| BALMER SAYS MICROSOFT IS ALL ABOUT THE CLOUD |
| Friday, 05 March 2010 05:14 |
| In a presentation yesterday about Microsoft and cloud computing, CEO Steve Ballmer said his company is all about the cloud, even products that didn't start there. "The inspiration for what we're doing now starts with the cloud," he said, proceeding to lump Windows Phone, Xbox, Bing, Windows Azure and SQL Azure as all part of the cloud universe. Then he continued, "Microsoft Office and Exchange, and SharePoint, which are the back-end facilities in that professional set of tools are all really focused in on the cloud today. This is the bet, if you will, for our company." Part of me thinks that Microsoft's labeling needs to be more in line with cheese products in the dairy section of supermarkets. There's cheese, then there's cheese food, or more correctly, processed cheese, cheese spread, cheese products and imitation cheese. Some of the Microsoft stuff looks more like processed cloud and perhaps even imitation cloud. (I have my own label, cheese-like food). Not surprisingly, Dynamics products were not mentioned, although their future is clearly linked to the Azure platform. To a certain extent, I tend to think Microsoft's current approach with Dynamics could be labeled "imitation cloud" until Azure gets going. |
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Bob Scott has been informing and entertaining the mid-market financial software community with his email newsletters for 10 years. And he has been covering this market through print publications for 18 years, first as technology editor of Accounting Today and then as the Editor of Accounting Technology from 1997 through 2009. He has covered the traditional tax and accounting profession during the same time and continues to address that as executive editor of the Progressive Accountant.
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About the Author: Gene Marks, a columnist, author, and business owner, writes monthly online management and technology columns for Forbes and Business Week and a bi-weekly column that appears nationally in American City Business Journals. His books include Gene's books include the #1 Amazon Small Business Best Seller The Streetwise Small Business Book of Lists (Adams Media), The Small Business Desk Reference (Alpha Books, 2004), Outfoxing The Small Business Owner - Crafty Techniques for Creating a Profitable Relationship (Adams Media, 2005) and The Complete Idiot's Guide To Successful Outsourcing (Alpha Books, 2005). He owns and operates the Marks Group PC, a ten-person firm that provides technology and consulting services to small and medium-sized businesses. Before starting the Marks Group, Marks spent nine years in the entrepreneurial services arm of the international consulting firm KPMG in Philadelphia where he was a senior manager. |
