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December 19, 2005

Microsoft Wallop in User Trials

Michael Arrington

67 comments »

I’ve been hearing a bit about Microsoft’s Wallop project from users (apparently its at least two years old). Microsoft describes Wallop as a place to ” share photos, blog, and interact with your friends”. Ok, that pretty much doesn’t narrow it down much at all.

The beta is closed and as I said above there isn’t a whole lot of descriptive information on the website. The Microsoft Social Computing website has a little more, and includes a couple of screen shots:

In Wallop, you can share photos, blog, and interact with your friends. Wallop is a research project that explores how people share media and build conversations in the context of social networks. We are currently conducting a small, real world trial of Wallop with small friendship groups. Therefore, membership in Wallop http://mywallop.com is limited to study participants until the trial is over.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this one. The other projects on the Social Computing website also look interesting.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2005 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Klim

    December 20th, 2005 at 12:26 am

    Hmmm… interesting. And it doesn’t sport a field to submit your email address for invites like the other countless services. Guess I’ll email them and see if I can squeeze something out of them.

  2. Bernard Moon

    December 20th, 2005 at 12:36 am

    They’ve been testing it in a closed group for a couple years. Yeah, their social computing group has some cool projects they are working on. Here’s my old piece on their group:

    Diamonds in the Rough at Redmond
    http://www.alwayson-network.co.....3_0_26_0_C

  3. Josh Stomel

    December 20th, 2005 at 12:41 am

    Looks like they are on to a Myspace / Flickr / YouTube approach yet with a creative approach.. Interesting..

  4. Michael Griffiths

    December 20th, 2005 at 1:14 am

    As Bernard Moon mentioned, Wallop has been around for a long time.

    Microsoft Research is doing a lot of fun stuff.

    In many areas, Wallop is light years ahead of other social computing services. It lacks in a few areas, but I can’t think of what they are…

  5. Jeff Rogers

    December 20th, 2005 at 4:44 am

    This is the classic ‘build it and they will come’ crap that existed for 10 years or so. Have the existing MSN social stuff work to their expectation?

    Oooh, that’s so cool! Whatever! Too many techies think social sites involve high-tech ‘coolness’ when in reality, successful social sites are very simple and primitive.

    From what I’ve seen social sites requires social engineering for success, not web engineering. This means ‘they will come and build it’

  6. xxdesmus

    December 20th, 2005 at 5:14 am

    Would you like an invite? I have several remaining. I have been testing this for almost 2 years now.

  7. Phoenix

    December 20th, 2005 at 6:15 am

    I think this is a typical example that M$ has much powerful technical on flash platform even than Macromedia.

    BTW:My account of wallop has been deactivated.Any one know how to activate it ?Thanks

  8. Randy Charles Morin

    December 20th, 2005 at 7:31 am

    My Wallop has been stagnating for at least one year. I haven’t seen anything new. If you want an invite, then ping me [randy@kbcafe.com].

  9. Primate Omega

    December 20th, 2005 at 9:08 am

    What I find so fascinating about Microsoft is that they have some amazing projects on their research site, but what comes out of their press room and sales department seems like garbage with one or two exceptions. I really don’t think it’s a lack of simplicity that holds back a lot of thier ideas (though some), but rather that their reputation precedes them.

    Not that their reputation is unwaranted, mind you. If they could apply the same ‘employee personal projects’ idea that Google has instead of relying on the tried and true (and outdated), I think they’d have a better chance in the market as it stands and evolves.

    I’d love to see a big, open source-like beta testing instead of this closet testing that just leaves me thinking “damn, that looks really cool. Too bad the execs will kill it for a lack of support.”

    I’m not a rabid fan-boy of Microsoft or Linux, simply what works for me. I just think that if Microsoft wants to surpass their rivals in social webware, they need to think, create, test and release like a social company. From what I can tell, they’ve got some great ideas, but what they really need to do is open up the testing more and release everything even if it doesn’t ‘look’ good. If it doesn’t work, scrap the project and learn from the feedback.

    Now I’m done with my rant.

  10. Randuin

    December 20th, 2005 at 9:19 am

    I’ve been testing it for a year or so, it’s completely flash based and runs at a crawling hell.

  11. Ming Han

    December 20th, 2005 at 10:05 am

    http://www.ajchat.com

  12. micheal

    December 20th, 2005 at 10:35 am

    Its really crazy . Having spoken to people whom use it and from screen shots . I don’t know why bill gates doesnt bring it out.

    This is the kinda thing microsoft have always done , they have really smart and dedicated people whom produce excellent things but then they leave it till its too late to bring it out.

    if they brought it out they could make billions in ad revenue , take out my space and the other third rate sites and bring all the myspace type users to the microsoft way .

  13. Jon

    December 20th, 2005 at 10:46 am

    Please add more contrast to the colors used on your site. It’s too hard to read white text on the light blueish, and light blueish text on white.

  14. Michael Arrington

    December 20th, 2005 at 10:58 am

    Jon, ok, on my list. Will be fixed soon.

  15. Alex Bosworth

    December 20th, 2005 at 11:00 am

    Entirely Flash based sites are not the web

    Wallop requires a tooltip over everything so that you know what the heck you are doing in the interface.

    Wallop might be halfway to something if they just rewrite it without the flash.

  16. Primate Omega

    December 20th, 2005 at 11:34 am

    Mike, I completely agree. If they would just forward and do at least an open beta, they could either crush the bugs faster or generate hype. At least that’s my take.

    The fact that I didn’t know about the problems with it being entirely flash-based just proved how much Microsoft cripples themselves with closed tests that approximately nobody knows about.

  17. Ed Dunn

    December 20th, 2005 at 2:56 pm

    I don’t think this is Flash based. Microsoft is releasing a product that competes with Flash early next year. This may be released in conjuction of that product.

  18. Duncan

    December 20th, 2005 at 3:22 pm

    I used it a while back and didn’t really like it because it felt clunky.

    I don’t know if it was the flash or just my computer but I didn’t like it.

    Also, I just tried logging in for the first time in like 2 months and my account has been deactivated for inactivity…

  19. Cadence

    December 20th, 2005 at 4:45 pm

    I wonder if it’s anything like MSN Spaces (http://spaces.msn.com) - for some reason I have a feeling it is.

    Spaces is a very clunky blog software that is integrated with MSN Messenger. It features blogs, photo sharing, lists & thats pretty much it. Very basic if someone has seen the two, maybe you can tell us if they are similar?

  20. Stacy

    December 20th, 2005 at 7:57 pm

    Hi Cadence,
    I would be happy to send you an invite. Send me an email with your e-mail address.
    In my opinion, it isn’t a lot like Spaces.. it’s a lot more interactive. I think it’s pretty interesting, but I’m not sure if it is something that would be popular with mainstream users.
    Stacy

  21. Stacy

    December 20th, 2005 at 8:07 pm

    By the way, Phoenix, any active user can invite you to reactivate your account. Send me an e-mail and I’ll invite you again.

  22. molly

    December 21st, 2005 at 6:12 am

    Can I have an Wallop invitation
    please??
    orliy1@hotmail.com

    sound interesting..

    thanks -

  23. Ahmega

    March 26th, 2006 at 11:32 pm

    The Wallop seen very creative, want to try. May I have an Wallop invitation please?

    ahmega@hotmail.com

    Thanks

  24. yenni

    May 14th, 2006 at 8:43 pm

    may i have an invitation, please?
    my email: bluegreen61101@yahoo.com

  25. Jose L. Ponce

    May 15th, 2006 at 9:09 am

    Can I have an Wallop invitation please??

    jp.networking [AT] gmail.com

    I think this is going to be better that Hi5 and LinkedIN.

    Thank you!

  26. Doug Barr

    May 22nd, 2006 at 3:58 pm

    I’d like to checkout Wallop myself. Can someone please send me an invite? Thanks!
    doug@phojo.com

  27. Rod Mac Mir

    May 26th, 2006 at 10:31 am

    Please, somebody can invite me for wallop??

    mirandadesigner@gmail.com

    Thanks!

    * If Somebody needs some Gmail invite please tell me!!!

  28. clement

    May 28th, 2006 at 10:55 pm

    hmmm seems interesting, i’d like to test it out so if someone has a spare invite do you mind giving me one please? thanks.

    dc DOT moogle AT gmail DOT COM

  29. Aleksandrs Muhanbergs

    June 2nd, 2006 at 5:23 am

    Can I have an Wallop invitation
    please??
    balttrans_pvv@inbox.lv

    sound interesting..

    thanks -

  30. RAM

    June 9th, 2006 at 5:51 pm

    can i please get an inite for mywallop.com
    thanks in advance
    regards

    1gigram@gmail.com

  31. Dito

    June 26th, 2006 at 8:10 am

    may i get an wallop invitation ?

  32. Anand

    June 29th, 2006 at 12:29 am

    Hi,
    Wallop seems interesting. Can i get an invitation please.

  33. Anand

    June 29th, 2006 at 12:33 am

    Hi,
    Wallop seems interesting. Can i get an invitation please
    email is vennarbank+invites@gmail.com

  34. lindsey

    July 5th, 2006 at 11:16 am

    I would love an invite
    lindsey at lymabean.com

  35. joshington

    August 10th, 2006 at 4:23 pm

    cani get an invite too?

    joshualeffler@gmail.com

  36. Tara

    September 13th, 2006 at 4:46 am

    Can I please have an invite too?

  37. Jenn

    September 26th, 2006 at 8:14 am

    How could I get an invite as well?

  38. John Hughes

    September 26th, 2006 at 4:30 pm

    COuld I recieve an Invite for Wallop? Sounds interesting. If anyone wants some gmail invites I can give those in return as well.

  39. gokul

    September 26th, 2006 at 7:33 pm

    please send me a wallop invite. email gsamy@msn.com

  40. DCP

    September 26th, 2006 at 11:10 pm

    Kindly send me a wallop invite. Thx.

  41. Milton

    September 27th, 2006 at 8:40 pm

    Send me a invite please miltonfilho78@hotmail.com

  42. Corey

    September 27th, 2006 at 10:03 pm

    If anyone has an extra invite and is willing to send it out, I’d love to get one!

    corey839@gmail.com

  43. Tompa

    September 28th, 2006 at 8:47 pm

    Could someone send me an invitation. The Wallop-crew must´ve taken a looong nap. Thanks.

  44. nadav

    September 29th, 2006 at 4:40 am

    need a wallop invite

    please anybody

    nadavov@gmail.com

  45. Sanjay

    September 29th, 2006 at 11:46 am

    If anyone is feeling generous I would like an invite- a cute female friend of mine got an invite, but it could take her a while to set up her profile and invite me…

  46. prashant

    September 30th, 2006 at 6:08 am

    hi i would like to have invite…if any body has got spare plz send me…thx

    pjz1607@gmail.com

  47. Cacau Bichuetti

    October 1st, 2006 at 1:32 pm

    can i please get an inite for wallop
    thanks in advance
    regards

  48. kev hatanaka

    October 1st, 2006 at 7:25 pm

    can i get an invite? Thanks soo mucho!

  49. kev hatanaka

    October 1st, 2006 at 7:26 pm

    hehe oops send it here… kevhatanaka@gmail.com Thanks so much! See you on there!

  50. Filipe Viana

    October 2nd, 2006 at 8:41 pm

    please send me an invite to wallop

    thanks all…

    filipe.viana@gmail.com

    Filipe Viana

  51. Foreverunited

    October 4th, 2006 at 4:24 am

    Would love an invite to Wallop if possible…

    thank you

    foreverunited gmail.com

  52. mjs

    October 4th, 2006 at 7:23 am

    hi,

    can you please send me an invite to wallop, please?

    thx so much and have a nice day..

  53. Chris

    October 4th, 2006 at 7:05 pm

    Please send me an invite to wallop - thanks Clmchris@msn.com

  54. singwing

    October 5th, 2006 at 4:03 am

    would u please sene me an invite to wallop?
    Thanks a lot!
    my email: guangfeiliu@hotmail.com

  55. Derek

    October 5th, 2006 at 5:23 am

    If anyone has any Wallop invites left, I would greatly appreciate it. I’m so sick of myspace, and want to see what all this fuss over Wallop is about. derekius@gmail.com

  56. EastBayAnt

    October 7th, 2006 at 4:53 pm

    I would like to check out wallop myself… If anyone has an invite, could you please send it to wallop@warnack.com

    Thank you! :)

  57. cicci

    October 11th, 2006 at 9:41 pm

    Hi, I am Cicci. I would love to try out Wallop. Can anyone kind enough to give me an invite ? My email is ciccibny@gmail.com

    Thanks

  58. ardha

    October 12th, 2006 at 9:02 pm

    please send me an invite……

    widiardhana@gmail.com

    thks

  59. jasani

    November 11th, 2006 at 10:40 pm

    please send me an wallop invitation…..

    jasani4u@gmail.com

    THNX……

  60. Max

    December 4th, 2006 at 10:08 pm

    Hello, I’m Max in Japan.
    Please send me a invite message.
    web5@mail.goo.ne.jp
    Thanks!!

  61. Ravish

    January 25th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

    hi i have checked out some wallop screenshots.

    I am very keen in to have an account with wallop

    can some one send me invitation netpowersoft@yahoo.com

    Thanks

  62. LunchBox

    January 25th, 2007 at 3:45 pm

    Please invite me to Wallop!

    I’d greatly appreciate it.
    insomniacs_inc@yahoo.com

    Thanks,
    The network looks very cool

  63. mortak

    February 13th, 2007 at 1:23 am

    hi someone have a wallop invite for me?
    tank’s in advance
    dr.mortak at iol.it

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