Check out Office Sway, Microsoft’s new web app

Office Sway is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, and it demonstrates Microsoft’s striving to create a tailored experience on specific devices.

I’m sure many of you who already know what Office Sway is are thinking, “What does Sway have to do with Windows 10?” (For those who don’t know what Sway is, go to Microsoft’s official blog post to check it out, and then come back here.)
So what does Sway have to do with Windows 10? A lot, actually. Office Sway demonstrates Microsoft’s desire to give each user a “tailored experience” on their device, no matter the screen size. This theme was stressed in Microsoft’s initial announcement of Windows 10.

It also represents how Microsoft is paying heed to their users, and they also realize that not all of their customers have Windows devices. They make available many of their services, including Sway, on other devices, but at the same time they stress the best experience will be on Windows devices.

This promise of a better experience on Windows devices has yet to be fulfilled, however. The first platform to receive an app for Sway was iOS. While you can use the online app for Sway on any tablet with a width larger than 500px, Windows Phone users are left in the dark. The iOS Office Suite in general is easier to use and more advanced than the one for Windows Phone, and the iPad Office is much more touch-optimized than the regular Office 2013 available to Windows tablet users.

While these shortcomings exist, Microsoft has announced they will have Universal Office Apps for all touchscreen Windows devices, on top of Office 2016. They have already released a preview for touchscreen Windows 10 Technical Preview devices, and are expected to also release a version for the Windows 10 for Phones preview shortly.

As of yet, Microsoft has not delivered on their promise of an overall better Microsoft experience on their own platform, namely Windows Phone. Full integration with Microsoft’s suite of services will be key to making WP any sort of competition to iOS and Android.

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Originally published at thewinthusiast.wordpress.com on March 6, 2015.