It’s OK to be confused. Looking back at how Microsoft has spoken and written about the Fluid Framework, I see some confused messaging that’s painfully similar to the “it’s a floor wax and a dessert topping” SNL skit. It’s either going to be everything. Or nothing.

When Microsoft announced the Fluid Framework last year, it was positioned it as a “people-centric” computing model for developers and “a new web-based platform and componentized document model for shared, interactive experiences.” Fluid seemed like a modern take on OLE, and if successful, I remarked at the time, it could mean the end of standalone, monolithic apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.