Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Reinventing how Businesses Share with Cloud Content Management

By

Imagine if the web worked like this: you want to watch a YouTube video, but you have to download the video in a separate window before watching. Then you decide to read the New York Times, but you have to open a PDF to read each article. Now you’re in the mood to browse photos on Flickr, which requires downloading each image before viewing.

Ridiculous? Totally. The web is designed for the seamless consumption of content, without forcing us to worry about content types. But the scenario described is analogous to what we deal with every day in the workplace. Want to view a proposal sent via email? Open Microsoft Word. A spreadsheet? Excel. A presentation? PowerPoint. Soon your desktop is cluttered with open software applications.

Business content is still rooted in the old desktop-centric paradigm, but the people who are using this content are more web-savvy than ever. We want to be able to share a presentation as easily as we would a YouTube video, and we want to be able to do this whether we’re working from the office or a cafe, regardless of what software we have. And we want to be able to share with a key business contact on another continent as easily as a neighboring coworker. If enterprise software makes it too hard to share, we’ll just find another channel.

The way we work is changing, and at Box.net we’re rethinking – and disrupting – traditional content management by freeing our users from the limitations of their desktop. We’re building a Cloud Content Management solution that reinvents how our users view and share all types of files by fully leveraging the way content is delivered and consumed on the web. And today we’re announcing two new features in line with this greater vision:

Integrated file view: You can now view files instantly, without ever leaving your browser. Box’s integrated file view feature lets you view the most popular file formats, including documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, images, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files, audio and video. It lets you flow through all your content in one place, without downloading or worrying about whether you have the right application to view a file. To activate this feature, just go to Settings, Display, and set Content Preview to All Files.

File embedding: You’ll have the ability to embed instantly viewable content on the web, as a natural extension of the first feature. Users can share and embed all types of files so that people viewing that don’t need to download files and launch them in a desktop application. And again, there’s no need for anyone to worry about having the right desktop applications. This feature will be available in a few weeks, at which time we’ll share the simple steps to embed files.

With these new features, we’re making millions of files on Box instantly viewable to millions of people in a single click. That’s pretty powerful. Get a feel for the new content viewing experience by clicking on the file thumbnails below. To experience the full effect in your own Box account, open any file and then just click “Next File” to navigate through the folder, moving seamlessly from one file type to the next.

These two features are crucial steps towards reinventing the way we access, share and collaborate on content in the workplace, and are a result of our acquisition of Increo Solutions last Fall. With Cloud Content Management, we are working towards a larger vision where our users can view, share and eventually even edit content without concern for file type or desktop applications. And by integrating Box.net with other key cloud platforms like Salesforce.com and Google Apps, we’re ensuring that your content is available and viewable across the applications critical to your business.

Take the content viewer for a spin and let us know what you think. Comment here or on Twitter @boxdotnet or @levie.

Post by Aaron Levie, Co-founder and CEO

Showing 15 comments

Box.net Makes Viewing Files Online Easier January 21st, 2010

[...] file management and collaboration tools with the cloud. To that end, the company is launching an integrated file viewer into its platform, which goes a long way toward creating what it is dubbing as a Cloud Content [...]

Box.net Makes Viewing Files Online Easier | Wordpress Marketing January 21st, 2010

[...] file management and collaboration tools with the cloud. To that end, the company is launching an integrated file viewer into its platform, which goes a long way toward creating what it is dubbing as a Cloud Content [...]

Box.net adds a versatile web-based file viewer | Tech Industry News January 21st, 2010

[...] a very useful online storage provider, just got a heck of a lot more useful. Box is introducing a Flash-based viewer that will allow you to preview media files hosted on the service. It’s not just mp3s and [...]

Box.net Makes Viewing Files Online Easier | Channel321 January 21st, 2010

[...] file management and collaboration tools with the cloud. To that end, the company is launching an integrated file viewer into its platform, which goes a long way toward creating what it is dubbing as a Cloud Content [...]

Open University Adopts Google Apps For Education « OUseful.Info, the blog… January 22nd, 2010

[...] online document creation and space for shared documents: I wonder – could this be used as a way of getting students to submit their assessments? By sharing them with markers, or Exams and Assessment? As for online documents – Google Gears and (in the fullness of time) full support for HTML5 local storage means that docs can also be edited offline; and even if Google docs don’t work natively in smartphone browsers, the app economy will probably have produced something equivalent;-) As far as storage goes, I have no idea what the current state of the OU eportfolio is…? I always favoured using a service like Box.net (OU Open Sources Moodle ePortfolio – But What Flavour is the API?), which as it happens opened up a comprehensive in browser document preview service this week (Reinventing how Businesses Share with Cloud Content Management). [...]

Box.net estrena un visor para casi todos los formatos de archivos January 22nd, 2010

[...] Box.net Blog Tags: Almacenamiento, Box.net, formatos, herramientas, online, [...]

Box.net adds a versatile web-based file viewer | Warta Brita January 23rd, 2010

[...] a very useful online storage provider, just got a heck of a lot more useful. Box is introducing a Flash-based viewer that will allow you to preview media files hosted on the service. It’s not just mp3s and [...]

Box.net: affichez vos fichiers sans les télécharger | Descary.com January 23rd, 2010

[...] Liens: Box.net: http://www.box.net Source: blogue de box.net [...]

epower January 25th, 2010

i want to share documnents

Box.net Blog - Learn about Box.net’s latest Features, Interviews, and More » Blog Archive » Robert Scoble chats with Box.net’s Aaron Levie and Jen Grant January 26th, 2010

[...] a good chat with CEO/Co-founder Aaron Levie and VP of Marketing Jen Grant. They talked about the new content viewing and embedding features we recently introduced, where Box is headed with Cloud Content Management, and how Box’s open [...]

Box.net Makes Viewing Files Online Easier | Peer Marketing Group January 30th, 2010

[...] file management and collaboration tools with the cloud. To that end, the company is launching an integrated file viewer into its platform, which goes a long way toward creating what it is [...]

Beaconhill NW » Robert Scoble chats with Box.net’s Aaron Levie and Jen Grant January 31st, 2010

[...] HQ for a chat with CEO/Co-founder Aaron Levie and VP of Marketing Jen Grant. They talked about the new content viewing and embedding features we recently introduced, where Box is headed with Cloud Content Management, and how Box’s open [...]

Year in Review: Box’s Top Five for 2010 « The Box Blog – Read about new features, interviews and more December 16th, 2010

[...] made it easy to view content right in your browser – whether it’s a document, presentation, media file or even an Adobe Illustrator file, [...]

poulan home page June 2nd, 2011

Helpful site, though I would love to see a a bit more media!

Robert Scoble chats with Box’s Aaron Levie and Jen Grant | The Box Blog - Read about new features, interviews and more June 9th, 2011

[...] a good chat with CEO/Co-founder Aaron Levie and VP of Marketing Jen Grant. They talked about the new content viewing and embedding features we recently introduced, where Box is headed with Cloud Content Management, and how Box’s open [...]