4 ms·

Office is a major part of this. Practically every workflow on the planet is glued together with emails and excel spreadsheets.

twoodfin 13y ago
Sharepoint is also a multi-billion dollar business. Can only imagine how much it could make for Microsoft if it wasn't so easy to implement badly.
threeseed 13y ago
Do you work in an enterprise ? Because I can't remember the last time I've seen a Word or Excel doc and work emails are often ignored. Increasingly business wikis and social networks are the norm. It's why I see Microsoft's acquisition of Yammer and Skype as brilliant acquisitions and OneNote and lighter Office 365 apps as their future. Microsoft if they were really smart would acquire Atlassian and Evernote and look at taking over Wave.
- at-fates-hands 13y ago
  I've worked in several fortune 500 companies over the past 5 years. Yes, wikis are becoming more common, but MS Office is deeply engrained in nearly every corporation I ever worked for. It's easy when you deal with technology every day to say you don't see Excel spreadsheets and ignore your email, but for most people whose lives don't revolve around technology like you and me, this is all they know. I was just at a huge corporation and do you know how they handled their project management? With emails and Excel spreadsheets. They had just started doing Agile and even then, no plans to buy a software package like Atlassian, just keep on with the spreadsheets approach. The company I'm at now? I privately held multimillion dollar company. We're in the process of a 2 year ERP project. How did the company they hire do it? Excel spreadsheets and email. Sad but true. Considering companies like Atlassian have some amazing tools both companies really need and could really utilize, the sales job is an uphill battle.
- angrybits 13y ago
  Yes, and believe me the business world at large still runs on Windows/Office from top to bottom. I work at a major financial institution on a data team and we log into Windows 7, open up Excel, log it into our SSAS cube, make pretty graphs and tables, put the results into Power Point, and then send through Exchange to the execs. It will take a very long time to overcome that kind of momentum.
  - UK-AL 13y ago
    Why you want replace Microsoft software in that area? That's exactly the type of stuff Microsoft is good at.
    - angrybits 13y ago
      Oh I don't, it's a system that works quite well for us. I was adding a counterpoint to this statement: "Increasingly business wikis and social networks are the norm." I don't believe that to be the case outside of silicon valley, unless you count the stampede of completely terrible sharepoint implementations we have floating around. But I don't think that is what the poster of that statement was referring to.
- bane 13y ago
  Yes, I can't imagine a modern company of practically any size that doesn't revolve around Word and Excel as the cornerstone of the technology behind their business processes.
- rayiner 13y ago
  On what planet are business wiki's and social networks the norm.

twoodfin 13y ago

Sharepoint is also a multi-billion dollar business. Can only imagine how much it could make for Microsoft if it wasn't so easy to implement badly.

threeseed 13y ago

Do you work in an enterprise ? Because I can't remember the last time I've seen a Word or Excel doc and work emails are often ignored. Increasingly business wikis and social networks are the norm. It's why I see Microsoft's acquisition of Yammer and Skype as brilliant acquisitions and OneNote and lighter Office 365 apps as their future. Microsoft if they were really smart would acquire Atlassian and Evernote and look at taking over Wave.

at-fates-hands 13y ago
I've worked in several fortune 500 companies over the past 5 years. Yes, wikis are becoming more common, but MS Office is deeply engrained in nearly every corporation I ever worked for. It's easy when you deal with technology every day to say you don't see Excel spreadsheets and ignore your email, but for most people whose lives don't revolve around technology like you and me, this is all they know. I was just at a huge corporation and do you know how they handled their project management? With emails and Excel spreadsheets. They had just started doing Agile and even then, no plans to buy a software package like Atlassian, just keep on with the spreadsheets approach. The company I'm at now? I privately held multimillion dollar company. We're in the process of a 2 year ERP project. How did the company they hire do it? Excel spreadsheets and email. Sad but true. Considering companies like Atlassian have some amazing tools both companies really need and could really utilize, the sales job is an uphill battle.
angrybits 13y ago
Yes, and believe me the business world at large still runs on Windows/Office from top to bottom. I work at a major financial institution on a data team and we log into Windows 7, open up Excel, log it into our SSAS cube, make pretty graphs and tables, put the results into Power Point, and then send through Exchange to the execs. It will take a very long time to overcome that kind of momentum.
- UK-AL 13y ago
  Why you want replace Microsoft software in that area? That's exactly the type of stuff Microsoft is good at.
  - angrybits 13y ago
    Oh I don't, it's a system that works quite well for us. I was adding a counterpoint to this statement: "Increasingly business wikis and social networks are the norm." I don't believe that to be the case outside of silicon valley, unless you count the stampede of completely terrible sharepoint implementations we have floating around. But I don't think that is what the poster of that statement was referring to.
bane 13y ago
Yes, I can't imagine a modern company of practically any size that doesn't revolve around Word and Excel as the cornerstone of the technology behind their business processes.
rayiner 13y ago
On what planet are business wiki's and social networks the norm.