Microsoft Brings Lync Video Chat to Kinect but Not Xbox 360

Microsoft has rebranded its Office Communicator product and called it Lync. Not only that but its voice and video chat has been demoed using Kinect but not the Xbox 360.

Cnet reports that Chris Capossela, senior vice president of Microsoft's Office division, "demoed it with Lync's corporate vice president, Gurdeep Singh Pall, as a way to bridge the gap between 'the boardroom and the living room' for video chat. Kinect already offers video chat with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger system, but not any other clients. Singh Pall noted that while the Xbox 360 won't work with Lync right now, the capability will be coming shortly with a software update."

What this does indicate, however, is that Microsoft will be - as we've known for quite some time - cross-funding and cross-promoting Kinect between the household and the business communities and the company's own profit (or cost) centres.

So, while games for Kinect are currently at best "family fun" and at worst tepid, the fact that the device is being put front and centre at a Microsoft business launch indicates that more of the units will be getting into the world.


Source: CNET