Microsoft and Meta join to bring Office 365 to the metaverse
By Alara Jordan
09:19, 14 October 2022
Meta and Microsoft are joining forces as the two giants look to collaborate in transforming how people work, communicate and play in the metaverse.
Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the partnership at the Facebook owner’s annual Connect conference, where a year ago he changed the company’s name from Facebook to Meta in a bid to underline its commitment to the metaverse.
Microsoft will integrate a suite of its popular products, including Windows 365 and Teams, to Meta's advanced virtual reality (VR) headset Quest Pro, as part of a broader push into the metaverse. It will also sell the new Quest Pro to businesses and enterprises. Microsoft also confirmed that it was exploring ways to integrate its Xbox Cloud Gaming platform to allow gamers to stream high-quality Xbox games.
Meta said in a blog post, “We want Meta Quest Pro to be an enterprise-ready device that’s easy to use, deploy, and manage at scale. Our partnership with Microsoft will bring powerful new work and productivity tools.”
The collaboration will see the two tech firms rely heavily on each other to deliver new and immersive experiences for the future of work. Microsoft also announced the partnership via a company blog post, stating that the move was a reflection of how the world of work has changed and where the future of work is heading.
“People crave deeper, richer ways of collaborating and co-creating from wherever they are,” Microsoft said.
“We believe that in the not-so-distant future, the metaverse will play a key role in providing new ways of connecting. Today we are announcing several ways we are partnering with Meta to provide customers with more choice and security as they venture into the metaverse.”
Photo: MetaZoom integration expected early 2023
Meta said that a Zoom integration is expected in “early in 2023” in a bid to give consumers and businesses “more options” on how they choose to communicate and show up in the metaverse.
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