14 DAY TRIAL // Following the Beta launch of what it describes as a societal network, Microsoft has addressed some of the questions emerging around Vine. First off, the Redmond company denies that it is trying in any way to kill off any of the existing social networks. At the same time, Vine is not available exclusively for the PC, the software giant explains, although it’s owned up to limitations of the Beta build. The invitation from Microsoft is first of all to think of Vine as the evolution of social network aggregators. In this regard, projects similar to Vine have been done before, but the Microsoft service is positioned as an apex among social networking aggregators, centralizing all users and tools available. It is precisely this why Vine will not “kill” Facebook or Twitter.
“Microsoft Vine was conceived and built from the beginning to allow people to continue using their favorite social network while allowing others to have a consolidated view of the people they care about the most,” explains a member of the Vine team. “Microsoft Vine is not just another Social Network site or tool. It provides a way to keep track of places you care about, your friends and family and ask for and receive help. We aren’t going to compete with these other tools and we sure don’t think of ourselves as Twitter on Steroids.”
The Vine team representative admits that Vine is, especially throughout the Beta testing phase, designed to offer the best user experience on PCs. But this does not mean that the service is available exclusively on Windows computers. In fact, Microsoft has designed Vine to stretch to additional platforms as well, and more support will be added as the societal network evolves.
“The service does allow you to Send/Receive Alerts to People you care about from any SMS device or Email client. Consumers need a PC to get registered and setup but if you don't have access to one at work, home or school you can use your Mobile device or email client on a Mac or browser etc. to get informed or to reach out for help from your contacts, without a PC,” the Vine team member adds. “After Beta we are planning on adding other platforms and user experiences that include Mobile apps, Facebook, a browser-based client, regular phone services, pagers, GPS devices, billboards and well, the list goes on and on.”