Productivity software is a big deal. Microsoft makes billions each year from its office division. Businesses need access to all kinds of information. Software makes sharing information easy and, most importantly, fast. Email a document over to a co-worker, set up a power-point presentation, print out fliers, etc. Getting information from person to person is big business.
The easiest way, that I can think of, to share information is to upload it to the cloud. The cloud is, very basically, the Internet. Documents, presentations, emails, spreadsheets, all of it hosted online. As long as you have Internet access you can get to all the collaborative projects you could be working on. This has many advantages over saving information on a local hard-drive. Work is more efficient, no more looking for the latest revision to a document, it is saved in the cloud.
Google has been offering cloud computing for some time now and their offerings keep getting better and better. Now Google is making an effort to lure businesses from the traditional Microsoft set up and get them in the cloud. I believe that cloud computing is the future of the way people do business. The need for centralized headquarters will be diminished and workers will be able to collaborate from across the globe.
And with Google entering Microsoft's most profitable arena, Microsoft has announced some changes to business as usual. For starters Microsoft will be hosting free online applications of its popular Office suite. I hope Microsoft can build an entire online platform for businesses. Google has lightweight apps that are usable, but not game changing. Microsoft has a real opportunity to make THE online business platform, an opportunity it probably wont get back.
Going Google.
Microsoft 2010 Online.
No comments:
Post a Comment