June 9th, 2006
What's keeping the Office team up at night?
Dan Farber recorded a revealing podcast with Antoine LeBlond, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Office Productivity Applications group. It’s not often you get to hear this kind of detail about the company’s vision for Office is such human terms. In the 25-minute conversation, LeBlond talks about Microsoft’s recognition of the need to extend Office to the cloud and explains why an online version of Office isn’t the solution. He also explains his perspective on what Google has been up to and suggests that the cool kids’ antic are not what’s keeping him up at night.
There has been so much supposition and conjecture about Web 2.0, the Web Office, and "what it all means". I enjoyed the frank, clearly stated responses LeBlond provided to Dan’s questions. If you want to know what Microsoft is thinking, listen to this 17-year veteran tell it like he sees it.
For more on Office, check out Ed Bott’s 10 tough questions about Office 2007 and the accompanying image gallery he’s put together.
Marc Orchant has been building, testing, and sometimes breaking hardware and software for 25 years. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
