Remember Office Mix? It was Microsoft’s effort to make PowerPoint slide more interactive and online. What happened to it and why hasn’t it been properly replaced?
Mix is one of those Microsoft ventures which they encourage Office customers to spend time and money on. Redmond promises their wholehearted support for the technology right up to the point where they ‘pull the plug’.
Then their customers are left hanging with just promises and vague timelines.
We said at the time that Mix was being pushed as an educational tool but it clearly had uses beyond the classroom.
Mix is dead, long live something?
Office Mix was killed off from October 2017 and the Mix web site is now closed.
But Microsoft’s promises for replacement Mix-like services haven’t been honored, even after more than six months.
The official transition page tells former Mix users to record a presentation and save it to Microsoft Stream. Customers are told:
“We are working to bring interactivity to the Microsoft Stream video player so you can build, upload, play back, and share more Mix-like content on Microsoft Stream (that includes quizzes, ability to jump to different parts of the presentation, and more)”
but there’s no sign of that happening.
Where are the Forms and Quizes?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Mix had fully migrated to PowerPoint. Especially when a help tip appears boasting about features not yet available.
Microsoft tells former Mix users to reveal the Recording Tab in PowerPoint (it’d hidden by default). When you do the above help appears.
Problem is … there are no quiz or form options available!
According to this January 2018 post from Microsoft there is to be an Insert | Forms option but it’s yet to appear despite the promises.
Source: Microsoft
