“Today, Microsoft and DocuSign announced a long-term strategic partnership to make DocuSign’s industry-leading eSignature apps widely available from within Microsoft Office 365. DocuSign’s new solutions, which are built on the Office 365 platform, will include integration within Outlook, Word, SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server 2013”, says the Office team.
via Betanews: Paper is passé — DocuSign eSignature comes to Microsoft Office 365.
DocuSign’s eSignature apps have been available to Google Docs users for some time and the addition of Office 365 just increases the market penetration. As acceptance of digital signatures through trusted apps like DocuSign increases fulfilling the longtime dream of a paperless office becomes more likely.
When you say ‘digital signatures’, do you mean just ‘electronic signatures’, or are you using the term in its technical sense of signatures generated through public key cryptography? Legally, of course, electronic signatures have always been legally valid – the Law Commission of England and Wales found in 2000 that no law reform was needed for that effect. What signatures are prudent in what circumstances will vary, just as the appropriate medium and method for handwritten signatures will vary.
It may be a great step forward to have Docusign technology readily available, but it should not be suggested that electronic signing has not been available or valid before.