4 ms·

While I've certainly seen firsthand the importance of AD in enterprise, and I agree that it will continue to sell a lot of Server and SharePoint licenses for MS

While I've certainly seen firsthand the importance of AD in enterprise, and I agree that it will continue to sell a lot of Server and SharePoint licenses for MS - I think Office is probably a stronger most valuable asset for a variety of reasons. Among them, Office actually is MSFT's most profitable product and it actually currently doesn't face any noteworthy competition (not that AD does, mind you). Also, I had to check to see if 'blogosphere' was coined prior to 2001, and found that indeed it was.

bad_user 14y ago
Office has strong competition. I've seen businesses switch to LibreOffice under the threat of BSA. And Google Apps is just awesome ... being an online service it doesn't have all the features of Office, but it's within reach 24/7 on whatever device, wherever you are, the only requirement being an Internet connection. Being able to make changes to a document (collaboratively too) from an iPad or an Android device, while commuting, is the definition of awesomeness.
- contextfree 14y ago
  Beyond Google Apps, Office faces major "competition" just from less of what people do with computers being about Office-like documents and more about less formally structured web activity.
  - rizzom5000 14y ago
    This could ultimately be the end of Office, but at the moment, Rich Text docs and spreadsheets still rule the enterprise. And as far as that goes, with strong Excel-SQL Server (or other database), integration for data analysis, Excel may be the strongest product in the suite (and Excel might very well be the reason Office is so strong in enterprise). I think this situation could change rapidly, but MSFT has the momentum, and I could also see Office remaining out in front. It's difficult to imagine someone coming along and supplanting Excel with something superior at the moment.
- rizzom5000 14y ago
  I like Google Apps, but at the enterprise level there hasn't been much traction. Now MSFT has answered with SkyDrive and OfficeLive. It might be a stretch to suggest that Google Apps isn't competition, but I don't think it has competed very well at all to the present. Also, it doesn't look like LibreOffice is doing much better than OpenOffice ever did. Orgs try it, but often end up going back to Office - and every time it happens, it provides negative feedback for other Orgs who are thinking about switching.
  - bad_user 14y ago
    So I haven't seen big Orgs switching to Libre/OpenOffice - since they have the resources necessary for whatever licensing and because they get special deals too and because MS Office is a lot better than Libre/OpenOffice, then they have no real reason to switch. However, the big problem Microsoft faces is that one reason Office is popular is because of piracy, which is like this freakishly big elephant in the room. I can bet that most home users that use Office do not have a license for it - I've seen this happening with small to medium businesses too in my country at least. And for a small to medium business, what makes more sense? Shelling out the cash for Office licenses or going with a completely free and legal alternative? Considering most such businesses don't actually need Exchange integration or other niceties that MS Office provides, the choice is pretty obvious under the threat of being caught. And this is the big problem for MS Office - it's an awesome software package, but judging relatively to its upfront cost to home users or small/medium businesses? Well, the extra value provided starts to fade in comparison to a $0 price tag.
sliverstorm 14y ago
AD is probably much more entrenched though. Office is a tool; AD is an infrastructure.
Spearchucker 14y ago
Office too, has a strong dependency on AD. AD is how Office documents are protected (rights management), how they're synced to Office 365 (WS-Federation -> AD), and how they allow multi-person, simultaneous/real-time editing. Amongst other stuff.

bad_user 14y ago

Office has strong competition. I've seen businesses switch to LibreOffice under the threat of BSA. And Google Apps is just awesome ... being an online service it doesn't have all the features of Office, but it's within reach 24/7 on whatever device, wherever you are, the only requirement being an Internet connection. Being able to make changes to a document (collaboratively too) from an iPad or an Android device, while commuting, is the definition of awesomeness.

contextfree 14y ago
Beyond Google Apps, Office faces major "competition" just from less of what people do with computers being about Office-like documents and more about less formally structured web activity.
- rizzom5000 14y ago
  This could ultimately be the end of Office, but at the moment, Rich Text docs and spreadsheets still rule the enterprise. And as far as that goes, with strong Excel-SQL Server (or other database), integration for data analysis, Excel may be the strongest product in the suite (and Excel might very well be the reason Office is so strong in enterprise). I think this situation could change rapidly, but MSFT has the momentum, and I could also see Office remaining out in front. It's difficult to imagine someone coming along and supplanting Excel with something superior at the moment.
rizzom5000 14y ago
I like Google Apps, but at the enterprise level there hasn't been much traction. Now MSFT has answered with SkyDrive and OfficeLive. It might be a stretch to suggest that Google Apps isn't competition, but I don't think it has competed very well at all to the present. Also, it doesn't look like LibreOffice is doing much better than OpenOffice ever did. Orgs try it, but often end up going back to Office - and every time it happens, it provides negative feedback for other Orgs who are thinking about switching.
- bad_user 14y ago
  So I haven't seen big Orgs switching to Libre/OpenOffice - since they have the resources necessary for whatever licensing and because they get special deals too and because MS Office is a lot better than Libre/OpenOffice, then they have no real reason to switch. However, the big problem Microsoft faces is that one reason Office is popular is because of piracy, which is like this freakishly big elephant in the room. I can bet that most home users that use Office do not have a license for it - I've seen this happening with small to medium businesses too in my country at least. And for a small to medium business, what makes more sense? Shelling out the cash for Office licenses or going with a completely free and legal alternative? Considering most such businesses don't actually need Exchange integration or other niceties that MS Office provides, the choice is pretty obvious under the threat of being caught. And this is the big problem for MS Office - it's an awesome software package, but judging relatively to its upfront cost to home users or small/medium businesses? Well, the extra value provided starts to fade in comparison to a $0 price tag.

sliverstorm 14y ago

AD is probably much more entrenched though. Office is a tool; AD is an infrastructure.

Spearchucker 14y ago

Office too, has a strong dependency on AD. AD is how Office documents are protected (rights management), how they're synced to Office 365 (WS-Federation -> AD), and how they allow multi-person, simultaneous/real-time editing. Amongst other stuff.