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Battle in the Cloud: Microsoft vs Google

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There is a lot of buzz around businesses getting into the cloud. Storing data off site offers many advantages from always having access to your work to cutting costs. The question then comes down to which cloud service do you use? It seems these days that there’s a new cloud host popping up every other hour. There are two giants in the field at the moment: Microsoft and Google. Microsoft offers Office 365 and Google has its cloud apps like Google Docs. Here are some factors to consider when picking one.

Microsoft began its journey into the cloud over twenty years ago with its Exchange Service line. In all that time the software has been battle hardened and honed for enterprise purposes. Office 365 is a collection of all the Office Suite programs that you know, like Word and Powerpoint. These programs are then given sharing capabilities that allow them to communicate with the Cloud. These programs can also be used offline which is probably Office’s biggest advantage over Google. The downside is, as with most Microsoft programs, price. Office 365 comes in many forms and the version that contains the most useful tools like Sharepoint cost extra.

Google Apps’ standard version is free. All that is required is a Google account. It offers is own versions of spreadsheets, presentations, and a word processor. One of its bigger strengths is its ability to mesh perfectly with the Android platform, giving it greater mobility with smart phone users. However, its all online and that comes with its own problems. Google Apps are a bit clunky and lack the polish that Office 365 has. There’s also an issue with ease of use. Office has been around a long time and has had much more time to be tested and rendered for users. Though it may take some getting used to, Google Apps can be accessed by anyone anywhere with an internet connection.

It would take a week and a hundred thousand words to go into detail about these two cloud services. There are hundreds of variables to consider when addressing a businesses cloud service needs. More information can be found by talking to your IT department or here.

Apps the Digital Cash Cow

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How do you define success? For iTunes, I think reaching the 25 billion downloads mark sounds like a good standard. Apple is known for its hardware like the iPhone and iPad. But apps have become a cash cow. Experts predict that Apple will generate 13 billion dollars from selling apps next year. That’s a lot of money, even for a company that’s estimated to be worth nearly fifty times that. In iTunes, particular apps being sold are a centerpiece of Apple’s business strategy. The risk on any individual app is very high. Given the risk, the rewards are vast. The app Angry birds made over 70 million dollars against its 140 thousand cost to make. That’s over a 500 fold ROI. Even taking to account all the apps that failed that’s still worth for Apple to gamble on given their diverse portfolio of developers.

Microsoft is very keen on this market. The long term success of its upcoming smart phone, the Lumia 900, depends on how good its apps are. To this end, Microsoft is paying developers to develop apps on their platform. Shelling out between 60 to 600 thousand dollars, Microsoft wants to cut into the Android and Apple market in order to gain a foothold for their other products. Only time will tell if this approach will work.

Looking at all the apps that have done well in the past, I can say this: the success and failure of apps depends on three key features, simplicity, accessibility, and integration. Simplicity is important because the app must be usable by a large audience. Everyone from a mobile IT support worker to a half blind grandma should be able to use a successful app. Accessibility is the way apps can be downloaded and accessed by the phone itself. Given that two things are equal, consumers will generally chose the one that is easier to get too. Apple created iTunes to do this and Microsoft needs to design a marketplace that is equally, if not more, visible. Integration is final piece. The apps that are most used can flow seamlessly between the real and digital world. Good apps can be picked up and put down at the drop of the hat since they are most likely used on a mobile device on the go. It’ll be interesting to see what apps developers will come up with in the years to come.

The Lumia 900 is here

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One of the world’s largest cellphone maker, Nokia, has teamed up with the world’s largest operating systems creator, Microsoft. Their goal was to create a new smart phone that would usher both companies into a new age. Prior to the partnership, both companies recognized that they were stagnant giants. This project attempted to give Nokia and Microsoft a new edge in the market place. They came up with the Lumia 900, but does it really offer a challenge to the iPhone?

Starting at 99.99, the Lumia 900 is priced appropriately. It’s cheaper than the iPhone, which is key since everything is worth what the purchaser will pay. And people won’t pay much for an untested item. Its sleek design is large but comfortable, allowing more battery space and screen. Windows operates well on this phone. It carries all the standard features such as GPS and Wi-Fi. Where it falls flat is in the apps department. Apple has a huge advantage in this arena. Microsoft has even resorted to paying up to 600,000 dollars for popular app developers to make their programs compatible with Windows. For its long term health, the Lumia 900 and its successors will need a steady stream of lucrative apps. From IT consultants to people who just use their smart phones as watches, it’s all about the apps.

From the outside, Microsoft has provided the software and Nokia has offered the hardware. Like the black words and white pages, one can’t survive without the other. A year ago, Nokia was in a similar situation that Research in Motion is in now. Microsoft has deep pockets. An infusion of capital into an under used manufacturing system is recipe for success. In return, Microsoft has found an in road into a new technology that their previous Windows Phones were denied. Microsoft wants to avoid the pitfalls of companies like Wang Laboratories. Wang created great stand alone word processors, but failed to capitalize on the PC market making them just a foot note in tech history.

Windows Azure, Leap Day and Cloud Computing

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On Feb. 29, many users of Microsoft cloud computing service Windows Azure found their systems unavailable, and, for some, the outage continued into the next day. Microsoft has apologized, issued refunds to affected customers and promised to learn from the incident.

The company says the problems were the result of a “Leap Day bug,” an error related to date/time values. In a blog post, Bill Laing, vice president of Microsoft’s Server and Cloud Division, wrote that the problem emerged from the system’s attempt to create “valid-to” dates one year in the future, which Azure figured would be February 29, 2013. Since that day doesn’t exist, the certification creation failed, and users ended up being shut out of their cloud systems.

Then, Laing wrote, Microsoft inadvertently sent out an update package that wasn’t compatible with some companies’ host agents, which meant a delay in getting back to business.

The issue occurred at a time when many businesses are considering whether to go the cloud computing route, and for what operations. Azure is a prominent name in the space, along with products from Amazon, Google and other companies.

It may not be surprising that there would be bugs in cloud systems. They’re complicated, and pretty new. Windows Azure only became generally available in 2010. Then again, there are also plenty of potential pitfalls in storing data and software on-site. Keeping multiple computers updated with new software and security systems isn’t easy, and local servers—not to mention employees’ laptops—are vulnerable to all sorts of disasters. IT support firms can clarify these issues and help businesses choose the best tools—whether local or virtual—for their needs.

In response to the Leap Day problems, Microsoft has promised a number of improvements to its methods. Among other things, Laing wrote, the company will test its offerings better to avoid problems related to time and date values, work to detect errors more quickly and make customers’ dashboard interfaces more consistently available. The company also pledged to improve customer support and communications tools so that, in the event of an incident, those affected will have quicker access to better information about what’s going on.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is giving a 33 percent credit for the affected billing months for all users of the affected services—Azure Compute, Access Control, Service Bus and Caching—even if their service wasn’t interrupted.

Microsoft must be hoping the slip-up won’t hurt Azure, especially since cloud computing is more and more on the minds of businesses that are choosing how to deal with their data most simply and affordably. In its quest to win over those potential customers, the company also recently cut the price of Azure, following Google and Amazon, which have done the same for their cloud offerings.

Hotmail Gets a Makeover Part 2

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In the second part of our blog about the improved Hotmail, we’ll continue by discussing one more handy new feature available.

One such feature now available in the revamped email server is ‘instant actions,’ a tiny little change that might actually save you a lot of time in the long run. Instant Actions provides you with customizable icons that show up when you hover over each email, allowing you to do things like move or delete a message with one quick click.

Why The New Hotmail is So Exciting:

It is fascinating to watch Microsoft not only catch up and make its own versions of handy Gmail features for Hotmail, but also come up with things Google has yet to think of. Microsoft is trying to bust Hotmail out of its funk and make it a worthy, modern, relevant email server once again, an effort they deserve at least a pat on the back for.

When the changes role out in a few weeks, dust off your Hotmail account and take a peek inside—you might just like what you find.

Hotmail Gets a Makeover

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Hotmail?! Ugh.  A virtual storage space equivalent to your garbage can: spam, spam and more spam. That’s what you’re thinking, right? Who, besides your grandmother, uses that old, orange, ugly monster of an email server anymore?

But maybe, just maybe, you should consider revisiting your good old Hotmail account soon, because it is finally changing. Within weeks Hotmail will be rolling out a set of shiny new features. The changes are long overdue but it seems Microsoft has finally decided it will attempt to give Gmail a run for its money.

What’s New in Hotmail:

One significant improvement of the new system is the inclusion of categories, much like in Gmail.

Hotmail users can now label messages or senders into a particular group, either automatically based on content or sender, or manually. Users can also ‘flag’ messages, which automatically moves them to the top of your inbox and marks them with a little flag, much like Gmail’s ‘star’ system. Hotmail will also now automatically recognize newsletters and put them into a separate folder.

What’s Different from Gmail:

One totally unique and very welcome feature of the new Hotmail is the ‘scheduled cleanup.’ Scheduled Cleanups allow you to move or trash messages from specific senders after a set time period. You want all those irritating Facebook notification emails to be automatically trashed every three days? No problem. You want your banking statements to magically appear in their own folder at the end of every week? Done. It might not sound very exciting but the scheduled cleanup is actually a refreshing and much needed tool that allows you to easily keep your inbox neat and tidy.

 

What To Expect From Windows 8 – Part Two

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Here is part two of our report on the upcoming Windows 8.

Back It Up!

The Apple operating systems feature a program named “Time Machine”, which is a fully integrated solution to backup computer data.  Microsoft has taken some strides on this front, but most experts agree that serious backing-up requires a more robust third-party solution than what’s found in the current versions of Windows.

This is set to change with Microsoft’s new “History Vault” program in Windows 8.  Little is known about the program at this point, however its functionality is expected to be very similar to that of Time Machine.

The Microsoft Store:

Apple has received a lot of attention for its App Store, which is an online store where users can purchase applications for immediate download.

Microsoft is expected to debut a similar type of online store, however details, and how closely it can be expected to mirror the App Store, are currently sketchy.

In Conclusion:

Microsoft is well known for their constantly evolving products.  While these are the current innovations that are known, you can expect to see a lot more information unveiled over the next year as we get closer to launch.

We will keep you updated as new details emerge!

A Look At The Major Cloud Computing Players – Microsoft

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Cloud Computing is a hot topic in technology circles – the technology is consistently getting better and better, and more and more companies are coming into the cloud computing fold.

With so much going on in the cloud space, we wanted to provide a few blog entries designed to help you recognize some of the major players in the industry, and understand what they have to offer.

In this blog entry, we’ll focus on Microsoft.

Microsoft:

Microsoft primarily focuses on two areas in Cloud Computing:

– Microsoft Office 365:

This is the cloud version of Microsoft’s widely used Office suite.  In the cloud version of Office, users are able to access Office from anywhere and on a variety of devices – from smart phones to a work computer to a home laptop.

Office 365 also brings advances to collaboration tools – for instance, 365 users can see each other’s availability for scheduling, or work together through social networking.

– Windows Azure:

Windows Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform, which provides a wide variety of services.  IT specialists can move a company’s existing applications into the Azure cloud, or develop new web applications using Azure’s proven technology.

In Conclusion:

Microsoft is bringing some of its staple products to the Cloud, and it will be interesting to see how companies move to adopt the new offerings over the next year.

Stay tuned to our blog for more perspectives on other Cloud players like Amazon Web Services, Google and Rackspace.