The Redmond Tea Party

What IT Revolutionaries Are Throwing Overboard

As we as Americans prepare to celebrate and commemorate our freedom, let us call to mind that which makes us free. Let us also call to mind that to which we still remain chained, as some of you may feel towards, say, your IT systems.

If you are reading this, chances are you already know about the substantial cost savings cloud computing and Google Apps provides as you spend significantly less on servers, IT management, and exceedingly complex licensing schemas. It turns out, though, that companies like Microsoft and IBM are starting to acknowledge those cost savings (and other cloud computing advantages) as well, and that believe it or not, these legacy companies seem for once to be on the defensive.

Although one could probably think of various reasons why Microsoft execs may be losing sleep, simply put, their greatest fear is most likely this: Microsoft’s cash cow products, at a seemingly unstoppable rate, are becoming eclipsed by the competition. (We’ll save IBM for a later post, just FYI.)

The onslaught from forerunners of the SaaS movement such as Google, as well as from countless start-up companies also hoping to capitalize on the cloud’s frontier, is forcing even the once-unyielding Microsoft to conform and compromise. One of the most inconvenient problems for Microsoft, though, is that in the time it took them to decide that a change was needed, an entire industry had already committed to embodying that change. Thus, many of the “new” features for the Office 2010 Suite are actually going to be emulations of Google Apps. For example, one of the key improvements for Office 2010 is to facilitate more group collaboration by allowing online-user messaging and simultaneous editing of documents. Sound familiar?

In this modern-day revolution, the once-invincible Microsoft is clearly on its heels. Not only can we show you how Google Apps is superior to Microsoft; Microsoft is showing you how Google Apps is superior to Microsoft. In the spirit of Independence Day, as we cherish our family, our friends, our food, and our freedom, we at Cloud Sherpas hope that by this time next year, we will be celebrating together your freedom from high-priced Enterprise Agreements and the hassle associated with on-premise infrastructure.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend! Happy Independence Day!