The Office Labs web site, which consists of software experiments related to Microsoft Office that will probably never ship and aren’t even considered to be in alpha or beta status, was launched back in April. Since then, the site has released a couple of prototypes, and the latest one went live this week. StickySorter is a desktop application that helps people collaborate and organize ideas electronically, using a familiar sticky note interface. It allows you to organize ideas into named groups which can be easily manipulated and rearranged. You can create custom views of data, define multiple fields on a note, and use it in conjunction with Microsoft Office Live Meeting. Data can be imported and exported in the csv format, meaning it can be used with other applications (like Excel and Access).
Further reading
- Microsoft Office Labs: StickySorter: A Tool for Organizing Information
- Microsoft Live Labs: New: Seadragon Ajax
The Live Labs web site might not have been as busy recently, but their releases are technologies and not just prototypes. The latest project, Seadragon Ajax, brings Deep Zoom technology right to your own web page or blog (instructions), even if you’re not a software developer using Photosynth or Silverlight. Deep Zoom allows you to smoothly zoom regardless of the size of the screen, bandwidth of your network, or the complexity of the images you’re looking at. It’s just one of those things that will impress your friends.
