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July 11, 2007
When I hear the phrase “cloud computing” I always think of Google. The “cloud”, which refers to to software as an Internet service as opposed to desktop applications, is where Google sees the future of computing heading. In it’s vision, data will be stored, edit, accessed, shared, and created using Internet-based services hosted on Google servers. With promises of universal access, applications equal in power to their desktop counterparts, and collaboration ease, Google makes no secret of where it wants our productivity moving in the future. This line of thinking is an all-assault on Microsoft’s control of desktop computing. Microsoft has built is power and fortunes on desktop-based applications that users must install on each and every computer. Google denies that their efforts are competing with Microsoft. But it doesn’t take a genius to realize that they are. That’s why a USAToday article entitled “Ballmer: Microsoft’s future is in the ‘cloud‘” caught my eye. Because of its history with desktop computing - and the fact that the entire company is built upon desktop applications - Microsoft has been a little slower in changing their game. Matt has said in the past that it’s never a good idea to count Microsoft out of the game. So their Windows Live products are usually late to the game. So the naming strategy confuses the heck out of people. So Microsoft can’t decide if it wants web services to compliment desktop service or simply replace them. Internet applications are relatively new and no one dominates this field as of yet. Microsoft is a unique position here and, if they play their cards correctly, could theoretically simply shift their desktop dominance online. Now that we know they realize this is where things are going, I’m sure we can expect to see more of this happening:
It’s too early in the game to really say much with certainty. But I, for one, will be watching this play out. Google says the future is in the cloud. Microsoft says the future is in the cloud. With the world’s two most powerful technology companies on the same page, something tells me the future is going to end up in the cloud. Who’s cloud we end up on has yet to be determined…
Comments:
2 Comments posted on "Microsoft Joins Google on “The Cloud”"
RustyS on July 11th, 2007 at 5:23 pm #
They get picked on a lot, but many of the Live.com offerings are actually quite good. I actually use their maps more than Google’s these days. And as a Vista user, I’ve actually been extending my desktop search over to Live.com some and have been quite pleased with the quality of the results and the overall presentation. No doubt, that’s why Google’s throwing such a fit over Vista desktop search. They don’t want people to realize that Google’s not the only one who can do search well. The biggest thing will be how Microsoft handles the transition/integration of Office to ‘the cloud.’ Google’s current offering is promising but primitive and clunky in its current infancy phase. The development of Google Gears will no doubt help that some, but Microsoft already has a robust desktop-based solution for that space (Office 2007 is excellent, save for the crappy Word-based web rendering engine for Outlook.) Somehow syncing Office with ‘the cloud’ (while also offering a stand-alone web-interface) would seem a relatively straight-forward task for a company with Microsoft’s resources. Bundling in additional Live offerings from the Xbox and their great multimedia platform of Media Center into the cloud would also be a great angle they could take.
Derick on July 12th, 2007 at 10:48 am #
I agree - some Live.com services are pretty good. I’m a Vista users myself but I have yet to use the desktop search feature to initiate a Live.com search (I’m pretty good about knowing where my stuff is, anyway). In my opinion, Google’s fit over desktop search in Vista is more about eyeballs than anything else. If folks using Vista keep getting sent to Live.com for Internet searches, that’s millions of potential searches that won’t happen on Google. And if people don’t search on Google, people don’t click on Google ads… and if people don’t click on Google ads… Google doesn’t make billions of dollars a quarter. Like I said in the post, I, too, think Microsoft is a position to make a big impact in the cloud if they play their cards right. It’d likely be much easier for customers to migrate from a desktop version of MS Office to a cloud version of MS Office than it would be to migrate to something like Google Docs. But a lot of this game is going to come down to who does what and when they do it. Post a comment
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