Microsoft recently published a white paper, “The new world of social collaboration” where they set out their vision for

“cultural, technological, business and industry trends that are driving social collaboration in the enterprise”

I invite you to have a read of it, if only for two reasons:

1. To recognize the same facts and phenomena which IBM and others have been evangelizing about for a very long time;
2. For the quote “Today, Yammer and SharePoint are connected through Web Parts and Open Graph capabilities. We’re developing deeper connections that will involve integrated document management, feed aggregation plus unified identity”

Their own graphic admits that “Today” they only have “Basic Integration”. “Tomorrow” will have “Deeper Connections” and in the “Future” there will be “Connected Experiences”.

I realize I am partisan in this argument, but I would like this blog post to stand as my testimony towards this fact: In Microsoft’s terms, IBM delivers the Future Today.

Please, dear reader, explore what Microsoft actually offers in the socially-collaborating enterprise against the announcements of REAL software made by IBM last week.