Microsoft is rolling out a centralized notification flow for its Microsoft 365 office software suite that it says will provide a "relevant content mix" for content users access or share with them.
Quietly announced (opens in a new tab) as part of the Microsoft 365 roadmap in December 2022 and scheduled to launch in January 2023, the feature, dubbed Microsoft Feed, is certainly part of an effort to give you to collaboration software one more, well, collaborative spirit.
The news comes on the heels of a separate announcement at the company's annual Ignite event in October 2022 (opens in a new tab) that Microsoft 365 is migrating to a single desktop and mobile app, casting doubt on the job of making the sequel feel like a much easier ecosystem.
Collaboration features for businesses
Microsoft also used this year's Ignite event to announce that its My Content hub, which collects all of a user's documents in a single tab, regardless of which 365 app they were created in, is now available to all of its users.
Even though Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are market leaders in workplace collaboration tools, a centralized and intuitive hub across the entire suite seems to be easier said than done for either company.
Even with the progress it's making, Microsoft, for its part, seems more committed to offering only real centralized tools and interfaces to business owners and IT managers.
Google itself seems focused on cleaning up the UI experience in its individual Workspace apps rather than a centralized experience. An update to Google Drive in June 2022, for example, made file sharing easier by grouping options in a centralized panel.
Microsoft may be looking to capitalize on Google's inaction, and court users are still undecided on workplace collaboration software with a simply more user-friendly offering. Their latest set of announcements could definitely put them in the lead.