The number 4 definition of “fluid” in Dictionary.com is “adjective – changing readily; shifting; not fixed, stable or rigid.” (If you’re wondering, the number 1 definition is “a substance, as a liquid or gas, that is capable of flowing and that changes its shape at a steady rate when acted upon by a force tending to change its shape.”) 

Microsoft is coming out with a new Office 365 upgrade called Fluid that allows company employees, maybe two, maybe ten, maybe a thousand, to collaborate on a single document at the same time, and make changes in real time.

Our first thought was, “we do this in Google Docs now. What makes this any different?” So we kept digging. And came up with the conclusion that, yea, it’s basically what Google does, but now Microsoft is doing it as well. 

Here’s an article we found: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/microsoft-fluid-brings-big-changes-to-online-collaboration/

To quote: “Fluid is a low-level platform available to developers who want to create extremely low-latency (under 20ms, network connection permitting) collaborative experiences…”

Now, as you know, we’ve written about low latency a lot in these blogs and on our website. To the point that you may think it’s redundant. (Yes, we’ve also written about redundancy.) Taking the article at face value, 20ms is fantastic. But may be unattainable.

This article talks about the amazing technology behind having up to thousands of people working on the same document, at the same time and seeing changes being made in real time. Fantastic. Except Donna in Albuquerque and Lisa in Atlanta may not see the updates at the same time because they’re not using the same Internet provider.

Microsoft Fluid has the right idea. Let everyone contribute to a document, spreadsheet, presentation, or anything else that Office 365 has to offer. But there is a three word caveat in that quote that disturbs us. “…network connection permitting.”

Here’s what we glean from that caveat. Microsoft, Google and any other major player in the cloud service industry (sorry, we forgot Amazon) can create the perfect cloud application. One that would serve your business admirably. A suite of business tools that will launch you into the next decade.

But, remember the caveat: “network connection permitting.”

Microsoft Fluid looks like a great collaborative tool for any business. We’re any business and Google Docs works just fine for us. You can choose one of these or from one of the many others out there, but there will always be that caveat.

You might not think you need to monitor your network performance, but you do. Doesn’t have to be JitterWorks, but it has to be someone. Low-latency is becoming as, or more, important than Bandwidth. And don’t let your provider forget that.