Windows 7 and Microsoft's path to the cloud
With the launch of Windows 7 many signs point to the fact that Microsoft seems to have gotten its operating system engineering in order. That's obviously good news for its OS business unit and also good news for PC manufacturers and software companies that develop for Windows.
A rising tide of Windows adoption is not a bad thing for the technology industry in economic terms but it doesn't yet do a lot to enhance the way we use computers and applications in our every day lives.
The main problem is that Windows 7 reinforces a desktop centric-paradigm for 93 percent of the market and continues to exert a certain level of misguided design principles in the way the system handles data and file structures. And while it's a giant leap forward in terms of customization, visual effects, and security there is a missed opportunity in the cross-border approach of combining the desktop and cloud services.
Cloud-based applications and storage are still so nascent that Microsoft could jump in and usurp much of the power and market share while shoring up its cloud story for the future. Having the dominant desktop landing pad gives Microsoft a huge advantage over upstarts--even Google and Apple, if it can focus on integrating the services.
Here are a few ways Microsoft could assert its dominant desktop position to compete with Google and Amazon as a cloud player:
Integrate cloud storage with the desktop
I don't use Apple's Mobile Me but I see the appeal. I suspect that if Microsoft offered a similar function as part of Windows 7 there would be huge adoption. This could be easily solved through a low-cost acquisition of one of many online backup and storage services.
Give enterprises a simple way to backup and store files remotely.
Microsoft has a huge data center infrastructure and is a trusted partner (for better or worse) to a huge number of enterprises. With all of the services currently available for cloud backup this should be a non-issue.
Make Azure really good and less confusing than it was when it launched one year ago.
Microsoft has an enormous developer base, however, developers still don't have a simple Microsoft cloud deployment option for their .NET applications, something that should be readily integrated into Visual Studio and really become part of the OS.
All of these statements rely on the fact that Microsoft can actually do these things--that is, create the technology and run the services with the required service levels. And realistically there is no reason why they couldn't and certainly no reason why they shouldn't.
It's hard to believe that the world's biggest technology company can't get its cloud act together, and we've seen Microsoft change course to fix its Vista problems. But Windows 7 seems like a missed opportunity to make a bigger splash in what is currently a very small pool.
As entertaining as the Windows Launch Party videos were, I can't help but think the time and effort could have been better spent on developing new service offerings.
Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
It took Apple about a year to straighten out MobileMe. It took MS 18 months to take over and destroy Danger. What's the point? Buy enough cloud services and eventually they'll figure it out? Who in their right mind would trust them with their online data at this point?
The Web is a great and fair platform without them.
1) Mesh.com - cloud storage and P2P file sync service with very friendly UI (it is available since 2008)
2) Several services in Windows Live including SkyDrive, Messenger Live Sync etc.
I don't quite understand why this article claims that these online storage and sync services don't exist and why it is bad for Win7 to be "desktop" centric. OS by definition is "desktop centric". It is an application that manages computer's hardware. It cannot work in the cloud :-) If you want to make Windows more cloud friendly, just install Windows Live Essentials. It has all the mentioned services...
Why do you expect Microsoft to have its cloud act together? These guys are just barely starting to get the Internet. Hotmail, MSN, etc. are still undeniably second-rate.
They are even losing marketshare in places that they took by brute force (Internet Explorer). The only partly bright spot is Bing, but it hardly qualifies as evidence of a well-executed overall Internet strategy.
Randomly gobbling up startups hasn't worked for them in the past. Hotmail was pretty good, but Microsoft's attempt to port the stable FreeBSD service to Windows NT was a complete debacle. Their acquisition of WebTV was a complete bust.
There are no plans for an app store for Zune HD, and they abandoned their online MSN Music store and shut off the defunct service's DRM servers a year ago.
These are the guys you want me entrust my mission-critical business data to?
On a side note, I am a MSFT shareholder (as well as AAPL, GOOG, YHOO). Microsoft's stock performance over the past 5-10 years reflects their senior management team's ability to identify and execute a sane Internet business strategy.
If Microsoft wants me to seriously consider their cloud computing services, the board of directors needs to start by replacing the CEO with someone with an Internet-focused vision and the ability to execute effectively.
iPhone is stuck in the 90`s , having to connect to a computer.
MSFT and Google get it. Android/Droid is going to eat part of Apple`s lunch.
Exploding the "myth of Apple" one post at a time.
You really don't want to rely on the cloud as the only place you keep data. The SideKick outage isn't the only example of this, but certainly one of the most high profile cloud service failures in the past year.
My guess is that it will cost Microsoft tens of millions of dollars.
The desireable part is the availability of your own data/information at anywhere you are without carrying a local copy (a harddisk or even laptop if you don't need it). Cloud wants to make it happen in such manner that you don't have to rely on local copies as groups of people don't do backups, thus losing their data when accident happens. On the flip side is the people controlling Cloud can dictate the type of services available/unavailable and the cost that goes with it. Like MobileMe, relying on a service which charges me if i want an account to store my Mail data or even from my iPhone, which I can store it locally and make a backup for. what happens if the company concern goes down?
All/most of my enterprise customers are moving to virtualization right now. I can forsee them going to a private cloud (one they own and control internally), but only for really big customers who's IT department could be a small company on their own.
- by Mysterchr November 2, 2009 6:24 PM PST
- Microsoft just needs to replace their whole executive team not just the CEO or the staff working on their internet bussiness strategy...Those words right there are the reason why, Microsoft is always looking at how much they can charge for everything. I'm waiting for the day they release an OS in which all the services are turned off and you have to pay to get each one enabled individually.
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(10 Comments)They need to take a page or two from Google, a company who built an empire off of releasing free products and barely charging for others.