Microsoft has reportedly been working on a large-scale distributed platform, or foundation, that will sit on top of many of its cloud-based services, including SharePoint, the Office 365 substrate and Azure, to offer “a WeChat-like experience” across its various Microsoft 365 apps and services. Called ‘MetaOS‘, or ‘Taos‘, it will apparently also incorporate the company’s machine-learning infrastructure and more.
That’s according to a report from ZDNet, which claims that MetaOS is part of Microsoft’s strategy to advance its substrate vision by emphasizing how the upcoming AI technology will make it more useful across all platforms compatible with Office 365 apps and services.
Do note that in spite of its name, MetaOS isn’t meant to be an ‘OS’, or operating system, unlike Windows or Android. Instead, it will be a layer on top of many of Microsoft’s apps and services to enhance user-experience by infusing them with AI. Since it will be a cloud-based service, MetaOS will work across all devices and platforms supported by Microsoft’s apps.
While Microsoft is yet to announce anything the platform publicly, the report claims that it will likely play a significant role in the company vision for Microsoft Teams, Office, Edge and more. It is apparently styled on Tencent’s ‘WeChat‘ mobile platform and, will be Microsoft’s way of offering a number of personal and professional services, including instant messaging, voice calling, video chats, digital payments, gaming, news feeds and more.
“In short, MetaOS is Microsoft’s underlying architecture and strategy for the foundational layer of its Microsoft 365 subscription services for business and consumer users”, said the report. It will be interesting to see when Microsoft gets around to announcing the new platform publicly.
