Palo Alto,
Calif. – Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) is planning to
launch new social features for its Outlook email and communications product in
beta next week, which will feature connections to third-party services
including LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace, TechCrunch reported, citing unnamed
sources.
Outlook Social Connector was initially announced in November, when
LinkedIn was named as a launch partner.
The version that launches next week is
expected to include the less business-oriented social networks as partners as
well.
Rival Google (NASD: GOOG) this week launched new social features for its Gmail
service, Buzz, in its own bid to tap into social media in a bigger way.
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(TechCrunch)