A new front in the battle for the central nervous system (if not soul) of organizations has been engaged in the clouds. It is not a plot in some flavor of apocalyptic literature but it does mark the opening of a new chapter in the epic struggle between the now incumbent Microsoft and the upstart rival Google.
Chris Thompson, who is the resident Google watcher for Slate's The Big Money, reports on the grand cloud compromise -- lowering costs, reducing complexity in Google's cloud while letting users keep the familiar Microsoft interface. This is a big stakes confrontation -- it is an unvarnished assault on Outlook and Exchange. Thompson writes:
E-mail is an interesting target, particularly for state and local government. We are still witness to incoming mayors, governors and county executives who vow to fix internal e-mail as a central premise in making government work. It is a problem that should have been fixed long before now -- a new approach that brings with it a promise to make things better and save money could be an awfully attractive proposition.
Competition between these two companies, bare-knuckled as it increasingly is becoming, won't make for easy or obvious choices. But it will make for great watching.
Chris Thompson, who is the resident Google watcher for Slate's The Big Money, reports on the grand cloud compromise -- lowering costs, reducing complexity in Google's cloud while letting users keep the familiar Microsoft interface. This is a big stakes confrontation -- it is an unvarnished assault on Outlook and Exchange. Thompson writes:
On Wednesday, Google released a new plug-in that allows businesses [or other organizations including, presumably, government] to switch to Google Apps, but retain the interface of Outlook. Just download the plug-in, and Google will import your e-mail, calendar entries, and contact information over to Google's cloud, while keeping the Outlook interface intact.
It's not quite a hot knife through butter; ChannelWeb's Samara Lynn warns that when you deploy the plug-in, it may take up to 24 hours for Google to import all of your e-mails. But with this new tool, Google is taking square aim at Microsoft's enterprise customers, luring them into the cloud and away from software-based technology. Google has a number of natural advantages here; its premiere edition costs just $50 per person per year, and companies will no longer have to host servers on site, allowing Google to do all the heavy infrastructural lifting.
E-mail is an interesting target, particularly for state and local government. We are still witness to incoming mayors, governors and county executives who vow to fix internal e-mail as a central premise in making government work. It is a problem that should have been fixed long before now -- a new approach that brings with it a promise to make things better and save money could be an awfully attractive proposition.
Competition between these two companies, bare-knuckled as it increasingly is becoming, won't make for easy or obvious choices. But it will make for great watching.
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