Office Web Apps embedded in your weblog

Thought it would be a nice start of my presentation tomorrow to start it off from my own weblog. I've uploaded my presentation to my Skydrive and used the new embedding feature to put it on my blog. From there I can either present from the browser or load it into PowerPoint if and where avaialble ...

Gartner Webinar : Google vs. Microsoft: A Battle for the Clouds

This is a recorded session. Its free but you have to register …

Google and Microsoft are investing billions of dollars every year, building out data centers to support their cloud offerings, and hoping to be No. 1 in a world where the cloud is central to computing. We'll focus on the differences between their strategies, and who is likely to succeed most at what.

Please join VP and Gartner Fellows Tom Austin and David Mitchell Smith

What You Will Learn:

• Where do Microsoft and Google stand today?
• What will be the effect on markets as a result of Microsoft/Google competition?
• How will enterprise IT decisions be affected by the battles between Microsoft and Google?

Pew Internet : The future of cloud computing

Recent report by Pew Internet about the perceived future of cloud computing. Especially the comments to certain questions contain great insights and links king this a very good read …

Overview

Technology experts and stakeholders say they expect they will ‘live mostly in the cloud’ in 2020 and not on the desktop, working mostly through cyberspace-based applications accessed through networked devices. This will substantially advance mobile connectivity through smartphones and other internet appliances.

Many say there will be a cloud-desktop hybrid. Still, cloud computing has many difficult hurdles to overcome, including concerns tied to the availability of broadband spectrum, the ability of diverse systems to work together, security, privacy, and quality of service.

About the Survey

The survey results are based on a non-random online sample of 895 internet experts and other internet users, recruited via email invitation, Twitter or Facebook from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University. Since the data are based on a non-random sample, a margin of error cannot be computed, and the results are not projectable to any population other than the experts in this sample.

Source and download: Pew Internet

This type of future research also brings the Microsoft 2019 video to mind. Great context for the research above if you ask me …

&Samhoud | e-Office : een succesvol project–#BPOS #MSOnline

Een mooie referentiecase die heel goed de waarde van Microsoft Online services aangeeft.  “It’s not about the service, it’s about the user”

Gefeliciteerd &Samhoud en e-Office !

&samhoud ‘builds a brighter future’ door mensen en kennis met elkaar te verbinden

&samhoud realiseert doorbraken in haar verandertrajecten voor klanten door het inspireren en verbinden van mensen. Ook &samhoud, beste werkgever van Nederland en Europa ( volgens het Great Place To Work Institute) stelde zichzelf ten doel de verbinding tussen haar mensen en klanten te verbeteren. Een gesprek met Petra Vos, projectleider Work in Connection bij &samhoud, over het toegankelijk maken van kennis binnen de organisatie.

verbinden van mensen en kennis in de cloud
Petra Vos: ‘&samhoud is een ongewoon gewoon adviesbureau. Al drie jaar achtereenvolgend mogen wij ons de Great Place To Work (GPTW) van Nederland noemen en dit jaar zijn we ook de beste werkgever van Europa. GPTW houdt jaarlijks een onderzoek naar de tevredenheid van onze medewerkers. In de resultaten van dit onderzoek kwam naar voren dat, hoewel we een nummer 1 score hebben, de kennisdeling binnen onze organisatie toch beter kan. Wij vroegen ons af hoe we mensen en kennis optimaal met elkaar kunnen verbinden. We willen kennis toegankelijk maken voor onze medewerkers in Nederland, maar ook voor onze mensen in Spanje en vanaf volgend jaar in Maleisië.’
‘Wij gingen daarover in gesprek met Microsoft,’ vervolgt Vos haar verhaal. ‘Zij vertelden ons over de mogelijkheden van Microsoft SharePoint als virtuele kennisomgeving en hoe deze technologie effectief samenwerken en kennisdelen ondersteunt. Bij &samhoud hebben we één IT specialist in huis. Om deze reden past een standaard cloud oplossing, Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), ons het beste. De omgeving wordt extern beheerd en er worden automatisch updates uitgevoerd, dat ons investeringen in kennis en tijd bespaart.’  …

Ga naar de e-Office site voor de gehele casestudy

InfoWorld: Groeiende interesse MKB in managed services

InfoWord publiceerde vorige week een artikel dat de groeiende interesse van MKB bedrijven in Managed Services of wel diensten aangeeft. Dit naar aanleiding van een onderzoek van MarketCap.

Zoals het artikel al aangeeft is Microsoft een van de bedrijven die hier actief op inspeelt met ondermeer door partner gehoste oplossingen en online diensten rechtsreeks van Microsoft.

.. en wellicht heel aantrekkelijk voor de snelle beslissers, Mirosoft geeft nu tot 25% korting aan bedrijven die de BPOS Suite voor eind juni 2009 aanschaffen ! 

… Bedrijven zullen in 2009 het meest investeren in volledig beheerde netwerk- en platformdiensten, zo voorspelt onderzoeksbureau MarketCap. Met name het midden- en kleinbedrijf zal dit jaar massaal kiezen voor managed services, zoals software-as-a-service.

Volgens MarketCap, dat eind 2008 de investeringsintenties bij bedrijven en instellingen onderzocht, zijn managed services in 2008 en 2009 de meest genoemde IT-investering. Zo zou eenderde van de kleinere bedrijven het werkplekbeheer nu al aan externe mensen overlaten.

Betere service
Kleinere en middelgrote ondernemingen met een beperkte IT-capaciteit zijn bijzonder ontvankelijk voor volledig beheerde diensten, constateert MarketCap. Kim van Brugge van distributeur Portland Europe ziet deze ontwikkeling terug in de praktijk. "Veel IT dienstverlenende bedrijven in de Benelux zijn nu juist op zoek naar een goede managed service oplossing waarmee zij klanten niet alleen een kwalitatief betere service kunnen verlenen, maar ook tegen een aantrekkelijker kostenplaatje."

Softwareleveranciers met veel klanten in het MKB, zoals Microsoft, Symantec, Trend Micro en IASO, spelen al in op deze trend en ontwikkelden specifieke managed services voor deze doelgroep. In de Benelux gaat het om een omvangrijk marktsegment: zo zijn er in deze regio alleen al 50.000 bedrijven met 20-100 medewerkers. Bedrijven zouden ook vanwege de huidige economische situatie sneller kiezen voor managed services, aldus MarketCap. Diensten zoals software-as-a-service zijn in trek, omdat de eindgebruiker vooraf geen investeringen hoeft te doen. …

Bron: Groeiende interesse MKB in managed services

Computable: SaaS is regelmatig niet zaligmakend

Begin deze maand schreef Dave Kroger van Mamut een goed opiniestuk over de Mythe van SaaS :

Mythe: SaaS is zaligmakend

Als we de recente berichtgeving rondom SaaS moeten geloven, is SaaS de heilige graal van de software-industrie. Leveranciers van SaaS-oplossingen doen het overkomen alsof SaaS alle problemen doet oplossen en men maar beter vandaag nog de on-premise software overboord kan gooien. Niets meer op de lokale computer, maar alles in bereik via de internetverbinding.

Lees verder

Vandaag publiceerde Computable de recaties van een aantal mensen op het artikel, waar onder die van mij ..

In een hype overstemmen de juichverhalen veelal de kritiek. Met SaaS is het niet anders. Toch vindt Expert Dave Kroder dit onterecht. Op het Topic SaaS brengt hij vier mythes rondom SaaS waarop de andere experts uiteraard reageerden.

 

… Peter de Haas, online strategy manager, Microsoft

Perfecte (ict-)oplossingen bestaan niet, dus ook geen zaligmakende. Net als over alle andere ict-oplossingen bestaan er over SaaS veel meningen en ook veel percepties. En zoals de Engelsen zo mooi zeggen ‘perception is reality', oftewel de klant heeft altijd gelijk. Is SaaS goedkoper, onveiliger, heeft de oplosisngen een lager service level dan een on-premise oplossing, etc.? Al die vragen zijn met ‘ja' en met ‘nee' te beantwoorden. Wat ontbreekt er? Context! Wat is die SaaS-oplossing, hoe is deze geïmplementeerd, hoe werkt deze samen met de overige ict-applicaties, wat is het beveiligingsmodel, wat is het kennisniveau van de betrokkenen met betrekking tot alle aspecten, etc.? Zonder deze context, vaak klantspecifiek, is het een hypothese. Ook leuk op zijn tijd, maar het draagt weinig bij aan de oplossing voor de klant/gebruiker en doet misschien ook wel onnodig afbreuk aan de reputatie van SaaS-oplossingen. Mijn advies: maak de discussie/probleemstelling concreet en liefst klant- of oplossingspecifiek. Pas dan komen de juiste vraagstukken boven en zijn de oplossingen soms dingen waar je best verrast over kunt zijn...

bron: SaaS is regelmatig niet zaligmakend

Exchange 2010 Target? Google Gmail et al…

Bill Pray has a positive assessment of Microsoft Exchange 2010. Exchange 2010 is the most rock-solid Email and Calendaring solution for bith on-premise as well as Online scenario. I believe the recently released beta is very well received.

… As the Microsoft marketing machine cranks up the information on Exchange 2010, it is interesting to note how many articles are devoted to new productivity capabilities for users. However, user productivity is not what Exchange 2010 is about… Exchange 2010 is about Microsoft competing with Google and anyone else who throws their hat into the ring – Cisco? IBM? Yahoo!? - in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-mail market. While there is no question that Google still has a limited presence in enterprise e-mail, Gmail continues to garner fans and install base in the small and medium business market. Microsoft is no stranger to that strategy and must respond by providing a better enterprise SaaS e-mail solution or risk losing future market share.

Microsoft has not made it a secret that Exchange 2010 is intended to become Microsoft’s attack on the SaaS e-mail market, but the Microsoft marketing machine sometimes obscures things in an effort to get messaging to various audiences. However, the press announcement states in the second sentence: “Exchange 2010 is part of the next wave of Microsoft Office-related products and is the first server in a new generation of Microsoft server technology built from the ground up to work on-premises and as an online service.” …

… Obviously, many of these features are good for an on-premise implementation also. However, when you start perusing the feature list for Exchange 2010, it is clear that Microsoft is executing on a strategy to make Exchange SaaS friendly. The story line for Exchange 2010 is not about enhancements in productivity features for the enterprise, it is about Microsoft taking Exchange to cloud. …

Be sure to check the article for all details ..

Source: Exchange 2010 Target? Google Gmail et al…

Ovum: Microsoft goes online and worldwide

Ovum gives a brief analysis on Microsoft’s international launch of BPOS. Unlike some other analysis I’ve seen trying to compare Google Apps to Microsoft BPOS, this highlights one of the main differences … Choice …

…Microsoft's recently announced Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) is much more than a challenge to Google Apps, playing as it does to organisations from five persons to millions, and allowing a combination of in-house and hosted deployment - the so-called 'software plus services' model. The release of BPOS is very timely, offering guaranteed availability and with well thought out functionality. However, there is still some work to do on the product that might make it appear like a beta release in the eyes of a CIO.

 

Mix 'n' match for customers and partners

The BPOS hosted products are: Exchange, SharePoint, Office Communications Server and LiveMeeting. This package is priced at $15 per seat per month and organisations can subscribe to additional facilities such as archiving.

But this is not just cloud-based services like Google Apps, although that offering is definitely a threat that Microsoft wants to see off. Rather it is a software plus service offering that gives organisations that have the IT support infrastructure and wish to retain in-house capability the option to have their BPOS services linked to the corporate servers to provide an anywhere information service for employees, partners or customers. …

Continue at source : Ovum.com

A SaaS app that's free unless it delivers value

I have no opinion about the service described in the article mentioned below. I was just surprised by the “value proposition”: 

… Imagine an application that you don't have to pay a penny for unless it provides measurable value to your company -- and it's up to the vendor to prove that. IT shops the world over would be a lot better off, though the entire class of enterprise applications vendors would be in dire straits if they ever made such a claim. But eGain promises just that. ..

Source: A SaaS app that's free unless it delivers value

My suggested approach would be: If an application does not provide measurable value don’t waste any time on it, not now, not ever …

Cloud9 : Saas vs. Software + Services

Cloud9 is a blog of everything that has to do with cloud computing at Microsoft.

It features a very good post on the comparison between SaaS and Software + Services. This is not to illustrate than one is better than the other, because this is not what Microsoft’s S+S strategy is about. Understanding the architectural differences will help organsiations / architects to choose the best scenario for their implementation ..

… Saas is an architectural paradigm where a solution architecture can benefit from the economies of scale of the data and behavior of that architecture being built and hosted in the cloud by a third party in a multitenant fashion.
Software + Services is an architectural paradigm where a solution architecture can achieve some of the same economies of scale as Saas while simultaneously benefiting from the synergies and efficiencies of the data and behavior of that
architecture being partly built on premises and partly built by third parties in a multitenant fashion, as well as, partly hosted on premises and partly hosted in the cloud in a multitenant fashion.

The cloud meaning, from an application standpoint, a set of applications or services with standards based interoperable interfaces that can be easily reachable and easily composed from any platforms in any locations with an internet connection.  The cloud also meaning, from an infrastructure standpoint, a set of connected data centers providing elastic compute, elastic storage and other enterprise SLAs for those applications or services.
Multitenant meaning application routines, data and infrastructure meant to be built and hosted in a shared manner among multiple clients of the Saas organization.

In Software + Services the degree to which solution architecture is partly hosted on premesis or in the cloud, or, the degree to which the application is built from 3rd party services or software vs. homegrown software can be anywhere
along a spectrum of totally homegrown and hosted in house with small amount of 3rd party to almost totally a Saas model except for some code running on premises or close to the consumer of that data or behavior.
The "Software" in Software + Services alludes to data and routines executed or stored as close to the consumer as possible and/or on-premise inside corporate firewall.  This could include everything from thick clients on desktops or
server software inside corporate firewalls to Silvelight web based applications to clients on roaming mobile phones. …

Continue at source

Yammer goes from SaaS to Software + Services

Yammer also sees the benefits / needs of a Software + Services strategy. Some organisations prefer or maybe even require an onpremise solution …

Enterprise microblogging software service provider Yammer has announced a version of their software that can be run on a company's servers, inside the corporate firewall.

The Twitter-like service intended for the workplace has had great success with the hosted version of their software and is trying to take the next step in facilitating conversations in companies and workgroups. …

 

… Why Go Internal?

Why would Yammer release a self-hosted version? For many reasons, but primarily because many enterprises maintain IS security policies that all corporate communications are held on corporate servers. While using Yammer in a traditional manner, users store microblogging messages on Yammer's servers. Under this arrangement, potentially sensitive and confident information might seep out into just anyone's hands, causing unease in the information security fields  ….

Source: Yammer Goes Beyond SaaS, Offers Self-Hosted Version

IBM Bluehouse Becomes LotusLive to Challenge Microsoft, Google in SAAS

 

.. IBM LotusLive Engage sheds the Bluehouse moniker for its SAAS messaging and collaboration applications, which are hosted in the cloud, or over the Web. LotusLive is IBM's enterprise applications challenge to Microsoft Windows Live and Google Apps. LotusLive integrates with Salesforce.com, Skype and LinkedIn to reach potentially 400 million new users.
- Orlando -- Bluehouse, the SAAS (software as a service) IBM hosts for companies to connect their end users, was renamed LotusLive Engage and given some quick credibility with the integration of business partners Salesforce.com, Skype and LinkedIn at Lotusphere 2009 Jan. 18. …

Source: IBM Bluehouse Becomes LotusLive to Challenge Microsoft, Google in SAAS

 

“LotusLive is IBM's enterprise applications challenge to Microsoft Windows Live “

So .. what’s an enterprise applications challenge ? and why put this in relation to Microsoft Windows Live platform which is consumer oriented ?

Microsoft has recently turned Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) into production which is Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and LiveMeeting. So if IBM looks to compete in business (whatever size) this would be a more appropriate comparison to make.

A maturity model for cloud computing

I like maturity models; simply because they help any discussion with regards to the incremental steps within the developement of a product, solution or service. James Urquhart has developed a maturity model for clud computing :

One of the really difficult aspects of cloud computing for most established IT organizations is the fact that the move to clouds, even private clouds, is not a simple, intuitive one. Replacing the bulk of both technology and process with a focus on capacity as a service--an automated, self-administered service--results in many organizations "experimenting" with the cloud, but few pushing any barriers. To make matters worse, we are in that wonderful "discovery" phase of a technology, where there are few if any guides to how to do it right, with minimal risk, and those that do exist are generally personal opinions, not "burned in" recipes for success.

This post does not pretend to be such a recipe. However, over the course of the last several months, culminating in some great conversations with some really smart people the last few weeks, I've come to realize that there is a basic maturity model for moving from data center consolidation architectures to true open market cloud architectures.

Remember maturity models? They've been around for some time, but a couple of years ago there was a small burst of creativity among system integrators and analysts alike, and maturity models were defined for a variety of IT subjects, ranging from business processes to technology architectures, such as SOA. The basic idea was to lay out some milestones, or even "gateways", to be achieved by IT as they worked towards achieving some idealized computing or process goal.

To that end, below is a simple five phase maturity model that I and others believe describes the stages of evolution for an enterprise data center trying to achieve cloud Nirvana:

...

Continue at Source: A maturity model for cloud computing

Cloud Computing in Plain English

I'm a big fan of these videos. Cloud Computing explained ...

Gartner: SaaS to grow in 90% of organizations

Gartner surveyed 258 IT managers in US and Europe and did find a strong demand for SaaS based solutions. Also some differences in SaaS investments in US compared to Europe :

Nine out of ten companies plan to grow their use of software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the next year, according to a survey by Gartner.

More than one third of respondents (37%) plan to replace on-premises software with SaaS to drive down total cost of ownership (TCO), Gartner found.

Those surveyed cited cost-effectiveness and ease of deployment as primary reasons for adoption. Other major drivers included replacing on-premises solutions that had not met performance expectation, or changes in sourcing strategy.

The survey involved eight major countries worldwide and 258 IT executives that make purchasing decisions of enterprise software. Most respondents were either currently using SaaS, or planned to use it within the next 12 months.

European firms trailed behind North American companies when it came to plans to increase investments in SaaS or subscription model products. But 49 percent of European respondents said that they expect new investments to increase slightly and 15 percent expect significant increases in investments. This compares to 62 percent and 15 percent respectively in North America. The US has been an early adopter of SaaS, with more than 20 percent of respondents indicating use for five years or longer and 60 percent having adopted it in the last three years.

Source : ITWorld

Volkskrant: Lekker met z’n allen in de wolk

Bard van de Weijer van de Volkskrant schreef 2 weken geleden een leuk artikel rondom de ‘online’ ontwikkelingen en percepties. Ik heb er een kleine bijdrage aan mogen leveren.

Ik kwam het artikel nu pas online tegen en de geeft me de mogelijkheid wat additionele informatie rondom mijn “quotes”  te geven :

Peter de Haas, in Nederland verantwoordelijk voor de online strategie van Microsoft, ontkent dat cloud computing een bedreiging vormt voor het softwareconcern. ‘Als je kijkt naar een pakket als Office, moet onderscheid worden gemaakt tussen de zakelijke en de consumentenmarkt. Die laatste categorie kan Office tegen een zeer laag tarief aanschaffen. Als je moet kiezen tussen afhankelijk zijn van een internetverbinding of een paar tientjes uitgeven voor het pakket, is de keuze snel gemaakt.’

Ik heb Microsoft Office als voorbeeld genoemd. Iedereen met schoolgaande kinderen en studenten kunnen tegen een zeer gereduceerd tarief Microsoft Office en vele andere software produkten aanschaffen :

Slim.nl

Alle VO-, VMBO-, MBO- of ROC-instellingen die een licentie-overeenkomst hebben afgesloten bij SLBdiensten, kunnen de bijbehorende software bestellen bij Slim. Slim is in 1995 opgericht en is de logistieke partner van SLBdiensten. Wij leveren alle benodigde media, zoals cd-roms, dvd’s, downloads, licentiesleutels en serienummers.

Afhankelijk van de afspraken in de licentieovereenkomst, kunnen de medewerkers, studenten of hun ouders ook software voor thuisgebruik bestellen. In sommige gevallen is het ook mogelijk om de software voor thuisgebruik aan te schaffen zonder dat de onderwijsinstelling een licentieovereenkomst bij SLBdiensten heeft afgesloten.

Surfspot.nl

SURFSPOT.NL is dé ICT-webwinkel waar studenten en medewerkers van universiteiten en hogescholen, medewerkers van basisscholen en (ouders van) basisschoolleerlingen officiele software en andere ICT-producten tegen zeer lage prijzen kunnen aanschaffen.

Altijd en overal kunnen tekstverwerken, rekenen of presentaties kunnen maken met het meest uitgebreide en meest gebruikte office pakket tegen hele lage kosten … zo moeilijk is het niet

In de zakelijke markt is gratis vaak geen issue, zegt De Haas. ‘Daar werkt het advertentiemodel niet of nauwelijks.’ Microsoft biedt in de zakelijke wolk ook diensten aan als Exchange of Sharepoint, waarvoor maandelijks een bepaald bedrag per gebruiker wordt betaald.

Microsoft Online Services biedt Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Server Online en Office LiveMeeting. Deze diensten zijn nu al wereldwijd beschikbaar voor organisaties met meer dan 5000 werkplekken en vanaf de eerste helft 2009 beschikbaar voor alle organisaties.

Laptop
Microsoft zegt niet te geloven dat alles naar de wolk zal verdwijnen. ‘Internet en datacentra hebben grote voordelen, maar toepassingen die gebruik maken van lokale rekenkracht blijven de komende jaren belangrijk’, zegt De Haas. ‘Stel, je geeft een presentatie voor een volle zaal. Dan wil je die liever vanaf je eigen laptop doen, dan via het internet waarbij je het risico loopt dat de verbinding niet werkt.’

OP events waar presentaties gegeven worden is Microsoft PowerPoint in 99,9% van de gevallen de tool en eigen laptop of memorystick het medium. Natuurlijk zegt dit niets over het tool waarmee de presentatie is gemaakt maar wel degelijk iets over de zekerheid van “offline” in dit soort situaties.

Microsoft zegt dat het internet meer en meer zal gaan dienen als een hub (een opslagplaats) voor documenten, software en diensten, maar dat toepassingen op laptops, slimme telefoons en pc’s niet zullen verdwijnen. Aan het eind van de maand zal het softwareconcern nieuwe plannen voor cloud computing bekendmaken. ‘Maar daar mag ik nu nog niets over zeggen.’

Eind deze maand maakt Microsoft meer bekend rondom Live Mesh en de strategie rondom ‘Cloud Computing’ opde Professional Developer Conference.

Think outside the (geo)box!

2 weken geleden presenteerde ik op het event Think outside the (geo)box! van GEO Business Nederland :

18 september 2008

Het RGI NedGEOS consortium, een samenwerking tussen universiteiten, kennisinstituten en GeoBusiness Nederland, nodigt u uit voor het seminar ‘Think outside the (geo)box! - Is de geo-sector klaar voor de toekomst?’

Het seminar vindt plaats op donderdag 18 september op de Uithof te Utrecht.

De dag begint met een aantal prikkelende presentaties die de traditionele geo-sector op zijn kop zetten. Welke ontwikkelingen en trends van buiten ons vakgebied komen op ons af en gaan de onderzoeksagenda voor onze sector mede bepalen? Kunnen we hier als geo-bedrijven en geo-onderzoeksinstellingen op inspelen of hebben we de boot al gemist?

 

 

En mijn presentatie :

Microsoft Think Outside The (Geo)Box 18 9 2008 Publish

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web20 softwareplusservices)

SaaS vs S+S : Apple's MobileMe mail, Google's Gmail go dark

An article on the Computerworld website triggered me due to a funny comment quoted in there. The article was about the issues both Apple and Google experienced with their services over the last week or so :

… Both services have been restored, companies claim, but continuing problems anger users

August 11, 2008 (Computerworld) Apple Inc.'s MobileMe and Google Inc.'s Gmail online e-mail services suffered hours-long outages Monday, leaving millions of users unable to access their accounts.

Google restored service within about two and a half hours, but it took Apple approximately seven hours to restore full access to its online mail service.

Apple users first reported trouble accessing the service's servers from their desktop mail clients around 2 p.m. Eastern time, and in the next several hours, posted several hundred messages on the MobileMe support forum about the outage. …

The comment was a big apology to Microsoft Outlook :-)

… But Owen Schultz had one of the best takes of any user. "Dear MS Outlook," Schultz started, "I am so sorry about our breakup several year ago. I have been thinking about you a lot since then. Will you please consider taking me back? Just one more chance? I'm sorry about all the horrible things I said about you and your operating system. You were the best I ever had! MobileMe and I are finished!" …

Source: Computerworld

Coke's Largest Bottler Taps Microsoft For SaaS

Good article about Coca Cola Enterprises choosing MIcrosoft’s Business Productivilty Online Suite and therewith replacing Lotus Notes / Domino based email system and extranet :

Coca-Cola Enterprises, Coke's largest bottling company, has faced seesawing fortunes in recent years, from a $1.1 billion loss in 2006 to a $711 million gain last year to lowered profit forecasts for this year, forcing changes across the business. In IT, one of the most visible is the company becoming Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s largest software-as-a-service customer to date, contracting for 35,000 employees to get their e-mail and other collaboration capabilities via a subscription service.

By later this year, most of the 35,000 knowledge workers at Coca-Cola Enterprises, known as CCE, will have moved from IBM (NYSE: IBM) Lotus Notes to Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Online, the SaaS version of Microsoft's e-mail server. It's the first piece of a larger move to Microsoft collaboration tools that CCE hopes will bring the company the ease of management and the consistent user experience of an integrated suite. The switch to a hosted model, which will take place over the next year, also will include SharePoint Online for ad hoc team collaboration and content management, Live Meeting for Web conferencing, and Office Communications Server Online for unified communications.

Up till now, CCE's collaboration strategy has used nonintegrated tools. There was an IBM-based extranet managed partially by a service provider, Lotus Notes for e-mail, a legacy intranet, and a separate Web conferencing tool. "We were missing the mark," says John Key, CCE's senior manager for collaboration.

When the new system's in place, executives will be able to broadcast live video to all of the company's knowledge workers. Employees will be able to schedule Live Meeting Web conferences through Outlook, or take a chat session in the Office Communicator instant messaging tool and turn it into a phone call. A new intranet based on SharePoint will include industry news, video and audio content, executive blogs, and employee polls.

Continue at Source: InformationWeek

Forrester: Firms Want Managed Unified Communications

I like the thought that UC is preferred ‘as-a-service’, but I do not understand the motivation as descibed by Forrester : unclear ROI to name one. Depending on the depreciation status of the current Communication Infrastructure ofcourse, the benefits and value of UC is a ‘no-brainer’

I do agree the landscape is changing fast, but so are the prices. This space is being ‘democratised’ …

Microsoft’s view on UC is that is (rapidly becoming) a software play rather than proprietary hardware. Chaninging fast in that context is more innovation than anything else, somthing that is often not the case for some of the PBX’s in the basement …

Bottomline it makes sence to procure it as-a-service which in most cases includes the upgrades (innovation) …

The number of unified communications (UC) evaluations and pilots is up more than 20% since last year. However, those pilots have not yet translated into full deployments.

Why? Unclear value of ROI, rapidly evolving technologies and standards, immature user interfaces, and a confusing vendor landscape.

As a result, many technology decision-makers tell us that they want to rent rather than buy unified communications. This perfect storm of change and uncertainty enables UC vendors, network service providers, and even software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors to win managed UC share by offering industry-specific solutions, enabling rich channel partners, and ensuring that CIOs hear the message of mitigating risk with managed UC deployments.

Source: Firms Want Managed Unified Communications

Seagate introduceert 1,5 TB-schijf voor desktop

Grappige ontwikkeling. Veel software fabrikanten roepen “SaaS / Cloud Computing” en diskfabrikanten roepen “Terrabyte op de desktop”. Beiden hebben gelijk volgens mij; veel gebruikers willen nog zaken lokaal op blijven slaan : “Software + Services” ;-)

Seagate brengt drie nieuwe harde schijven op de markt met een hoge opslagcapaciteit.

Source: Seagate introduceert 1,5 TB-schijf voor desktop

CMS Watch: Legal ruling shakes up E-mail Archiving and Management Sector

CMS Watch reports on a legal ruling that may impact solutions that offer email archiving-as-a-service … Makes me wonder if this also is true for RIM’s BlackBerry Service ?

… The whole issue of (E-mail Archiving and Management) EAM has come under the spotlight recently - triggered by a ruling by the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco - a ruling that touches on the Fourth Amendment "Protection from unreasonable search and seizure." In this particular case, plaintiffs argued that when employers read the content of text messages sent by their employees, text messages that were held by a hosted vendor (Arch Wireless), that the employees' fourth amendment privileges were breached. In other words that even though the employees were using company-paid messaging systems, that the employer should still respect their privacy and the confidential nature of personal message exchanges.

It's a ruling that could have a huge impact on the EAM market and in particular on vendors like Fortiva, Dell MessageOne and Google Postini, that all offer hosted SaaS EAM solutions. Why SaaS options in particular? Well the ruling states that employers (when using "outside" third-party text or e-mail services) cannot get access to employees' content without their permission first. The ruling is a bit hazy -- and may or may not apply if the mail and text servers are located on-premise. But regardless of whether this just applies to SaaS or both on and off premise solutions, just think the implications through for a moment -- the impact is potentially huge. …

Continue at source: Legal ruling shakes up E-mail Archiving and Management Sector

Acht argumenten tegen SaaS

Webwereld publiceerde vandaag een interessant artikel over de ‘ drempels’  van SaaS adoptie :

De populariteit van Software as a Service is niet te stuiten. Toch ziet marktvorser Forrester weerstand bij veel bedrijven om voor het huren van programmatuur te kiezen.

SaaS heeft zich in de laatste jaren ontwikkeld tot een serieuze optie voor het bedrijfsleven. Van klein tot groot kunnen de ondernemingen in veel gevallen flink besparen op de kosten van ICT, door software niet zelf te kosten en te hosten, maar ze te huren van een dienstverlener.

Acht punten van weerstand

Maar Forrester ontdekte uit eigen onderzoek onder Amerikaanse en Europese IT-beslissers dat de dienstverlening niet kan rekenen op absolute dominantie. Er zijn nogal wat bedrijven die er bewust voor kiezen niet voor een SaaS-strategie te gaan. Eind 2007 had 16 procent van de ondervraagden de softwaredienst in gebruik, terwijl 46 procent verklaarde geïnteresseerd te zijn. Toch ziet 37 procent teveel risico’s en bedankt voor de eer.

De weerstand spitst zich toe op acht centrale punten:

• 66% van de potentiële gebruikers vreest problemen rond de integratie van de SaaS-dienst
• 61% is bang om tegen een hogere Total Cost of Ownership aan te kijken
• 55% voorziet problemen met beperkingen om de dienst naar wens te kunnen aanpassen
• 50% heeft twijfels over het niveau van beveiliging
• 42% denkt een oplossing op maat nodig te hebben, die naar men vreest geen SaaS-leverancier zal kunnen leveren
• 39% wordt afgeschrikt door complexiteit van het afrekenmodel
• 39% vreest problemen door uitval van de toepassing
• 34% zit vast aan de huidige leverancier en kan niet wisselen

Source: Acht argumenten tegen SaaS

Computable: Coca-Cola lest mobiele dorst

Al eerder berichtte ik over een heel mooi project bij Coca Cola Enterprises waar Microsoft's produkten en diensten een belangrijke rol spelen. Computable heeft nu een NL versie gebpubliceerd.

Een heel mooi voorbeeld van een organisatie die stappen maakt door het implementeren van een up to date platform. Een platform dat geleverd wordt door meerdere leveranciers en dus ook een goede showcase is van interoperabiliteit en last but not least een voorbeeld is van Software + Services.

Coca Cola Enterprises komt van een Lotus Notes en Lotus SameTime platform.

...Coca-Cola Enterprises wil dat alle 75.000 werknemers in 2009 van de nieuwste samenwerkingstechnologieën gebruik maken. De frisdrankfabrikant migreert naar een nieuwe omgeving voor 'groupware en unified communications'.

Coca-Cola Enterprises haalde in 2007 een omzet van 20,9 miljard dollar. Er werken wereldwijd 73.000 mensen. Naast de productie en logistiek van Coca-Cola distribueert het concern andere dranken, zoals Dr. Pepper en Rock Star Energy-drink. "We werken samen met vijf strategische ict-leveranciers", zegt it-directeur Esat Sezer. Hij somt op: Cisco (netwerken spraak, data en video), IBM (hardware en databases), SAP (zakelijke applicaties), Motorola (draadloze apparatuur voor mobiele werknemers) en Microsoft (levert samen met Cisco unified communications en samenwerkingsoplossingen). ...

... Saas

De frisdrankgigant neemt van Microsoft allerlei Saas (Software as a Service)-oplossingen af. Sezer: "We nemen afscheid van de producten Lotus Notes en SameTime. Met Microsoft SaaS voorzien we onze mobiele werknemers van collaborationsoftware waarbij het netwerk van Cisco wordt gebruikt. Denk aan Office Live, Office Communicator, Outlook, SharePoint en Live Meeting voor audioconferencing." De it-directeur sluit niet uit tevens Microsoft CRM Live aan te schaffen. ...

Source: Coca-Cola lest mobiele dorst

Free SaaS report from Quocirca: 'On-premise and on-demand'

On-premise and on-demand

The software as a service (SaaS) delivery model has matured to such an extent that there is now an on-demand component to most software applications, whether it is online help, automated updates or the main application engine. At the same time, many vendors are realising that to provide a satisfactory end user experience, total reliance on a web browser is not always enough and a desktop component is often needed. The need to link with on-premise components extends beyond the desktop to legacy software maintained internally and as business processes, that span organisations, are linked together using a mix of on-premise and on-demand applications, expert help is still needed to integrate it all.

Key Findings

• Most consumer and business applications have an on-demand component
  There is a grey scale from between pure on-demand to pure on-premise with few applications being truly black or white. The reality today is nearly always a mix of on-premise software and on-demand services.
  
• For many applications an on-premise component is needed to enrich the user experience
  Whether it is iTunes or Flickr; Microsoft LiveMeeting or salesforce.com, on-demand applications often have a desktop component that enriches the end user experience and, when necessary, allows off-line use.
  
• On-demand delivery is attractive to businesses because it helps them manage costs, provides high availability and flexible access
  Paying monthly fees out of operational expenditure for on-demand applications with high availability guaranteed gives businesses of all sizes the confidence and flexibility to embed them in critical business processes.
  
• Business processes are only as strong as the weakest link in the applications that support them
  No organisation wants to be the one that causes a business process to seizeup due to IT failure. On-demand applications allow businesses to share resources, with the responsibility for availability being outsourced to 3rd party managed service providers (MSPs).
  
• Some level of integration of on-demand services with legacy applications and internal workflow will always be necessary
  Web services with standard interfaces such as SOAP and REST make such integration easier, but as business processes become more complex and span multiple organisations, businesses still need help from integrators.
  
• Many new independent software vendors (ISVs) are building in on-demand components from the start
  It is not just getting the technology right but the business model too. MSPs are key to helping with both aspects.
  
• Existing ISVs are making the move to on-demand too, but they face additional challenges
  Again, it is not just about adapting code and the security embedded in it, but about adopting new business models and coping with the changes in cash flow and expectations of stakeholders that this entails.

Source : Quocirca.com

Download Full Report : here (requires you to subscribe (also free) )

2007 Analyst Reports on or including Microsoft Products and solutions

The Microsoft Analyst Relations page features lot's of reports for which Microsoft has obtained the reprint or distribution rights. I have made a selection of the 2007 reports on topics that mean something in 'my world' :

Below is a collection of reports published by leading independent analyst firms on, or including, Microsoft. Microsoft has secured all copyright and publishing privileges with the firms to include the reports on this site for all audiences. All reports were researched and funded by the analyst firms themselves.

(some links may expire over time)

Enterprise Search

• Microsoft: The Latest Disruptor in Enterprise Search (Forrester Research, Nov. 6, 2007, .pdf, 104K) This Forrester report examines Microsoft’s expanded enterprise search offerings. Analyst Ken Poore writes “Microsoft Search Server 2008 raises the bar and frees up search. This week, Microsoft made its latest move into the enterprise search platforms market with two strategic products: Microsoft Search Server Express 2008 and Microsoft Search Server 2008. These products deliver a solid set of features that reset the feature/price/ease-of-use equation for entry-level and midtier enterprise search.”
  
• Microsoft Drives a Wedge Between High and Low-End Enterprise Search (Forrester Research, Sept. 28, 2007, .pdf, 121 kb) This Forrester report examines Microsoft’s position into the enterprise search market. Analyst Matthew Brown writes “Microsoft offers significantly improved search capabilities in MOSS 2007 and its standalone search product, MOSS 2007 for Search. And Microsoft isn't just throwing products into the market. Instead, it has mobilized the entire organization behind search, including extensive marketing and events, partner training programs, and specific global sales goals.”
  
• Magic Quadrant for Information Access Technology, 2007 (Gartner, September 5, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Whit Andrews evaluates leading vendors in the Information Access market which extends beyond enterprise search to encompass a collection of information access technologies. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Challengers quadrant. According to Gartner, “Challengers possess sufficient resources to effectively penetrate the information access technology market.”
  
• How Secure Should Your Search Be? (Forrester Research, Inc., April 12, 2007, .pdf, 128 kb) This Forrester report examines enterprise search security as a complex issue that requires careful weighing of requirements to achieve “winning search strategies that will balance costs with advanced functionality.” For example, organizations should consider whether search will span more than one secure repository and if the answer is ‘yes’, analyst Matt Brown writes companies should evaluate “higher-end products including those from infrastructure providers such as Microsoft.”

Messaging and Workflow

• Messaging, Workflow Roadmap Announced (Directions on Microsoft, Oct. 30, 2007, .pdf, 377 kb) “Oslo supports principles – service-oriented architecture and composite applications – that Microsoft believes will drive future business application development.”

 

SaaS / Enterprise 2.0 / Consumerisation

• Evaluating IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP Web and Consumerization Strategies (Gartner Research, Oct. 3, 2007) This vendor evaluation looks at Consumerization and the Web as two related and highly impactful issues facing users and vendors today. Analysts David Mitchell Smith and Charles Abrams state that “one major force behind the consumerization of IT is the Internet and enterprises' adoption of Internet technologies.”
  
• Rich Internet Apps Move Beyond The Browser (Forrester Research, June 27, 2007) This Forrester report examines the adoption of rich internet applications (RIAs). The independent report finds that while early RIAs were exclusively browser-based, new platforms from Microsoft [and other vendors] broaden developer options for delivering rich media and content to clients. Forrester writes that “Microsoft has a tactical edge because its dominant position at the desktop with the .NET Framework will attract large numbers of developers who already target Microsoft’s desktop and browser platforms.”

Enterprise Content Management

• Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management, 2007 (Gartner, September 21, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Karen Shegda evaluates leading vendors in the Enterprise Content Management market which includes web content management, records management, document imaging, document management, workflow and document-centric collaboration. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Visionaries quadrant.

Unified Communications

• Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, 2007 (Gartner, August 20, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Bern Elliot evaluates leading vendors in the unified communications market. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Leaders quadrant. According to Gartner, “The Leaders quadrant contains vendors selling comprehensive and integrated UC solutions that directly, or with well-defined partnerships, address the full range of market needs.”
• Microsoft Communicator Overhangs the Enterprise Communications Market (Gartner, Inc., May 1, 2007) In this Gartner report, analyst Geoff Johnson discusses Microsoft’s upcoming launch of Office Communications Server 2007. He states that “reliable integration of communications into enterprise platforms is a necessary precursor to the eventual development of communications-enabled business processes.”

Office 2007

• A Look at Improvements and Shortcoming in Microsoft Office 2007 Desktop Applications (Forrester Research, July 17, 2007, .pdf, 464 kb) This report, the second in Forrester’s “Innovation on the Desktop” series, states that “the breadth of Microsoft Office 2007 and its change of focus from desktop apps to a full system targeted at information workers warrants careful consideration by (Information and Knowledge Management Professionals.)” Analyst Kyle McNabb writes that “office productivity will evolve, taking advantage of more thin client and SaaS approaches, but we’ve not seen the end of the thick client.”

Project and Portfolio Management

• Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management, 2007 (Gartner, June 15, 2007, .pdf, 213 kb): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Matt Light and Daniel Stang evaluates leading technology solution vendors in the IT Project and Portfolio Management space. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Leaders quadrant. According to Gartner, Leaders “distinguish themselves with relatively high ratings in many characteristics, not just a few” and “also tend to have, not just capable system integration partners, but some core, direct PPM service offerings, going beyond implementation and support to include process-change consulting.”

Customer Relationship Management

• Microsoft Leads in Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software: The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007 (Forrester Research, May 24, 2007, .pdf, 199 kb) “Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which delivers sufficient customer service capabilitie at a low cost, has emerged as a leader among customer record-centric products. Although not as functionally rich in core customer service capabilities, Microsoft compensates through its architecture, integration, usability, and business strategy. The product shines in its ability to support agents through phone agent, blended agent, and agent collaboration tools — all of which sit on top of a solid workflow engine. In the future, look for Microsoft to exploit its Customer Care Framework, a modular XML Web Services architecture for rapid development and deployment of contact center solutions.”
  
• Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers, (Gartner, March 6, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Michael Maoz evaluates leading CRM vendors in the customer service contact centers space and positions Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the Visionary quadrant. According to Gartner, Visionaries are ahead of potential competitors in delivery of innovative products and/or delivery models.
  
• The Forrester Wave™: Midmarket CRM Suites, Q1 2007 (Forrester, February 21, 2007, .pdf , 513 kb): “The Microsoft brand gives Dynamics CRM major momentum. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is one of the newer products included in our evaluation, but the vendor has made impressive progress building out its solution, which emerged as a Leader for the first time in a Forrester Wave.”
  
• The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise CRM Suites, Q1 2007 (Forrester Research, Feb. 5, 2007, .pdf, 488 kb) Microsoft Dynamics CRM was rated a Strong Performer in this Forrester Wave. Forrester applied two sets of criteria weightings to this analysis, one appropriate for large enterprise wide deployments and another focused on midmarket priorities - the two sets of criteria were then used to evaluate and position the solutions.

2008, a new year a new job ...

January 1, 2008 I will start in my new role : Online Strategy Manager for Microsoft Netherlands

I work for Microsoft Netherlands for almost 4 years now and since the start I have worked in and led the Information Worker Team, focused on large enterprise clients. I joined Microsoft shortly after the launch of the 2003 Office System; the first wave of solutions that combined Microsoft Office as you know it with Server products, such as SharePoint Server and Live Communications Server. All of these server products have entered the 3rd generation now that the 2007 Office System was launched a year ago.

For me a new challenge lies ahead as Microsoft enters a new business; that of Software + Services and I am very fortunate to be part of this new wave right from the start.

Microsoft is very well positioned to take advantage of all the new dimensions Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has to offer; especially in combination with the current platform and its capabilities. The focus for Software + Services will be in 2 area's :

• Microsoft "Live" services. Designed primarily for individuals, small businesses, and virtual work groups, Microsoft's Live offerings span entertainment, communication, and personal productivity. These services emphasize ease of use, simplicity of access, and flexibility, and are ideally suited for situations where you either don't have access to professional technical expertise or don't require high levels of system management. Live offerings enhance many of the products you already use—Windows, Office, and Xbox—with more to come.
  
• Online services from Microsoft. Designed for businesses with more advanced needs, online services provide security-enhanced, reliable, and scalable hosted communication and collaboration solutions. By choosing online services hosted by Microsoft, you ensure you'll always have the latest technologies, without the burden of managing hardware, deploying patches, monitoring performance, and deploying upgrades. The Online family of services offerings provides access for all your business needs—messaging, management, security, and conferencing—without straining your IT resources.

Over the last 3,5 years or so blogging has helped me tremendously in gaining knowledge and insight into the communication and collaboration business, the competition, the market, etc.

As my focus now shifts a bit I have decided to start an new blog alongside peterdehaas.net called SaaSology.net. This new blog is intended to provide information and interaction on SaaS related topics / companies, etc. I hope you'll subscribe to the RSS feed and frequent the site every now and then to comment.

SaaS is a very exciting development which will have / has (depending where you're coming from) a major impact on the software business. This means there's more than enough to blog about.

ChannelWeb : 10 Predictions For Microsoft In 2008

Some great, many good, some less good, but nevertheless a very positive summary of predictions for Microsoft in 2008 :

... 2008 is going to be a whopper for Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) from a product release standpoint, with February's three-pronged megalaunch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, and SQL Server 2008 looming large on the horizon. CRN takes a look ahead at some decisions and events that could potentially take place in and around Microsoft in the coming year. ...

1. Microsoft will extend the February 2009 system builder deadline for Windows XP Professional.

2. Windows Genuine Advantage will continue to cause grief for users

3. Microsoft will continue to cause insomnia for VMware executives

... Microsoft, just by announcing Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V, is freezing the market. If Microsoft announces it will be embedding virtualization and providing attractive licensing terms, people are going to wait," said Herardian.

Chris Amaris, CTO at Convergent Computing, an Oakland, Calif.-based solution provider, said next year will be when customers begin to ponder the question of whether to stick with VMware or go with Hyper-V. And since the Microsoft offering is going to have a better price point, "that's how they're going to get their foot in the door," said Amaris. ....

4. Sharepoint adoption will continue to grow and grow

... Already one of the fastest growing offerings in Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s history, Office Sharepoint Server was a big hit with partners in 2007, and adoption is sure to continue growing next year. Many ISVs have found healthy and sustainable revenue streams by building applications on top of the platform, for tasks such as project management, business intelligence and workflow.

In July at its annual financial analyst meeting, Microsoft announced that Sharepoint revenue grew 35 percent to more than $800 million in fiscal year 2007, and that Sharepoint is on track to become a billion dollar business.

Although it initially attracted interest primarily from medium and large enterprises, Sharepoint is now penetrating the SMB space, and channel partners are helping to deliver the message that content management and portals aren't exclusive to enterprises. And combined with Windows Sharepoint Services, a subset of Sharepoint features that Microsoft offers for free, this message will likely be heard by all segments of the market in 2008. ...

5. The channel will deal with a talent shortage in unified communications


...  While they're excited about the prospects of adding unified communications to their portfolio, some solution providers predict that the channel is about to face a shortage of talent necessary to deploy the technology. While this wasn't an issue for Microsoft partners in 2007, VARs have differing opinions of whether the same will hold true in 2008. ...

6. Vista service pack 1 won't spur Vista adoption like XP SP1 did with XP

7. Companies still won't be ready to buy their security from Microsoft

8. Windows XP service pack 3 will be delayed at least a quarter

9. The release of Dynamics CRM 4.0 will have a bigger-than-expected impact on the SaaS market

... With this week's release to manufacturing of Dynamics CRM 4.0 -- the first major update in three years -- Microsoft has put CRM suppliers such as NetSuite, Oracle, Sage, Salesforce.com and SAP squarely in its crosshairs. ...

... People want flexibility in the IT decision making process and CRM 4.0 gives them the power of choice, says Mike Belongie, vice president of sales and marketing at Axonom, Minneapolis.

"I think Microsoft is going to kill Salesforce with the Dynamics CRM 4.0 release. It's now a truly a multi-tenant product, and I've been closing deals with the message that it's O.K. for customers to start out with the hosted version," said Belongie. ...

10. It Will Be Hotter Than Hades At WPC 2008

Source: Channelweb.com

Microsoft's Persistent Group Chat Now Available as a Hosted Option

A hosted Solution for Microsoft's Persistent Group Chat ... Through Carl Tylers blog  :

mindSHIFT Technologies is now offering Microsoft's Persistent Group Chat (Parlano) as a hosted option.  I imagine we'll see a few more announcements like this as the OCS partners come to grips with the Mindalign technologies.

Source: Microsoft's Persistent Group Chat Now Available as a Hosted Option
Author: Carl Tyler
Date Published: Wed, 05 Dec 2007

Trendmatcher: Office Live Workspace Preview

Willem Karssenberg gaf verleden week op zijn blog een korte review van Windows Live Workspace.

... "Je mag zeker over Office Live Workspaces praten :)"
staat in de reacties op mijn bericht van gisteren, waarin ik zei dat ik uitdrukkelijk gewezen was op de disclaimer. Nou, in dat geval plaats ik ook maar een screenshot dacht ik, zodat ook mijn bezoekers een beeld kunnen krijgen van hoe deze omgeving eruit kan gaan zien ...

Het is nog geen volledig publieke beta, dat komt binnenkort. Eerder vandaag heb ik al een blogje gepost met de nieuwe add-in voor Office; dit geeft je dus een naadloze integratie tussen de offline en de online wereld, wat wil je nog meer.

... Overigens lijken de mensen bij Microsoft zich te ontpoppen als echte webloggers! Niet alleen Remco Ploeg heeft een weblog, waar hij gelijk gisterenavond al de presentatie had staan (in 2 varianten). Ook Peter de Haas die gisteren een onderdeel verzorgde houdt meerdere weblogs bij waarin hij over z'n werk en interesses blogt, en met een keurige disclaimer (moet ik ook nog eens doen)!
Ik weet niet of Microsoft dit actief promoot, maar het geeft zo'n bedrijf wel een gezicht. Van de mensen van Google die er gisteren waren is veel moeilijker wat te vinden...
 

Leuk trouwens dat Willem onze blogging effort erkend :-). Ja Willem Microsoft promoot dit actief. Wat op zich een goede resource is als je op de hoogte wilt blijven van Microsoft gerelateerde ontwikkelingen (naast het blog van Remco en mijn blog ;-) zijn :

1. Blogs van de Microsoft Product teams

2. Blog van Bart Wessels (Alles mbt Microsoft algemeen en Microsoft Office in het bijzonder

3. Andere collega's die op blogs.microsoft.nl bloggen

Source: Office Live Workspace Preview
Author: Willem Karssenberg
Date Published: Wed, 21 Nov 2007

Office Live Add-in for Microsoft Office: Open and save documents directly from Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel, and Office PowerPoint to Microsoft Office Live Workspace

Linking the offline to the online world. Microsoft Office Live Workspace is not an open beta yet. I will try and find out if there's dates available for this because this is worthwhile evaluating ...

The Office Live Add-in will install new menu options allowing you to open and save documents directly from Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel, and Office PowerPoint to Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta.

Source: Office Live Add-in for Microsoft Office: Open and save documents directly from Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel, and Office PowerPoint to Microsoft Office Live Workspace
Date Published: Thu, 29 Nov 2007

Microsoft wil Siberisch datacenter

Minder probleem met de koeling denk ik :-)

Softwaregigant Microsoft overweegt een groot datacenter te bouwen in het Siberische Irkoetsk. Met de geplande tienduizend servers zou het wel een kleiner complex zijn dan die het bedrijf kortgeleden aankondigde in Dublin en Chicago.

Microsoft wil Siberisch datacenter
Tue, 27 Nov 2007

Microsoft Live @ EDU presentatie

Vandaag een presentatie verzorgt op ROC Aventus voor een grote groep vertegenwoordigers van ROC's. Deze dag is georganiseerd door SLB diensten en ROC-i-partners. Willem Karssenberg, TrendMatcher en actief blogger heeft een leuk verslag gemaakt van wat hij 'de strijd der titanen' noemt. Bedankt voor de leuke recentie Willem ...

... De middag was voor Microsoft. Na een korte inleiding van Michael Kleine gaf hij het woord aan Peter de Haas, Online Strategy Manager, die de grote lijnen schetste van waar Microsoft mee bezig is en hoe Microsoft de toekomst ziet. Ook hier een duidelijk verhaal.

Op de vraag aan de zaal wie nu al web2.0 toepassingen inzet in het onderwijs bleef het angstvallig stil. Daarna was het de beurt aan Remco Ploeg die dieper inging op de mogelijkheden van Live @ EDU.

Heel sterk aan deze presentatie vond ik zelf dat Remco het niet schuwde om echt live te gaan en dingen uit de praktijk te laten zien via een testaccount bij het Graafschap College, die deze omgeving al geïmplementeerd heeft. Zittend op de voorste rij zag ik het e-mail adres dat hij gebruikte dus kon ik het niet laten daar direct een mailtje naartoe te sturen en seconden later stond mijn bericht dus levensgroot op het scherm. Vervolgens nodigde hij me uit om documenten te bekijken in de volledig nieuwe Office Live Workspace (beta) onder uitdrukkelijke verwijzing naar het grote kader in de zijlijn: Please do not share information about Microsoft Office Live Workspace outside Microsoft. Ik mag hier dus niets over zeggen, maar misschien vind Remco het niet erg als ik zeg dat ik behoorlijk onder de indruk ben van wat ik vanavond allemaal heb zitten te doen in die omgeving! ...

Bron : TrendMatcher tussen ICT en Onderwijs

Microsoft’s Windows Live Free Online Services Available Now

Updates, new releases, etc. CHeck out the new Windows Live website :

... Today Microsoft Corp. launched the next generation of Windows Live, providing consumers worldwide with a compelling new set of tools and services that help make it easier than ever to communicate and share with the important people in their lives, from anywhere they have Web access across multiple devices. And, with built- in security features, consumers can use Windows Live services with confidence.

A free and fun upgrade for the online and Windows experiences, the new Windows Live was launched today at http://www.windowslive.com and at events in New York and Los Angeles. To celebrate the launch, Microsoft is partnering with the children’s nonprofit Operation Smile (http://www.operationsmile.org) to encourage people to share smiles through Windows Live to help Operation Smile make a difference in the lives of children around the world.

Today’s Internet-savvy consumers are relying more and more on the Web to communicate and share with their friends and family, but they are also becoming increasingly frustrated with how difficult it is to keep track of all their e-mail accounts, photos, address books and other online information. In fact, visiting multiple Web sites to access the online information they need frustrates 61 percent of online consumers, according to a Harris Interactive Inc. study commissioned by Microsoft.^* And more than two out of three online consumers (67 percent) agree that they would use an all-in-one service with a single username and password for organizing and managing everything they do online. ...

... Windows Live is designed to enhance the online and Windows experiences with a set of online tools that bring the power of the Web right to the PC or mobile device, letting consumers communicate and share with the people they care about. The Windows Live set of services is composed of several free PC applications connected to services delivered over the Internet. Windows Live is available in one simple download experience that enables consumers to choose any or all of the Windows Live applications they want, and keep their software and services up to date as Microsoft and the rest of the industry continue to deliver new innovations over time.

Communicate. Stay close and connected how you want, wherever you are.

• Windows Live Mail. This desktop mail application provides users with easy access to their Hotmail account, the ability to aggregate multiple inboxes from other accounts such as AOL and Gmail and combine multiple contact lists into one, and simple access using a mobile phone. With the new @live.com e-mail address space, consumers have an opportunity for a new, cool e-mail address.

• Windows Live Messenger. Next-generation instant messaging with sharing, video calling and voice over Internet protocol capabilities makes communication easier, more personal and more fun.**

• Windows Live Spaces. Users can make memories with family and friends by creating photo albums, blogs, lists of favorites and links to personal videos.

Share. A simpler way to share your photos and express yourself online.

• Windows Live Photo Gallery. This is a complete solution for finding, fixing, organizing and sharing your photos and videos, as well as uploading them to Windows Live Spaces, Flickr or Soapbox on MSN Video with just a few clicks.

• Windows Live Events. This free event-planning, invitation and community-building application enables Windows Live customers to conveniently plan all the events in their lives, and to share photos and stories before, during and after those events.

• Windows Live Writer. This powerful software plus services application allows users to create and publish rich content to Windows Live Spaces and other blogging services, with a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” (WYSIWYG) editor that makes it simple to add photos, maps, tags and more.

Access Anywhere. Connect easily and share information you want.

• Windows Live for Windows Mobile. This provides rich client-based or browser-based access to Windows Live from a Windows Mobile-based device, including Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Spaces and more.

Safety. Enjoy a worry-free computing experience with built-in safety features.

• Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. This provides tools to help parents protect children from inappropriate online content and contacts.

Source: Microsoft’s Windows Live Free Online Services Available Now
Author: Date Published: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:00:00 GMT

CMS Watch : SaaS vendors not included in Gartner ECM Magic Quadrant

CMS Watch raises the flag on Gartner's latest ECM MQ report: SaaS vendors are not included.

They mean 'pure play' SaaS vendors I assume and we could argue wether or not there are fully SaaS based ECM solutions out there in which enterprises store all their data externally in the cloud ? Nevertheless it would be good if Gartner would make a statement about in/exclusion of these vendors.

... SaaS: New Gartner Report Magic or Illusion?

The folks at Gartner have come up with another iteration of their “Magic” Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) vendors with what appears to be a very short-sighted perspective — an intentional exclusion of Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors as part of the market for content management software.

This naturally begs the question, why not include them? A big part of an analyst firm’s focus should be on what’s coming, as opposed to what has already happened. ...

Heliview : 73% van de ondervraagde ICTers kan niet spontaan uitleggen wat Saas betekent

Vanochtend viel de Computable op de deurmat en op de voorpagina prijkte de volgende kop :

... Het is slecht gesteld met de naamsbekendheid van SaaS (Software as a Service) onder ict beslissers. Driekwart weet aanvankelijk niet wat het begrip inhoudt. Verschillende marketingtermen zorgen voor verwarring.

In eerste instantie weet 73 procent van de ondervraagden ict'ers niet wat het begrip SaaS inhoudt (spontane bekendheid). Pas na het voorleggen van een definitie van SaaS is 69 procent van de ict-beslissers bekend met het begrip. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van Heliview onder 700 ict-beslissers....

bron: Computable.nl

Dat is nogal wat 73% van de ondervraagde ICTers kan niet spontaan uitleggen wat Saas betekent ... 

Laat ik nou net gisteren een heldere ingeving hebben gehad :

Saasology.net, een weblog geheel gewijd aan de wereld die SaaS heet ...

In tegenstelling tot mijn 'hoofdblog' wil ik daar specifieke al het nieuws / blogposts, etc rondom SaaS verzamelen.

Uiteraard is er ook een RSS Feed.

 

O, en waar was ik mee begonnen ?

Juist ... de definitie van SaaS ...

Gartner: Microsoft's Software + Services Offerings Target Google

Gartner gives it's perspective on Microsoft's recent Software + Services anouncement :

... Analysis

Software + Services is Microsoft’s answer to the software as a service (SaaS) trend, as well as a continuation and refinement of the Live services strategy announced in 2005. While the term "SaaS" is associated with all services residing in the “cloud,” Microsoft’s strategy encompasses two scenarios not usually considered SaaS: “Rich” client code, which leverages Microsoft’s dominance in desktop operating systems and Office applications; and on-premise software, as Microsoft is designing its server-based offerings to work either on-premises, hosted by third parties or hosted by Microsoft ...

... Recommendations

• Office users: Those interested in the collaboration features of Google Apps should evaluate Microsoft’s offerings before making decisions.
• IT managers: Expect Microsoft to offer more “cloud-based” offerings, with many focused on individual use. While not aimed at enterprises, these offerings will be used by business users. IT should plan strategies regarding them. ...

 

Source: Gartner.com

Microsoft Charts Its Software Services Strategy and Road Map for Businesses

Very important milestone in Microsoft's Software + Services strategy ...

Let this sync in for a moment :

Online Services for Businesses

Online offerings are now available to any enterprise with 5,000 or more seats and include the following new services:

• Microsoft Exchange Online
  
  
• Microsoft Office SharePoint^® Online
  
  
• Microsoft Office Communications Online

The Online services provide businesses and organizations with more time to focus on business-critical projects while working toward meeting their business, compliance and high availability requirements.

... Exchange ... Office SharePoint ... Office Communications Server ... Are now available ... Online ...

Here's the whole press release including the quota above :

Company introduces “Online” services and Microsoft Office Live Workspace, solutions that combine client, server and services offerings to deliver connected computing options for people and businesses.

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 30, 2007 — Microsoft

Corp. today laid out the next phase in its strategy for online services, offering a road map for new offerings that synthesize client, server and services software for people and businesses. These offerings will combine elements of client-based programs with software that runs large servers and new services delivered over the Internet.

The offerings announced expand Microsoft’s existing portfolio of software plus service solutions — solutions that weave together the best of software and Internet services to provide a new generation of rich, seamless experiences that are personalized, integrated and available online anywhere. This approach gives individuals and organizations greater freedom of choice in how they interact with the people, information and activities they value most.

Microsoft plans to deliver a wide variety of new solutions during the coming months under two key families of service offerings: “Live” and “Online.”

“Live” services from Microsoft are designed primarily for individuals, business end-users and virtual work groups. Live offerings span entertainment, communication and productivity. These services emphasize ease of use, simplicity of access and flexibility, and are ideally suited for situations where people either don’t have access to professional technical expertise or don’t require high levels of system management.

“Online” services are for organizations with more advanced IT needs where power and flexibility are critical. Online services from Microsoft give businesses the ability to control access to data, manage users, apply business and compliance policy, and meet high availability standards while providing performance, scalability, enhanced security, management features and service-level capabilities to support mission-critical applications and systems. Microsoft is providing business customers with the flexibility to choose between traditional on-premise implementations, services hosted by Microsoft partners and now Online services that reside in Microsoft’s datacenters.

“This new era of connected computing is about empowering people and businesses to balance the power of the Internet with the rich interactivity and high performance of client and server software,” said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “With today’s announcements, we are taking a significant step forward by combining our deep client and server software experience with our strong commitment to delivering flexible services offerings for our wide variety of customers and their unique needs.”

Today Microsoft also unveiled the following:

• Microsoft^® Office Live Workspace, a new Web-based feature of Microsoft Office that lets people access their documents online and share their work with others
  
• Microsoft Exchange Labs, a new research and development program for testing next-generation messaging and unified communications capabilities in high-scale environments
  
• Continued customer and partner support for Microsoft Dynamics™ Live CRM
  
• The renaming of the Microsoft Office Live hosted small-business service, a service dedicated to addressing key small-business pain points, including core IT services and sales and marketing services, to Microsoft Office Live Small Business
  
• Microsoft BizTalk^® Services, a building block service that enables developers to rapidly and cost-effectively build composite applications, to help enable greater cost efficiencies and thereby open up new business opportunities for enterprises of all sizes

Raikes further detailed the Microsoft Business Division services strategy and offerings in a Q&A session with Microsoft PressPass, available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/sep07/09-30raikesqa.mspx.

Online Services for Businesses

Online offerings are now available to any enterprise with 5,000 or more seats and include the following new services:

• Microsoft Exchange Online
  
  
• Microsoft Office SharePoint^® Online
  
  
• Microsoft Office Communications Online

The Online services provide businesses and organizations with more time to focus on business-critical projects while working toward meeting their business, compliance and high availability requirements.

Online services will be delivered through Microsoft. Hosted services will be delivered through Microsoft partners as another choice for customers in how they use Microsoft software.

Partners can also add value through subscription fees for solutions built on top of Online services through on-premise integration services and through referral and resell fees.

Office Live Workspace: New Web Functionality for Microsoft Office

Office Live Workspace is among the first entries in the new wave of online services. Available at no charge, Office Live Workspace lets people do the following:

• Access documents anywhere. Users can organize documents and projects for work, school and home online, and work on them from almost any computer — even one not connected to the company or school network. They can save more than 1,000 Microsoft Office documents to one place online and access them via the Web.|
  
  
• Share with others. Users can work collaboratively on a project with others in a password-protected, invitation-only online workspace, helping to eliminate version-control challenges when e-mailing drafts to multiple people. Collaborators who don’t have a desktop version of Microsoft Office software can still view and comment on the document in a browser.
  
  
• Extend Microsoft Office. Users can easily connect to Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint^®, Excel^® and Outlook^® on their PC via the Web.

Anyone can pre-register for the English language beta of Office Live Workspace today at http://www.officelive.com.

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM

Today more than 11,000 customers, including 475,000 users, enjoy the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premise and partner-hosted solutions. A new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM code-named “Titan,” which uses a single multitenant code base to deliver on-premise and on-demand deployments, will allow customers to choose the right deployment model for their needs at any point in time.

As part of an early access program that was launched this month, more than 100 customer and partner organizations are already using the new Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. Participants in the early access program get a better, more familiar user experience centered on Microsoft Office and Outlook; a lower total cost of ownership compared with traditional on-demand vendors; and the option to switch between on-demand and on-premise models if their business needs change. Those interested in joining can find out more at http://www.crmlive.com.

Microsoft Exchange Labs: Evaluating Next-Generation Messaging and Unified Communications Capabilities in High-Scale Environments

As part of Microsoft’s software plus services strategy, the company is advancing the way it builds, tests and delivers products to meet the needs of customers. Today Microsoft opened Exchange Labs, a new research and development program for testing next-generation messaging and unified communications capabilities in high-scale environments. Initially, the Exchange Labs program will include select universities and school districts. These participating institutions involve high-scale environments where students, faculty, staff and alumni have unique requirements that blend digital work with digital life.

As a generation that uses technology to communicate differently than those before them, this group of users will provide feedback that drives new capabilities to advance the operational efficiency, operational flexibility, anywhere access and advanced protection technologies of Microsoft Exchange Server.

Microsoft BizTalk Services

Today Microsoft introduced an update to BizTalk Services, an early-access offering of a next-generation business integration capability, optimized for cross-organizational integration and high scale. BizTalk Services enables companies to interconnect their businesses systems together, with greatly increased simplicity, via identity and network federation technologies. New types of connected applications can be created simply, where before they were impractical or impossible. BizTalk Services is currently supporting developers and applications for testing and evaluation. Microsoft plans to announce plans on pricing and commercial licensing by the end of the year.

Source: Microsoft PressPass

InfoWorld: Google Docs and Spreadsheets clause gives pause

It appears you need to know what you are getting into when so produce and share you documents online ...

... For a company whose motto is "Do no evil," it's interesting how often Google's customers suspect them of

Google is in damage control mode over a clause in the user agreements for its Google Docs and Spreadsheets applications that implies an inordinate degree of power over the content that runs over its services.

The clause reads: "By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the members of the public, you grant Google a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, modify, publish and distribute such content on Google services for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services."

This matters more because it's Google, of course, but the issue may be an important one for other online software companies to watch as they seek to build credibility and support among business customers. Most of the controversy centers around the firm's use of the word "public." If you're posting it on Google Docs or in Google spreadsheets, the implication goes, it's up for grabs if the company needs some sample use cases for its next advertising campaign.

You really have to stretch yourself to think about how this kind of scenario would play itself out. Might Google use various Docs and Spreadsheets customer's data as case study material? Or perhaps reproduce them in the kind of print magazine ads that it never, ever buys (and why would they, when we give the company this kind of constant media attention)? Maybe we should be paying more attention to the word "modify," in the clause, which might give Google the go-ahead to insert references to its services in the actual content ("Here's today's sales report. I finished it using Google Spreadsheets®!"). ...

Source: InfoWorld.com

Radicati: Hosted E-mail Market Heats Up as Providers Add Support for Microsoft Hosted Exchange Server 2007.

A new study by The Radicati Group forecasts that the worldwide hosted e-mail market installed base will grow from 1.4 billion mailboxes in 2007, to nearly 2 billion mailboxes by year-end 2011.

... Palo Alto, CA - September 10, 2007 - The latest study by The Radicati Group, Inc., "Hosted E-mail Market, 2007-2011," offers an in-depth analysis of the worldwide market for Hosted E-mail services. It provides market trends, installed base and revenue market share by provider, four-year forecasts, breakouts by region, business size, and e-mail platforms. The study provides detailed market share for leading Microsoft Hosted Exchange and hosted IBM Lotus Domino platforms.

The market for Hosted E-mail is primarily driven by companies that require cost-effective e-mail deployment and management to accommodate their user bases. Hosted Business e-mail providers are including more value-added services, such as: wireless support, archiving, compliance, e-mail security, IM, unified communications, and more. Microsoft Hosted Exchange Server 2007 is a platform of choice for many Hosted Business e-mail providers that are looking to add advanced features and functionality.

The study also discusses the aggressive competition in the ISP/Webmail market, as many leading ISP/Webmail providers are releasing Web 2.0 GUIs based on AJAX, DHTML, and other technologies, which allow customizable user interfaces with desktop-like features. ...

"Microsoft Hosted Exchange Server 2007 is a platform of choice for many Hosted Business e-mail providers that are looking to add advanced features and functionality" ... I wonder what the impact is on marketshare compared to competitive platforms.

eWeek: Big Software May Give Office 2.0 Apps Needed Legitimacy

eWeek runs a story about the role of Microsoft and other 'Big Software' in Enterprise 2.0 / Office 2.0

... Microsoft and other big vendors may help Office 2.0 applications win IT favor in enterprises.

In many circles Microsoft might not be considered hip enough or at least too mature now to pull off Enterprise 2.0 or Office 2.0.

But eventually having Microsoft and other big technology vendors in the game may give technologies like social networking the legitimacy they need to take hold in the enterprise, according to analysts.

Joshua Greenbaum, principal analyst for Enterprise Applications Consulting, pointed out that the movement of Enterprise 2.0 technologies—blogs, wikis, social networks—taking off in the enterprise sanctioned by IT may just come about when the big guys get in the game.  ....

... Microsoft is also offering two on demand initiatives that are relevant to the Enterprise 2.0 movement. The first is Office Live which delivers SharePoint Server over the Web as a hosted service to small businesses.

The second initiative aimed at enterprises is Microsoft Managed Services that hosts e-mail, SharePoint Portal Services and soon, most likely, voice, according to Helm. "Right now it is working with a small group of clients [for voice]," said Helm. "Long term, Microsoft could set itself up to be a major outsourcer." ...

The article shows that Microsoft is taking Office 2.0 seriously and does have the breadth  to develop in various area's. In software as well as services ...

... Despite Microsoft's moves toward adding the basic Enterprise 2.0 concepts to SharePoint there are some areas where the company is lacking in functionality, according to Forrester analyst Rob Koplowitz. "Microsoft has built a fair amount of Enterprise 2.0 capabilities, mostly into SharePoint," he said. "They're getting all the check boxes checked, and moving in the right direction [but] their blogs and wikis are not really advanced when compared to best of breed offerings from some of the pure play vendors." ...

... There are some things about Microsoft that make their value proposition interesting," said Koplowitz. "Each of these things generates content, so whether it's in a profile, a blog or a wiki, it's content and increasingly [companies] want that content under greater levels of control and better management. That's one of the core concepts of SharePoint. The fact that [IT] can manage these in SharePoint is going to be a key link to companies moving down the SharePoint path," Koplowitz said. ....

 

Source: Big Software May Give Office 2.0 Apps Needed Legitimacy
Author: matthew_rothenberg@ziffdavis.com?subject=messaging_RSS
Date originally published: Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:24:27 GMT

The School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School choose Microsoft over Google

Very good win for Microsoft in a very competitive side of the market. Remarkable is that  "the package Google offered to universities did not include anything not already available to the public".

... The School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School chose Microsoft over the other finalist, Google, to replace the crash-prone Webmail system, with a new service to be called "Penn Live," SAS officials will announce today.

The choice comes after a long negotiation process that lasted well past the final Jan. 31 deadline that SAS officials had set for the decision.

Microsoft's service, which will include e-mail, messaging, web-hosting, a calendar and a document-sharing platform, will be available to students sometime this summer.

SAS Vice Dean of Administration and Finance Ramin Sedehi said that while both companies negotiated in good faith, officials chose Microsoft in the end because the package Google offered to universities did not include anything not already available to the public.

"With Microsoft, the institutional product was clearly superior," Sedehi said. ...

... While the main draws of Microsoft's e-mail will be an east-to-use interface, stability and 2 gigabytes of storage, the product will also include many other Microsoft applications.

Penn students will be able to access MSN Messenger for instant messaging; Windows Live Spaces for web publishing, blogging, and photo sharing; and FolderShare, a peer-to-peer file sharing network. ....

Source: Dailypennsylvanian.com

Microsoft Puts SharePoint 3.0 in The Cloud

More background on the hosted solution announcement Microsoft did yesterday.

... Microsoft is taking yet another step toward its vision of a software-plus-services world. Beginning today, online hosting companies will be able to offer their customers features of Microsoft's most recent on-premise collaboration and communication tools, SharePoint Services 3.0 and Exchange Server 2007.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software vendor said that, by updating its two hosting packages, Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) and Windows Based Hosting (WBH), it is helping software providers improve their offerings to small and medium sized businesses (SMBs).

According to Michael van Dijken, lead marketing manager for hosted solutions in Microsoft's communications sector group, hosted services are becoming commoditized. "Service providers need to be able to differentiate themselves and deepen their relationships with customers," he told internetnews.com. ...

...Van Dijken said that HMC will be upgraded again in the fall to support Office Communications Server 2007, which is expected to ship this summer. ...

So also Unified Communications from 'the cloud'. It shows that Hosted solutions are implicit in the design of Communication and Collaboration products at Microsoft.

... Ultimately, predicted DeMichillie, Microsoft will even begin offering service-based enhancements to their on-premise SharePoint customers. "That will give them two bites at the apple... that's undeniably the direction they want to be going to." ...

Seems very logical and totally in line with Forrester's poll on Web 2.0 Solutions amongst 119 CIOs : these services should come from incumbent vendors.

Source: Internetnews.com

Updated Microsoft Hosting Solutions Give Service Providers the Tools to Attract Small and Midsize Businesses

At the Microsoft Hosting Summit, Microsoft announced updates to two solutions for hosting service providers: Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) Version 4.0 and Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting Version 4.5. 

Following are key highlights:

• The solutions take advantage of the enhancements to Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, improving communications and information sharing, and work productivity for SMBs.

• Utilizing Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, HMC 4.0 provides anywhere access for users, built-in protection from spam and viruses, and operational efficiency for IT administrators.

• Windows-based Hosting Version 4.5 leverages SharePoint 3.0, which provides 40 customized templates designed to help address specific business needs, such as time management, accounting, and project tracking, and new tools to create Web-based content, such as blogs and wikis.

If this is something you are interested in blogging about, and would like more information, please visit Microsoft’s official Hosting Summit 2007 blog at www.MSHostingSummit.spaces.live.com. This contains video clips of the keynote presentations announcing the updates, real-time blogging from inside the show, event photos, and much more.

Also checkout the pressrelaese over on : Microsoft.com

What Sourcing Teams Need To Look For When Buying A SaaS Platform

Forrester has some advise for those already considering SaaS investments:

... Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has grown far beyond the initial offerings that presented little or no customization or integration. Leading SaaS vendors now provide a platform that firms can use as a hub for multiple third-party technology solutions and custom-developed add-ons. However, the SaaS platform market is still in its infancy. Firms looking to invest should proceed with caution as vendors work out platform licensing, support issues, and growing pains that come with opening their platform to multiple development shops and third-party vendors....

Link to What Sourcing Teams Need To Look For When Buying A SaaS Platform

CNet : Top 10 Windows Live Apps

Over on Cnet.com I found a random top 10 list of WIndows Live Applictions. This is 'just' the top 10 list; the whole list is obviously much longer which illustrates Microsoft's drive and innovation in this fiels

Top 10 Windows Live Apps

Google Bundles Office Apps

.. Google has announced a package that will offer email, calendar, instant messaging and web-page creation services.

Google Apps for Your Domain is a free service that bundles together the US internet giant's existing services - Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and Google Page Creator. The announcement sees Google stepping up the competition with Microsoft, which already offers packages such as Outlook and Exchange that provide email, address book and calendar software....

It was just a matter of time before Google would make this step I think. What I do find striking is that immediately the comparison is made between Google Gmail /Calendar and Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. Exchange and Outlook being enterprise / SMB related products whereas Googles products still have more of a consumer focus. The comparison with Windows Live Mail and Calendar / Office Live as they do later in the article would be better.

Source : The Register

Update 30/8/2006:

Came across another article referring to this announcement, with a nice perspective of one of the analysts at Gartner :

Google is pitching the service as an alternative to installing local infrastructure to support these services.The software-as-a-service offering sets up a direct competition in terms of basic communications tools and infrastructure with the likes of Microsoft and IBM and with smaller vendors such as CommuniGate, Gordano, Ipswitch, Mirapoint, PostPath, Rockliffe, Scalix Sendmail and Zimbra.“What Google is saying is ‘look, today we are going to build out more advertising inventory, but tomorrow maybe it even turns into a real subscription revenue source,’ ” says Whit Andrews, an analyst with Gartner. Andrews says advertising at some point always goes flat and that is a bad thing for media companies like Google.

Source : NetworkWorld.com

Do you want to buy an online calendar solution ?

Well you can buy Kiko over on ebay. You do have to put in some $ 50K US ;-)

Read all about it over on : Collaboration Loop

Already this message is all over the blogosphere ofcourse. Internet 2.0 posts some advice for Web 2.0 startups. And also goes a step further and paints a doom scenario for Web 2.0 : The Web 2.0 Bubble is for Real, is Destined to Burst

SaaS Moves From Niche To Disruptive Technology

CRN’s VARBusiness ran a nice story on SaaS the other day.

… Software-as-a-service applications from Google, Yahoo, and Salesforce.com are driving change in architecture, appearance and business model of enterprise applications, turning the sector from a niche into a multi-billion dollar market. But the business model isn't without its challenges.

Calling the trend a "disruptive phenomenon," Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Kash Rangan said in a report released Friday that upstarts, such as Salesforce.com, WebEx, RightNow, Taleo, Blackboard and NetSuite, will benefit most, compared with traditional software players Microsoft, SAP and Oracle attempting to move into the space.

Part of the disruption will come from the method in which traditional software companies recognize revenue from SaaS sales, according to AMR Research Inc. senior vice president Jim Shepherd. "If SAP sells a system today for $1 million, they recognize the million dollars on the day they sell it and it goes into the revenue for that quarter," he said. "If they were to sell that same system as a software as a service, they may get $20,000 per month for the next 10 years."

The same dollar amount is spent on applications, but logged in accounting books differently under the SaaS business model. Assuming there's a strong demand for these services, it could have a negative short-term impact on license revenue at traditional software vendors, Shepherd said.

That's part of the reason Microsoft, Oracle and SAP didn't rush into offering these services offerings, which companies like Intuit Inc. have been offering for years ….

Although in general the author is right by stating that “pureplay SaaS vendors” may seem more flexible with regards to their business model when it comes to SaaS, I don’t think the article fully takes Microsoft’s efforts in this field into account.

For one WebEx is mentioned as a company that benefits most. As you may know Microsoft acquired PlaceWare a few years ago and turned this service into Microsoft LiveMeeting; one of the most successful Web conferencing services offered today (here and here).

Next to Services in Office System, also Windows Live is introduced and Microsoft officially launched its first service earlier this week : Windows Live Messenger which in the first 36 hours after the launch had over 2,4 million downloads; hmmm that’s quite successful isn’t it.

Currently there a huge list of Windows Live Services in Beta and planned. All in all Microsoft is right on track on becoming s strong SaaS player if you ask me …

European Application Outsourcing Spending Forecast: 2006 To 2011

It’s interesting to see that the Application Service Provider solutions which where a hot topic 5-7 years ago did not really go mainstream and now in different terminology (Application Outsourcing, SAAS) is gaining momentum …

Application outsourcing is expected to be one of the quickest-growing categories of IT services over the next five years, with a CAGR of 10%. Firms in mature outsourcing countries, such as the UK, the Nordics, and the Netherlands, will account for the majority of the spending; which will grow from E 17 billion in 2006 to E27.5 billion in 2011. Financial services firms will lead in adoption of and spending on this service type.

Source : Forrester.com