Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Is Closing the Social Network You Forgot It Ever Launched (techcrunch.com)
So.cl, the little-known and probably much-forgotten social network project from Microsoft Research's FUSE Labs division, is closing down. From a report on TechCrunch: The service was launched in late 2011 as a social community where the objective was "collaborative consumption, not communication." Initially for students, So.cl opened up to anyone once it had gotten going and subsequently added support for mobile devices, too. When word of the project first leaked out prior to its launch, many had assumed that Microsoft was building a social network to compete directly with Facebook -- this was a time when companies might be inclined to do that, remember Google Buzz launching in 2010? But Facebook this wasn't. It actually used Facebook log-in for user sign-up so if anything it is/was a Facebook app. If you're looking for a comparison, the focus on image collages and video made So.cl a little like a Pinterest-style service for visual content.
I wonder how many /.ers remember
nt
I feel like everything MSFT does is some crappy, lesser knockoff of a better service that they attempt to force their users to adopt.
+1
>> building a social network to compete directly with Facebook -- this was a time when companies might be inclined to do that, remember Google Buzz launching in 2010?
Don't you mean "Google+", which launched in 2011? If you're looking for a higher profile social network flop from Google...
This was the one that was going to be called Socl till I pointed out that with certain typefaces it could be read as Sod - they obviously stuck the '.' in to avoid this
Prove yourself = delicacy
quite...
Seems to me that most "social media" is exactly the same - everyone consuming - there's very little actual communication going on. Just people screaming past each other like two cats with their tails tied together thrown over a clothes line (and if you want to know what THAT sounds like, just listen to Bohemian Rhapsody).
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Amazing Time it was.. Analog Life!! Rocks!!
a sweat-drenched and slightly bloated Steve Ballmer furiously copies and pastes his so.cl content into notepad. "developers....developers..." he whispers under his breath, again and again.
Good people go to bed earlier.
This was going to be the anti-social network, perfect for the hairy, bearded basement-dweller barely used to sunlight but pasty white skin succumbing to the faint glow of LEDs flickering their lights at the color-coded cables, awaiting the visit of the pest control hazmat units. Yes, the /.-ers' network.
This was the Zune of Social Media.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I still dislike it when articles, and such, make assumptions about me.
neutrality of media, my ass.
...nothing of value was lost.
Oddly enough, MSN Spaces was probably the better thing they launched.
They let you get away with quite a bit of customization, even on the levels of, say, Tumblr.
The only exception was no floating content over the top of the navigation bar at the top. (which also had ads)
But because so many people did that, they removed the ability to use position:relative, absolute and fixed.
It also had integration with MSN Messenger, which was about during its peak.
The problem, as with any Microsoft service at the time, is it tried way too hard to be IE-only experience and GIMPED the rest of browsers. So it died off.
Equally, MSN Messenger 7 came out. The worst thing ever. It killed MSN Messenger, it's community, most mods for it. RIP MSN Messenger 6.5.
Of course, even now it would go absolutely nowhere because the trust in Microsoft, even by the average person, is seriously low.
Windows 10 is hated even by the average person, never mind the technically literates.
In fact, probably more so by the average person, because they don't know how to stop it being 10 kinds of a pain in every ass that has ever assed.
Still, even Google are on the same level now.
For one of the biggest advertising companies, even abusing their own search engine by popping their own stuff at the top, they STILL somehow managed to be the worst at advertising their OWN services.
iGoogle, Google Notes, Google Reader, Orkut, Picasa and so SO many others.
I remember iGoogle being killed off with the reason "ooo durr we can't advertise on it", literally a page of RSS feeds of a persons INTERESTS and loads of empty space on a left column that only had Google Talk. That's even more personal than EMAILS for most people.
Pure lunacy runs most large companies these days.
'cause I like humping your mommy,
and getting caught by your dad.
If you're not into poota,
and you have half a nad.
If you like humping butts at midnight,
in the smooth anal gape.
Then I'm the one that you searched for,
come to me and assrape!
- Helen Gurley Brown
I always considered Microsoft an anti-social kind of place, but they have gone too far!
In order to forget something, one must first have known about it. Since I never heard of this before today, I can safely say that I did not forget about it. :)
"Microsoft Is Closing the Social Network You Forgot It Ever Launched "
I didn't forget, I never heard of it in the first place.
Another smashing success from Microsoft.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Google's Social Network was Orkut, and launched way before Facebook did.
Well, not really. This aside, Microsoft, please do make sure to let the door hit you hard in your ass on your way out.
I've never even heard of it...
And here's the weirdest part: Back around 2013 I got myself a Lumia 1020 and followed Microsoft centric blogs like Windows Central among other Microsoft resources. And I had accounts in weird new social network attempts like Ello.
Just visited the page, it kinda looks like a more barebones version of Google+. Awkward...
Apparently Microsoft is in the smartphone business now too.. Who knew?
... as MS tries and constantly fails to stay relevant.
The Road Ahead, Bill Gates, 1995.
* Social Networking
I guess they didn't follow the Bing Strategy: 5 years after dumping a Billion dollars into Bing is finally profitable.
Sooo, how is that Windows Phone working out ...