3 ms·

What should we get?

curiousgeorge 18y ago
This is a great question.
sachinag 18y ago
You know what would be helpful? Discounts on Office, One Note, Project, and some of the other tools to run our business. We use Google Docs and 37signals products and the like instead of some of the great MS Office tools - isn't this the franchise MSFT needs to protect more? Stuff for us to build the site - that's less attractive since we want to explode and we won't be buying Windows Server licenses any time soon. Problem for MSFT is that only startups need the stuff they're making free; all small businesses are looking for free Office alternatives.
- ggruschow 18y ago
  Am I reading this wrong? It seems like it includes that: "All the software included in the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN® Premium subscription" http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BizSpark/Pages/What_Do_I_Get.aspx http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BizSpark/Pages/What_Do_I... "In addition to Developer tools and licenses limited to Development & Test, MSDN subscribers may also install and use one copy of Microsoft Office for any purpose." http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa718661.aspx#licenses http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa718661.aspx#...
- briansmith 18y ago
  You are wrong. Small businesses want to use MS office because that is what they know. I've signed two companies up for Office Live Small Business, which isn't great, but it is somewhat workable. They will move to SharePoint Online + Exchange Online in a few months. It is only going to cost them $15/month/user. They are saving thousands of dollars and they get to use the same software they've always used. Importantly, that they are saving tons of $100/hr IT admin fees and they are saving thousands of dollars in hardware costs. $15/month/user for Exchange+SharePoint is not significantly more than the $0/month/user for Google Docs for most businesses. The cost of Windows and Office is insignificant for them--compared to normal business expenses and the cost of the computers to run the software, the software itself is basically free. Foldershare is a really, really nice utility. Windows 7's transparent WebDAV/SMB caching feature is going to be a killer. Right now, the biggest problem with cloud storage is performance, reliability, and disconnected operation. These tools make those problems go away, mostly, for the average user. I learned all of this doing due diligence for a SaaS business that never got off the ground--there was no way I could be better than Sharepoint+Exchange, and there's no way that I could be cheaper in a profitable manner. The best I could hope for would be to build something similar to what MS is doing and then hope that one of their competitors bought it to catch up--not exactly the most exciting idea to me.

What should we get?

This is a great question.

You know what would be helpful? Discounts on Office, One Note, Project, and some of the other tools to run our business. We use Google Docs and 37signals products and the like instead of some of the great MS Office tools - isn't this the franchise MSFT needs to protect more? Stuff for us to build the site - that's less attractive since we want to explode and we won't be buying Windows Server licenses any time soon. Problem for MSFT is that only startups need the stuff they're making free; all small businesses are looking for free Office alternatives.

ggruschow 18y ago
Am I reading this wrong? It seems like it includes that: "All the software included in the Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN® Premium subscription" http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BizSpark/Pages/What_Do_I_Get.aspx http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BizSpark/Pages/What_Do_I... "In addition to Developer tools and licenses limited to Development & Test, MSDN subscribers may also install and use one copy of Microsoft Office for any purpose." http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa718661.aspx#licenses http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa718661.aspx#...
briansmith 18y ago
You are wrong. Small businesses want to use MS office because that is what they know. I've signed two companies up for Office Live Small Business, which isn't great, but it is somewhat workable. They will move to SharePoint Online + Exchange Online in a few months. It is only going to cost them $15/month/user. They are saving thousands of dollars and they get to use the same software they've always used. Importantly, that they are saving tons of $100/hr IT admin fees and they are saving thousands of dollars in hardware costs. $15/month/user for Exchange+SharePoint is not significantly more than the $0/month/user for Google Docs for most businesses. The cost of Windows and Office is insignificant for them--compared to normal business expenses and the cost of the computers to run the software, the software itself is basically free. Foldershare is a really, really nice utility. Windows 7's transparent WebDAV/SMB caching feature is going to be a killer. Right now, the biggest problem with cloud storage is performance, reliability, and disconnected operation. These tools make those problems go away, mostly, for the average user. I learned all of this doing due diligence for a SaaS business that never got off the ground--there was no way I could be better than Sharepoint+Exchange, and there's no way that I could be cheaper in a profitable manner. The best I could hope for would be to build something similar to what MS is doing and then hope that one of their competitors bought it to catch up--not exactly the most exciting idea to me.