Cloud storage providers Dropbox, Box, Egnyte, and Citrix ShareFile have announced updates which allow the ability to co-author documents in real time on Microsoft Office products.
The update comes as further validation of Microsoft’s policy for collaboration on Office as opposed to competition, having initially launched the Cloud Storage Partner Program in February 2015. The Redmond giant courted controversy after ditching unlimited offerings of its own storage product OneDrive back in November, over fears a small section of users were taking more of their fair share.
Kirk Koenigsbauer, Microsoft Office corporate vice president, wrote in a blog post: “We announced the Cloud Storage Partner Program and enabled cloud storage providers to connect their services to Office Online and Office for iOS. Today’s interoperability announcements are another step in our journey to make Office more open for customers and partners.”
Alongside real-time co-authoring, Dropbox and Box customers will also be able to further integrate with Office on iOS and seamlessly attach content to emails in Outlook. Microsoft says it is looking to add other mobile platforms later this year, with Citrix ShareFile, Edmodo, and Egnyte integration also coming soon.
The additional move comes days after Dropbox announced the availability of an app for Windows 10. A blog post from the company reads: “With this deeper integration, you get the power of Dropbox right from the Office tools you rely on to get work done.”
Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, said: “Box and Microsoft are delivering an unparalleled collaboration experience where customers have seamless access to their business content regardless of device or platform.” Isabelle Guis, chief strategy officer at Egnyte, said: “By executing successfully at the highest level with folks like Microsoft and Google, we are confident that we can replicate success with a wide variety of new partners.”
[Source:- cloudcomputing]
