sponsored tweets become more authentic and better targeted to the user base. On a cost-per-click basis, campaigns range between $0.20 - $0.60 cents per click based on the influence of the endorser. If you compare this against some of the higher priced AdWords keyword campaigns, Twitter sponsorship is quite reasonable. While a budget analysis is an obvious indicator of whether or not you should sponsor tweets, another factor to consider is your company culture. When Izea's sponsored tweets program launched in late June many questioned the process of disclosure and the role of a social media influencer. While the FTC Act revisions make the space more regulated, they don't change the fact that your stakeholders may simply be put off by the practice. I'm going to answer your question about sponsored tweets with another question, "Are sponsored tweets more cost effective than your current click-thru campaigns and will your audience embrace it?" Discuss
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Should You Reserve Ad Budget for Sponsored Tweets?
While maybe not the most visually compelling product, Healthful Apps represents an interesting new trend for 2010. Created by Apps for All , the product recommends customer-reviewed iPhone health applications in a variety of categories including autism, relaxation and memory. Although the company's first effort is focused on health, the larger industry-wide question remains - will this year's branded iPhone app be a recommendation app? Sponsor Last year ReadWriteWeb covered Appsfire as one service that allows users to bookmark and share their favorite iPhone apps. While it's certainly a useful tool, recommendations are made by individuals rather than influential groups. As seen with Healthful Apps, there's opportunity to extend these recommendation-based applications to special-interest and location-based communities. Imagine investment communities trading and reviewing stock and news apps, or Oprah Winfrey's community recommending shopping and reading apps, or New Yorkers sharing transportation and amenity apps. The personalization of applications by politics, lifestyle, locale and community may prove more useful in making app recommendations than any automated Genius system that Apple could hope to cook up. Additionally, because providers can monetize recommendations through paid app referral fees, it's entirely possible that influential communities can earn money simply by weighing in with their app preferences. It's honestly so meta that it hurts, but if social media has taught us anything, it's that community influencers are tastemakers. If this is in fact the future, then my question to you is this - Which communities would you take recommendations from, and would you pay for the app? Discuss
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Will Recommendation Apps be the New iPhone App Hotness?
Research from Harvard Medical School has resulted in a pretty sharp SaaS learning system. SpacedEd , as it is called, uses a simple question and answer format that adapts to the person's level of knowledge. Today the adaptive technology is taking a leap into the business world with SpacedEd Enterprise , a service designed for corporations and for-profit educational groups. Sponsor SpacedEd is based upon the spacing effect, which states that people learn more effectively when presented information that is repeated over spaced intervals. Spaced Education is the company managing the technology. It conducted studies that show some pretty compelling results from training they did with doctors. For example, the SpacedEd training helped decrease cancer screenings by 26% in random clinical trials of 95 Virginia primary care providers, representing a potential cost savings of $650,000 per year in test costs alone. Here's how the service works: The learner receives course materials that are delivered electronically in a question format. People may receive questions by email, through an RSS feed or through a web site. Answers may be posted using any connected device, reflecting the nature in which people are conducting their lives. People receive two questions per day. If the person gets one of the questions wrong then it is posed again one week later. If answered correctly, the question is repeated three weeks later. If the person get it right a second time then the question is dropped from the course material. Course material is delivered to the recipient based on their knowledge level. SpacedEd Enterprise is designed for corporate clients and for-profit learning organizations. Administrators may control the access that users have to the courses. The service includes the capability to answer questions in a blog format so they may elaborate and create their own questions. SpacedEd offers a 30-day trial. Customers may use the technology on a pay-per-use basis. Discuss
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Harvard Medical School's Learning Technology Must Be Smart...Right?
This morning in her address to LeWeb conference attendees, her majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan asked the question, "Did Michael Jackson change the fate of the green revolution?" While CNN was slow to report on this year's Iranian election protests, Twitter became a powerful news vehicle . Nevertheless, after a week of "Tehran" as Twitter's top trending topics, Michael Jackson's sudden death quickly replaced it. Sponsor Interested in the power of activism and social change, Queen Rania tweeted the question, "Can the real-time web change the world?" Inundated with answers, the Queen was surprised to find that 60% of those who replied answered no. As one way to rally netizens to participate in life changing social action, Rania called upon today's attendees to join in her mission of universal education for children. In participation with the 1Goal project, the Queen appealed to bloggers for their help. In a campaign to collect more than 300 million signatures in support of universal childhood education, she is asking bloggers to devote one day of tweeting and blogging to the 1Goal project. Said Rania, "The classroom can be a chrysalis for change...We can be lifestreaming and life changing." For more information on how you can participate visit join1goal.org . Photo Credit: Chris Heuer Discuss
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Queen of Jordan Calls on Blogger Friends
Virgin Media, one of the UK's leading providers of television / broadband / mobile / phone services, has announced plans to use deep packet inspection technology to track illegal file-sharing activity among around 40 percent of its UK users. Users whose activities are being monitored will not be informed of this fact. The tech comes from Detica, a company better known for working with government data and intelligence agencies than media files and P2P networks. Their CView product is designed to help put an end to illegal filesharing, and with ISPs showing interest, it's unlikely that Virgin's deal will be the last we hear about. Sponsor In a lengthy document on illegal filesharing, Detica outlines how CView can be used to baseline the level of illicit filesharing then continue to measure the same activity as punitive measures are rolled out. The company believes that every ISP has an obligation to reduce illegal filesharing "by an agreed percentage over a period of time," a goal that can only be achieved through accurate, thorough measurement of user activity - this is the very reason Detica created CView. Beyond measuring user activity on P2P networks, CView will not collect data on individual users. Raw traffic data and identification information is reportedly deleted in the closed system and cannot be accessed by a human operator. CView gathers data on peer-to-peer packets in user traffic and then inspects the packets to see whether the content is being shared illegally. Although the tech only examines aggregate traffic data, and although a Virgin spokeperson states that records will not be maintained on individual users, privacy concerns are right behind raining-on-our-parade concerns when one examines the question of monitoring user behavior. Isn't warning, fining, censoring and/or restricting access for infringing users the next logical step? Give us your doomsday scenario - or your vote of confidence for the Detica/Virgin partnership - in the comments. Discuss
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More Trouble for File Sharing: Virgin to Monitor in UK
A few months ago ReadWriteWeb asked the question, "What are Hulu's Mysterious Plans?" Our own Sarah Perez covered the rumors surrounding a subscription model, premium services and of course, the much anticipated iPhone application. While Hulu continues to keep mum on its new monetization plans, today's reports reveal that the company is focusing on its music-related content. Sponsor In a company blog post Hulu announced signing a partnership with EMI for Norah Jones content. While Hulu is best known for its HD television and movie programing, the site's latest deal may be a sign of things to come. In the past Hulu has featured music content like its Live from the Artists Den and Live From Abbey Road series', but this latest EMI deal may mean further plans to branch into the music business. Although EMI is Hulu's first external music partnership, the fact that the company began as a collaboration between NBC Universal, Fox Entertainment Group and ABC / Disney means that its music-related reach is likely further than we realize. What's more, the company already has the technology to stream music from their service as the same means can be used for delivering video and music. While it's too early to say how this will play out, if Hulu's decides to bundle on-demand streaming video and music, this iPhone owner would happily subscribe. Discuss
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Hulu and Music: Where There's a Stream There's a Way
