Windows 10 Redstone in 2017 is going to be interesting for businesses and consumers alike, as Microsoft is focusing much more on the productivity side of Windows. Microsoft is already looking into bringing an "Office Hub" to the taskbar with Windows 10 in 2017, alongside a new feature called Working Sets that would make Office contextual and organized.
Productivity plans do not end there, however. We mentioned last week that OneClip is still in the works, and there's a high chance we'll see it show up in 2017 as an integrated feature in Windows and Office alongside being available on a wide variety of platforms. Microsoft has reshuffled and refocused plans for OneClip many times internally, and now it looks like they finally have an area in which it fits nicely.
What was OneClip?
For those who were living under a rock in May of 2015, you likely missed out on the original hype for OneClip. In short, it was a Microsoft Garage project that leaked to the public, available on a plethora of platforms including Windows, Android, and iOS. Shortly after it had leaked, Microsoft pulled the service from the public, denying access to anyone outside of Microsoft.
OneClip was a unique garage project as it was the first of its kind, allowing users to copy text and images on one device and paste that content on another device that was logged in to the same OneClip account. This worked across PCs, tablets and phones of all kinds, making it the first universal app to do this.
It's been over a year now since OneClip was taken from the public, but that doesn't mean the project is dead. In fact, Microsoft has plans to introduce it down the line as a first-party feature, meaning it'll have tight integration with Microsoft products such as Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile and Office.
OneClip in 2017
For the most part, the OneClip the public got access to last year will very much be similar to the OneClip we get in 2017. Apart from obvious UI changes and improvements, the main goal of the service is still "copy once, paste everywhere". What has changed however is the fact that it's no longer a Microsoft Garage project and is now being developed under the Office and Windows teams.
Microsoft is looking at ways it can make OneClip a productive piece of software that compliments Windows and Office in 2017, including integration with Working Sets, and positioning OneClip as a service that can not only copy your information, but back it up, store it, and collect information too.
For example, users creating a report or PowerPoint presentation for school or work can be doing research online, either on their phone, or on a computer that isn't their own. In this case, you find some information that will be great for your project, however you don't have your project on you at the time to add to. With OneClip, you can simply copy what you've found, whether it be a link, image, text or document, and store it within OneClip. When you get home, that piece of information you found earlier will be readily available to you from the OneClip stream.
OneClip and Working Sets integration will allow the user to simply pull up the OneClip stream whilst within a document, and pull content directly from OneClip with no fuss. With OneClip, you'll also be able to sort your clips into specific types of clips, being able to filter them easily for finding later. This is especially helpful for those who are constantly copy and pasting information between devices. Here's an example of some of the types of things you can copy with OneClip:
- Favorites
- Websites
- Images
- Phone numbers
- Text
- Locations
OneClip is expected to be available on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, Android, iOS and Mac OS.
Bundle?
I've heard from sources that Microsoft may rebrand OneClip as "Bundle" when it launches to the public, as the feature has expanded to more than just an online clipping service. Now that OneClip is under Windows and Office, the company can do more with it and expand it to more apps and services. It's still early days to lock in a name change for definite, but it's definitely possible, and "Bundle" is what I've heard.
As with all in-development plans, anything and everything could change between now and whenever Microsoft feels ready to launch OneClip to the public. The concepts you see in this article are from internal sources, meaning UI's are not final.
