Microsoft Vine: Enhanced Twitter for Emergency Situations

Microsoft was getting cold feat in the social networking arena but it seems they are finally trying to make their presence felt with their new web application Microsoft Vine. Microsoft Vine (not Wine) has launched its beta version in Seattle to test the robustness of their new product.

Microsoft Vine is more like an enhanced and highly localized version of twitter with message and alert system mainly targeted at emergency situations. MS Vine offers a dashboard that helps you keep yourself updated about your locality or any other area of your choice.

On its Map, you will get pointers sharing with you latest news and media information about that specific area. You can also get updates about your Vine contacts in the area through the Vine unique alert system, messaging or through Facebook and Twitter updates.

With MS Vine, you can also create your own groups of friends, family, class mates and of your teams. You can send and receive quick alerts to them through MS Vine. Not only this, you can also share reports with them from your area that you just came across. For example, a major Cyclone is moving towards your way and you saw came to know about it, you can send a quick alert to all your friends. As soon as they read it, you can then send them a detail report to compliment your initial alert. The Dashboard of all your contacts will keep getting updated with the information shared between any group. You can also share your current location and check out your friends current location on the maps.

The Microsoft has made this application for inclusive social network, where you can communicate through all other social networks as well as through your cellphone, fixed line phone and even your special need devices. The purpose of Microsoft is to extent the service to anyone with any means of communication.

Now whats next when this product is finally out in the public after its beta testing? Microsoft has itself answered this question in Microsoft Factsheet,

Over time, the network will provide advanced capabilities to help individuals, communities and organizations work together to fundamentally improve quality of life and be better prepared for any disaster. Grounded in the tools people use today, Microsoft is working to deliver a new generation of software and services that will enable society to self-organize effectively toward a broad range of goals. We call this concept “societal networking.”

The system requirements for MS Vine beta are following:

Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit edition only), Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions)
Processor: 1 GHz or higher Memory: 1 GB of RAM or higher for Windows Vista, 512 MB for Windows XP.
Hard disk space: 100 MB for Vine and 500 MB for the Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 with Service Pack 1
Resolution: Minimum 1024×768
Internet connection: Broadband Internet access is required (provided separately); charges may apply
Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or later, Firefox 3.0 or later
Graphics or video card: A graphic card with Microsoft DirectX 9 and 128 MB of graphic memory is recommended

In the end, the product is expected to be Free of Charge.

Click below to View:

Product Demo for MS Vine

Microsoft Factsheet for MS Vine

Microsoft Vine Official Website