Windows 7 Code Microsoft takes off the gloves with

Remember Apple’s “switchers” campaign — the one where they highlighted Windows users who dumped their Windows PCs for Macs?
Microsoft is taking a page out of that book in reverse — touting customers that are switching from Google Apps to Microsoft’s Online hosted services.
Microsoft last month played up (in a fairly subtle way) Serena Software’s decision to switch from Google Apps to Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). I was surprised Microsoft didn’t attempt to make more hay regarding Serena’s decision,Office Home And Business 2010 Key, given Serena was a poster child for Google Apps. There has been some back and forth about exactly what Serena got in return from Microsoft for its decision to abandon Google Apps. The word is Microsoft cut them a deal — not exactly giving them a freebie, but offering them some very attractive licensing terms. But so far, no one on either side is spelling out the exact terms of the Serena deal (beyond this “official” statement from Serena).
Around the same time, one of the biggest and most vocal reseller partners to stake a Google Apps claim a couple years ago, Capgemini, also switched its allegiances to BPOS.)
On June 21, Microsoft added two new Google-Apps-switcher case studies to its roster: China Navigation and Intero Real Estate.
China Navigation,Office 2010 Pro Plus, a 300-employee company, is said to have abandoned Google Apps for BPOS “after issues with support and reliability.” The 2,000-employee Intero Real Estate — “which is located literally a few freeway exists away from the ‘Googleplex’ in California,Office Pro Plus, according to a Microsoft blog post — switched to Microsoft because it needed enterprise-class functionality, like Group Policy Management. In this case, according to the Softies, Google Apps was too simple.
From a quote on the Microsoft “Why Microsoft” blog:
“‘It was one thing to migrate a small team of 15 franchise users to Google Apps, but I suspected that it was another thing entirely to move the company’s more than 2,000 users,Windows 7 Code,’” says Eric Rees, Director of IT for Intero Real Estate Services.”
(The careful way this is worded makes me think Intero might not have dumped Google Apps entirely. I’ll report back if that’s the case.)
I have not yet spoken to either of these customers or to Google to get the other side of the story. But it’s still interesting Microsoft has gone on the offensive with BPOS — something it almost never does with Office or SharePoint. Looks like it’s going to be a dog-eat-dog battle for cloud-hosted apps.
If/when I hear back from Google or these customers directly, I’ll update this post with any related information.
Update (June 22): Here’s Google’s retort, via a corporate spokesperson:
“Large companies with thousands of users continue to switch from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps on a weekly basis. Competition is good for everyone, and we also pride ourselves on making it easy for companies to move away from Google Apps if they want to. It’s particularly easy for those that don’t have any employees on Apps to begin with.”
Update 2: There’s a bit more information from a source with familiarity with the contracts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It sounds like — as I kind of suspected (given how customer case study information from any company usually leaves out the interesting bits, like how much of a price break a customer managed to wrangle) that Microsoft may be omitting a few interesting details with these switcher profiles.
My source says that China Nav’s issues with Google Apps had less to do with support and reliability than it did with the fact that the rest of the Swire Group (China Nav’s parent company) is a Microsoft shop. The full Microsoft case study write up on China Nav cites a service level agreement guaranteeing 99.9 percent uptime for BPOS. I asked Google for its comparative uptime/reliability figure for Google Apps and a spokesperson told me it has been 99.99 percent for the last four quarters. Hmmm. Something’s not adding up here…
Update 3: Microsoft responded on the seeming reliability discrepancy. Via a spokesperson:
“Microsoft Online Services offer the industry’s most rigorous SLAs (service level agreements). We guarantee 99.9% uptime,Office 2007 Key, or we give customers money back. And, we count any service issue as downtime. Microsoft Online Services have averaged 99.9% or better uptime since the start of this year. While competitors cite similar SLAs, they only count outages that exceed 10 minutes, and thus, they can claim 100% uptime even when they experience frequent short outages in 9 minute increments. We know our customers expect guarantees they can trust, and that’s what we deliver.”
On the Intero front, the same source said that none of the Intero’s franchise offices switched from Google Apps to BPOS; one franchise was evaluating it, but none had yet deployed it. Microsoft’s full case study on Intero makes it seem that one franchise office dumped Google Apps for BPOS, and the entire rest of the company followed suite, going with Exchange Online.
This is why I never find case studies very useful… there’s always another side to the story. Nonetheless, I still think it’s newsworthy that Microsoft is going on the offensive with its cloud offerings, rather than sticking to defense, like it traditionally has with its on-premises products.

[ming7bai2d]

| Back to logs list

Reprinted from 550519907 at 10:27 on May 27, 2010 Reading (loading. ..) Comments (2) Category: Personal Diary

this day, clouds to two guests in the restaurant, a man and a woman of about forty, dressed decent, men still carrying a bag, seems to be a pair of couples out of tourism .
smiling waiter brought the menu. the men took the menu direct delivery woman, said: \give us a bowl of wonton on the line! \women's own words repeated again and again, this time the man next to the speaker of: \stunned to see waiter surprised eyes, very embarrassed and said: \Yi Zheng, how to eat a bowl? woman looking man frowned and said: \on. Next to the attendant a hint of bare contemptuous smile, thinking: This woman and cheap and pull the home. wonton not a restaurant to eat light, said two people as long as the bowl. Pielepiezui woman washed her: \There is no wonton sell, the two want to eat or to eat food stalls outside the bar! \Small businesses do not want to do it? \individuals,nike dunks, the only point of wonton eat, this did not mean to trouble you? \rice were estimated what additional ideas. After all, business site, not push it the truth.

waiter told he whispered: \from this strange couple.

After a while, the waiter took home a steaming bowl of wonton, to the woman in front of a release, said: \see wonton, a woman's eyes were bright, her moving their faces to the bowl, and took a deep breath, then gently stir with a spoon with the bowl of ravioli, if want to eat, but not send half a day to the mouth.

man stared at a woman, and turned to look around and feel everyone staring at them with strange eyes, he felt a shame, said bitterly: \what are you doing, running all the way, just to eat the bowl of ravioli? \Do you like to eat, I'm hungry a day, and to Bubu. \finished food. That waiter said dismissively: \fart! King meal I eat? I would have no money? \a pinch, to actually find the cell phone was missing. startled man stood a long while, and finally paying attention to the woman opposite.

woman calmly said: \and mobile phones are thrown into the river last night. \suddenly remembered something, opened the player's bag, in which fierce hand dig up.

woman simply said coldly: \out of all the valuable things, I threw into the river. I've got a five dollars, enough to buy a bowl of wonton! \staring at a woman: \What are you anxious? no matter how, we still have two legs, walked to her house. \no money, is not it still home yet? Back then the days. colder than it is now! \what? \What is forgotten. Twenty years ago, the first time taking a trip we do business, did not expect to be cheated his shirt, and even travel money gone. through here, you have to give me to eat a bowl of wonton I know, when your body to rest five cents a ......\. \The waiter at the side of a daze: \empty bowl and gently pushed to the front of men: \\
man said: \do not eat now, or this sentence! \. Finally, he sent a wonton lips, a swallow, the whole is gargling the stomach. ravioli when he scooped a second time, tears suddenly \
woman to see him eat, and smiled, and began to pick up the spoon to eat. ravioli entered the mouth, while tears drip into the bowl. the couple to tears and finished the bowl of wonton points.

down spoon, a man asked the woman looked softly: \shoes, pull out the insole, hand entered, and touch, did not expect to actually work out five dollars. He startled by startled, stared at his hand could not believe the money.

woman smiled and said: \Twenty years ago, you lied to me that only five cents, and can only buy a bowl of wonton, Actually, you have five cents, she hid in the soles. I know you want to hide the five cents , so when I'm hungry a chance to. then you are forced to eat half of ravioli to know I will not eat, put the money out to buy a bowl! \I remember what you have done, the five dollars, I did not white Tibetan! \, a short while, holding back a large bowl full of ravioli.
man to the woman poured a half bowl: \, we have to go home, you can not blame me, I just want to break up with you again before the hungry once. suffering a back! \decoction with water, eat clean. He put down his bowl urged women: \back to sign one point the money I do not, you and what a good woman, married eight or ten, I will not control you .....\\woman smiling and calmly finished the bowl of wonton, and then the waiter: \a woman's hand, yet who work out of the two hundred dollar bills handed in the past: \look at Zhang Xianfeng, Zhang Xianfeng smile: \into the hands of men, and went straight away .....

Zhang Xianfeng back to the office, goes out from the drawer had drafted a divorce agreement, stared and looked a long while, whispers from the words to say: \time wore on, those who moved but little by little archive. Zuiteng fact that you were not you happy to coax sweet person, perhaps in the sole possession of five dollars, when in the final was the last province to give you a little something to eat, say hungry people ... ...



reading the story, you know what is his wife yet?
wife, is that to save money to buy you a favorite gift, but claimed to be on a diet of the \
wife, is that to love you, and give up the entire forest, bent by your side and you slowly getting old \.
wife, is that you should not look at other women, to mention another woman, and praise another woman's \
wife, the one that holds each of you send her a sweet message, often turned to look at music of the \
wife, the one who is always clamoring to kill your meal, ask her to dinner, said his hungry \
wife, is that you want to buy a pair of shoes, running all over the world to find, only to tell you to buy back occasionally to see the \
wife, is that you are not her, her very missed, every day at the mobile phone wistfully of the \
wife, is that you play games, sleep, send text messages calling for \
wife, is that as long as your support, to dare to charge forward without fear of the \
wife, is that seeing other people's dirty clothes are feeling sick, take you through one week without changing a bottomless black white dirty socks washed and uncomplaining \
wife, the one that you hear people say bad to argue defend to the death of \strong, very self-esteem, but was wayward shameless in front of you \
man, remember: his wife, the one that allows you to eat her only loss of the woman.
wife, is that you no longer have her and other women like women.
wife, the one that has always been mean to you, willing to spend money on her but did not hurt the woman.
wife, is that you are willing to forego sleep late, and waking up a woman for her breakfast.
wife, is that once you Xingaoqiao machismo into will accommodate, understand the man's woman.
wife, the one that you think washing dishes is also very masculine woman.
wife, the one that you understand the responsibility, as long as she was happy, working hard has become worthy of the woman.

wife, is that every free time you want to have her company, even if only the woman does not speak.
wife, is that you worry about because she was cold to see her eat a bowl of rice and happy woman.
wife, the one that you are willing to hold up an umbrella to ward off the dark clouds of a woman her head.