At its recent online Ignite conference, Microsoft stated that it released a new application on Office called Loop which people can use on projects to collaborate. It seems as if Microsoft is attempting to make subscribing to its Office software more valuable for its users as they plan on adding an upcharge to its services starting next year.
This is a move that would likely bump up against financial output from what is currently the most valuable public company in the world. Office bundles already come equipped with Word, Powerpoint, and Excel, with Loop acting as an alternative for business purposes as a hybrid of all three of the already existing software. This alternative is important in that Microsoft is facing pressure from promising software start-ups such as Airtable and Coda regarding its productivity software.
“Emerging productivity software from those companies can handle content creation, but they’re lacking in communication,” Microsoft corporate VP Jared Spataro stated workers can share Loop elements in Teams text conversations. Users can quickly discuss Loop projects by kicking off voice or video calls in Teams, which has grown to more than 250 million monthly active users following the onset of Covid-19.”
Loop is set to contain three primary elements as a part of its software. The first is “Components”, a tab in which multiple users can read and edit miniature documents online.
The second is “Pages,” which allows for full-on documents where people can type and react to links on Loop. The final element is “Workspaces”, which is where the progress or work assignments and initiatives can be monitored and shared.
