5 ms·

Office 365 shows Microsoft isn't yet serious about the cloud

20 points by rytis 15y ago

nextparadigms 15y ago
It's pretty obvious why this is happening and it was expected. Microsoft doesn't want you to go cross-platform. Going fully closed-based means they won't have as much power on the OS side. Plus, they make a lot more money from the OS and software (Office) and they don't think they'll make as much from the cloud services. So it's Microsoft's profit incentive to keep you locked in on their OS, while Google's profit incentive is to make u go cross-platform and use the cloud. The web is Google's home turf where they make most of their money, so it's in their best interest to do that. Both Microsoft and Apple will never be really serious about the web, because at the end of the day that's not their main priority. Their main priority is to get you to use Windows/iOS and to buy their (Apple's) devices.
- 127001brewer 15y ago
  ... Microsoft's profit incentive ... Exactly right: it's in Microsoft best interest to not to enter the "Post-PC Era". However, I have often wondered when will Microsoft be irrelevant? Will there be a technology world without Microsoft (or a vastly different Microsoft)? Or will Microsoft's intrenched position in the corporate (and enterprise) environments ensure its continued (and varied) success? People "accept" Microsoft products in a work environment largely because of inertia and a distaste of change. Very good arguments can be made whether or not there are just-as-good or better alternatives, but I believe that organizations can thrive without Microsoft technologies. And maybe the inertia and distaste of change is a generational phenomena, because I cannot imagine a future world where my children are using Microsoft products. When I was growing up, I learned how to program using a Commodore 64 (and the "cool kids" had beepers) and then Microsoft was a blessing of sorts since it was accessible and affordable. But now we truly have technological advances in terms of hardware and software, so why will our future accept technology based in the past? (Really, how much of Windows 7 isn't based on the old Win32 APIs?) As a casual observation, it seems to me that the battle for corporate e-mail will be the next major "battle ground"...
wazoox 15y ago
I've tried Office Live some time ago, and it was pretty ridiculous compared to Google Docs: it was incredibly hard to upload a file, the web app almost systematically crashed on most files but the simplest ones; it often froze, and I had to start back from the login several times. I was of course using Firefox and Linux, it may be the culprit, I don't know. Overall a pretty poor experiment.
- CrazedGeek 15y ago
  I've used it recently on Chrome and Firefox (various platforms), and it seemed decently stable to me. I didn't try huge files on it or anything, though.
- contextfree 15y ago
  I've occasionally used the web apps for viewing and editing docs (especially OneNote) on Linux with Firefox. They are admittedly pretty slow and clunky, but work adequately for what I need and I don't think I've ever seen them freeze or crash. When you say Office Live, was this back when it was actually called that (the new incarnation is "Windows Live Office", though I don't blame you for not keeping track of Microsoft's constant baffling name changes)?
  - wazoox 15y ago
    It was about 2 months ago I'd say. Well, maybe it was a bad day for the service....
- shadowfox 15y ago
  Interestingly enough, I had the opposite experience last year on the same platform (Firefox on Linux). I found that amongst Open Office, Google Docs and Office Live, the latter maintained the best fidelity towards the original ppt. (Not too surprising since they know the format) I was also able to do the presentation, streaming it from Office Live, without much trouble. Could be an isolated experience of course.
  - faboo 15y ago
bobfunk 15y ago
Ironic that I got a huge ad for Microsoft Cloud Power before being able to read the article!
programminggeek 15y ago
Maybe I'm crazy for thinking this, but am I the only one who doesn't think that "the cloud" has to equal "the web"? Dropbox is probably my favorite cloud based service and guess what, I almost never use the web client. Sure the web client is awesome and super useful, but most of the time I'm using the native apps. I agree that MSFT needs to massively improve Office web apps, but just because the primary focus is syncing with existing office apps is not a bad thing at all. For those of you not keeping score at home, Office is probably the most popular boxed software in the world outside of Windows. Microsoft would be incredibly stupid to tell all their customers that they now have to use web versions. Their customers would tell them they want to keep using Outlook, Excel, Word, and Powerpoint like they have for the last 15 years. If you were sitting on millions of existing office users, they'd be your #1 potential customer base too. That's just good business. As nerds we all love the internet and the potential of the web, but as entrepreneurs, we should look at what Office 365 is doing and learn a few lessons from the pros. Already MSFT is signing up big enterprises on this thing. If they can execute at all, it's going to be a BIG hit. Ballmer might not get consumer products at all, but when it comes to selling to and serving business customers, he gets it.
- billybob 15y ago
  "Microsoft would be incredibly stupid to tell all their customers that they now have to use web versions." Yes, they would. But they'd also be stupid NOT to do what Google Docs is doing. 1) Offer a web-based set of apps that do most of what the desktop versions do and also facilitate sharing. 2) Make it easy to tie those in with desktop versions of Office (see Google Cloud Connect). This lets them capture the desktop-only people, the web-only people, and those stuck in the middle. If they don't do this, they're pushing everyone but the desktop-only people away. The question is whether they will do it well enough to keep their customers, or whether their hesitance to lose the OS lock-in will make them do a hemigluteal job on their web app, in which case people will go with Google Docs or Zoho anyway.
  - Michiel 15y ago
    You should check out Office 365...
schrototo 15y ago
[If] Microsoft were serious about the cloud, it would have released a true Web-based version of Office. So, by the same token, Apple isn't serious about the cloud either?
contextfree 15y ago
I think pundits (and Wall Street?) tend to underestimate the potential of incremental, evolutionary approaches to technology transitions. They're not as exciting I guess, but over the long term they seem to have at least as good a track record as "rewrite the world" initiatives.
Aloisius 15y ago
I must be missing something. The primary complaint in this article appears to be that Microsoft's web offering consists of a lot of silos instead of a tightly integrated collection. Has the author ever used Google Apps? Because tightly integrated is not what I'd call it. I can't use Office 365 because it apparently doesn't support Chrome (or it didn't in the beta review I read). That said, it is very attractive to me. The lack of a central directory service in Google Apps and poor scheduling system drives me crazy. Presumably, with their more expensive version, you'd also get access to security controls to force mobile users to have password locking and what not. That is also very attractive.

20 points by rytis 15y ago

It's pretty obvious why this is happening and it was expected. Microsoft doesn't want you to go cross-platform. Going fully closed-based means they won't have as much power on the OS side. Plus, they make a lot more money from the OS and software (Office) and they don't think they'll make as much from the cloud services. So it's Microsoft's profit incentive to keep you locked in on their OS, while Google's profit incentive is to make u go cross-platform and use the cloud. The web is Google's home turf where they make most of their money, so it's in their best interest to do that. Both Microsoft and Apple will never be really serious about the web, because at the end of the day that's not their main priority. Their main priority is to get you to use Windows/iOS and to buy their (Apple's) devices.

127001brewer 15y ago
... Microsoft's profit incentive ... Exactly right: it's in Microsoft best interest to not to enter the "Post-PC Era". However, I have often wondered when will Microsoft be irrelevant? Will there be a technology world without Microsoft (or a vastly different Microsoft)? Or will Microsoft's intrenched position in the corporate (and enterprise) environments ensure its continued (and varied) success? People "accept" Microsoft products in a work environment largely because of inertia and a distaste of change. Very good arguments can be made whether or not there are just-as-good or better alternatives, but I believe that organizations can thrive without Microsoft technologies. And maybe the inertia and distaste of change is a generational phenomena, because I cannot imagine a future world where my children are using Microsoft products. When I was growing up, I learned how to program using a Commodore 64 (and the "cool kids" had beepers) and then Microsoft was a blessing of sorts since it was accessible and affordable. But now we truly have technological advances in terms of hardware and software, so why will our future accept technology based in the past? (Really, how much of Windows 7 isn't based on the old Win32 APIs?) As a casual observation, it seems to me that the battle for corporate e-mail will be the next major "battle ground"...

wazoox 15y ago

I've tried Office Live some time ago, and it was pretty ridiculous compared to Google Docs: it was incredibly hard to upload a file, the web app almost systematically crashed on most files but the simplest ones; it often froze, and I had to start back from the login several times. I was of course using Firefox and Linux, it may be the culprit, I don't know. Overall a pretty poor experiment.

CrazedGeek 15y ago
I've used it recently on Chrome and Firefox (various platforms), and it seemed decently stable to me. I didn't try huge files on it or anything, though.
contextfree 15y ago
I've occasionally used the web apps for viewing and editing docs (especially OneNote) on Linux with Firefox. They are admittedly pretty slow and clunky, but work adequately for what I need and I don't think I've ever seen them freeze or crash. When you say Office Live, was this back when it was actually called that (the new incarnation is "Windows Live Office", though I don't blame you for not keeping track of Microsoft's constant baffling name changes)?
- wazoox 15y ago
  It was about 2 months ago I'd say. Well, maybe it was a bad day for the service....
shadowfox 15y ago
Interestingly enough, I had the opposite experience last year on the same platform (Firefox on Linux). I found that amongst Open Office, Google Docs and Office Live, the latter maintained the best fidelity towards the original ppt. (Not too surprising since they know the format) I was also able to do the presentation, streaming it from Office Live, without much trouble. Could be an isolated experience of course.
- faboo 15y ago

bobfunk 15y ago

Ironic that I got a huge ad for Microsoft Cloud Power before being able to read the article!

programminggeek 15y ago

Maybe I'm crazy for thinking this, but am I the only one who doesn't think that "the cloud" has to equal "the web"? Dropbox is probably my favorite cloud based service and guess what, I almost never use the web client. Sure the web client is awesome and super useful, but most of the time I'm using the native apps. I agree that MSFT needs to massively improve Office web apps, but just because the primary focus is syncing with existing office apps is not a bad thing at all. For those of you not keeping score at home, Office is probably the most popular boxed software in the world outside of Windows. Microsoft would be incredibly stupid to tell all their customers that they now have to use web versions. Their customers would tell them they want to keep using Outlook, Excel, Word, and Powerpoint like they have for the last 15 years. If you were sitting on millions of existing office users, they'd be your #1 potential customer base too. That's just good business. As nerds we all love the internet and the potential of the web, but as entrepreneurs, we should look at what Office 365 is doing and learn a few lessons from the pros. Already MSFT is signing up big enterprises on this thing. If they can execute at all, it's going to be a BIG hit. Ballmer might not get consumer products at all, but when it comes to selling to and serving business customers, he gets it.

billybob 15y ago
"Microsoft would be incredibly stupid to tell all their customers that they now have to use web versions." Yes, they would. But they'd also be stupid NOT to do what Google Docs is doing. 1) Offer a web-based set of apps that do most of what the desktop versions do and also facilitate sharing. 2) Make it easy to tie those in with desktop versions of Office (see Google Cloud Connect). This lets them capture the desktop-only people, the web-only people, and those stuck in the middle. If they don't do this, they're pushing everyone but the desktop-only people away. The question is whether they will do it well enough to keep their customers, or whether their hesitance to lose the OS lock-in will make them do a hemigluteal job on their web app, in which case people will go with Google Docs or Zoho anyway.
- Michiel 15y ago
  You should check out Office 365...

schrototo 15y ago

[If] Microsoft were serious about the cloud, it would have released a true Web-based version of Office. So, by the same token, Apple isn't serious about the cloud either?

contextfree 15y ago

I think pundits (and Wall Street?) tend to underestimate the potential of incremental, evolutionary approaches to technology transitions. They're not as exciting I guess, but over the long term they seem to have at least as good a track record as "rewrite the world" initiatives.

Aloisius 15y ago

I must be missing something. The primary complaint in this article appears to be that Microsoft's web offering consists of a lot of silos instead of a tightly integrated collection. Has the author ever used Google Apps? Because tightly integrated is not what I'd call it. I can't use Office 365 because it apparently doesn't support Chrome (or it didn't in the beta review I read). That said, it is very attractive to me. The lack of a central directory service in Google Apps and poor scheduling system drives me crazy. Presumably, with their more expensive version, you'd also get access to security controls to force mobile users to have password locking and what not. That is also very attractive.