Build 2019: Microsoft's Fluid Framework Will Reinvent Documents And Collaborative Editing

During Build 2019, Microsoft announced a new kit for software development called the Fluid Framework, helping developers create more flexible and faster distributed apps that will be the game changer in document and collaborative editing. The company has plans to integrate Fluid into some Office 365 applications some later time in 2019. The news was reported by TechCrunch.

Essentially, Fluid is meant for developing collaborative editing experiences; however, since the framework can be integrated across applications, users can edit a document in one application then share like a part of it in Microsoft Teams. They can even share in a third-party app if the technology is integrated there too. And of course, the changes will sync on a real-time basis.

As can be seen from a preview version in one of the company’s demos, Word can support multiple edits at the same time and users can calculate a cell within a spreadsheet, using formulas, in the text document to calculate a number which will be updated automatically.

And another example shown by Microsoft illustrates how developers will be able to create a document and the application will then translate it to various languages automatically and in real-time while other users can still edit the document with their own language.

While collaborative editing is obviously nothing new, the tech giant pledges that the Fluid Framework will outrun other competitors in the market in terms of syncing. And more importantly, developers will have the tools for deconstructing and reconstructing documents into different modular components so they can be integrated into various applications.

Notably, according to a press briefing by Frank X. Shaw, PR head honcho at Microsoft, the Fluid Framework is a way to remove the barriers of traditional documents, ushering in the start ò free-flowing canvas. And he’s not bluffing, Fluid is not only about collaborative editing but it also makes us rethink of the proper way modern documents should work.

Microsoft is facing pressure from several startups such as Airtable, and Coda to rethink its productivity by building modern features on document editing. And this move is the result, but the company itself is also pushing to improve its applications to catch up with how today employees work.