Here comes the new Office: Microsoft melds applications to present data in flexible, shareable ways

Delve, Sway, Revolve: For those who don’t follow Microsoft’s products closely, the words might sound like instructions for a nerdy line dance. But like the mashup generation they’re written for, the three new apps take elements of Microsoft’s productivity generation and blend them together.

The mantra of productivity is months old by this point. Microsoft’s former chief executive, Steve Ballmer, began proclaiming it, and it’s been a rallying cry for Satya Nadella, too. Frank Shaw, the company’s chief spokesman, reiterated the message in a blog post Monday, pointing out that Microsoft has adapted as its users’ work habits have begun changing, too: Desktop and mobile are blurring, and apps need to be proactive, not just reactive.

A look ahead at what Microsoft is now beginning to ship, versus what it has brought into the market over the past year, shows you how the Office suite is evolving into something very, very different:

Delve: in September, Microsoft said Delve will be rolled into Office 365 by January. Delve accumulates information from Lync, SharePoint, and Yammer, pulling together a snapshot of the documents you need to interact more effectively with your teams of coworkers.

Microsoft’s Delve collates information it thinks you’ll need from colleagues.

“With Delve, information finds you versus you having to find information,” Julia White, the general manager of Office, wrote at the time—one of the points that Shaw, and Microsoft, have tried to make about Microsoft’s new product portfolio.

Read more: Here comes the new Office: Microsoft melds applications to present data in flexible, shareable ways | PCWorld.

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