Microsoft Xim(getxim.com) |
Microsoft Xim(getxim.com) |
I'm in Nigeria
KS-im? Zz-im? SHim?
“wirelessly transfer a song you want to share to your zune friends, they can play it just a little bit"
Then Steve Jobs said something like:
“if you’re on the subway and want to share a song with someone cool, why fuck around with sending a demo song, just take off 1 earbud and listen to the music together"
Edit: "Just put it(the earbud) in her ear" http://gizmodo.com/207754/steve-jobs-on-zune-wifi-getting-yo...
There's a whole sharing earwax and hygiene thing I'm just not comfortable with there.
1. (No app required) - but the person hosting the photos need to install the app?
2. (Download on the Apple Store icon)- Yet clicking on it will give you a coming soon page. Will it kill you to put a "Coming Soon" text below the icon ?
Of course, I am still trying to wrap my head around the use case for this concept, especially when you have a dozen other ways to solve this problem. Oh wait, what was the problem again?
* No mention in the title bar or above the fold.
* First mention of Microsoft is in the footer.
* iOS App Store and Google Play links are before the Window Phone Store.
* Mockups include iOS looking device and Androidy Device (however the largest one might be a Windows Phone?)
There is definately a shift with Microsoft under Nadella, and i think it can be seen with a alot of small details already.
[1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/10/window...
They shipped the ASP.NET Ajax Control Toolkit back in ~2008, when "Ajax" was generally synonymous with "JavaScript". Google's CDN was called the "AJAX Libraries CDN" until just a few years ago. It happens.
Their attempt to use "xim" as a verb right from the start (hint to the marketing staff: it only happens after mass adoption) is very Microsofty. It's, in fact, a dead giveaway.
But, indeed, the presence of other phones along with Windows devices is refreshing, as is the multiple store links.
Not sure I like it, but I have to recognise Microsoft's effort in rebuilding their brand.
(I'm using XVim every day, so Xim brainfckd me very hard)
I don't think this use case is definitive, i just meant it as an illustration of "it will take longer to share photos with Xim."
I think this MIGHT be ok if you only had to go through a laborious process the first time you used the app or viewed a Xim, but I think you have to go through that whole process (minus the adding the contact) every time you share. This app is trying to work at that intersection of cyber- and meat-space, and I think the handoffs will just take too long.
The ironic use case--this could be a great tool for remotely sharing photos. But if you're doing that, wouldn't you be using your phone to talk with the other viewers about the photos? ;-(
* Seems more likely you're trying to show more than 1 photo, as it's fairly easy to show a single photo to many people. Similar to above, and like you were saying, it's fairly easy to show 1 or 2 people a series of photos on your phone.
At first I thought this was Nokia Photobeamer v2 [1], but it appears to be a completely separate app.
This localised internet is really starting to get to me.
It is such a shame that the scroll performance on this site is so horrible (performance wise), scroll up and down and you will see this behaviour first-hand.
A phone is personal so experiencing the pictures on your phone makes it more personal.
Excerpts:
• Xims only stick around for a little while so you can enjoy the moment with no storage or organization overhead
• Xim is available for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 8 devices and works in most web browsers
• Xim will initially be available in US and Canada only; we plan to add additional country support shortly
Also, a pretty unsubtle rebranding campaign: "Made with love by Microsoft Research FUSE Labs"??
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.
not really branding as it is a one-off "what if we..." toy application
Edit - "Xim will initially be available in US and Canada only; we plan to add additional country support shortly" Ah!
Windows Phone, UK.
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'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.
Microsoft does manage to make some really useful products and services. Even the Zune you mentioned had a service similar to the now-popular Spotify where you paid monthly for access to a full catalog and you could even choose 10 tracks to (permanently) keep each month so it wasn't solely a rental/subscription service.
But their marketing can be some of the worst I've seen coming from a major tech company.
Also, JavaScript is a first-class citizen in WinRT so I'm sure Oracle is getting some money from Microsoft for the brand.
However, I've yet to work at a place where I wasn't surrounded by p* managers who weren't falling over themselves to get involved with some new idea that would lead to revenue somehow. On the business side of the house, I don't think anyone gets up in the morning if it can't be linked to revenue.
So, yeah, I'm comfortable saying that Microsoft Research is swarming with people looking for new revenue streams. Swarming.