University of Washington students were told that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer would talk about the future of computing on campus yesterday. But his talk was all about the shift toward cloud computing.
Ballmer made a surprising statement when he emphasized how serious Microsoft is about this shift, telling the students that 75 percent of the company’s [Read More →]
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Steve Ballmer: 90 percent of Microsoft development will be focused on cloud within a year
March 5, 2010 — GusMicrosoft and Cray collaborating on a low-power super-cloud design
March 4, 2010 — GusSupercomputers are supposed to solve big problems that require massive computations. Now Microsoft and Cray have put together a deal that is supposed to solve one of the biggest problems of all: how to reduce energy consumption in a meaningful way.
The specifics of the deal: Cray’s custom engineering group will work with Microsoft Research to [Read More →]
Microsoft gives NSF projects a free pass
February 5, 2010 — GusHoping to gain a toehold in the government’s move toward cloud computing, Microsoft has presented the National Science Foundation (NSF) with an offer that is difficult to refuse: any project approved by the NSF can run on Windows Azure at no charge.
The NSF has already gained access to cloud-based software services from Google and [Read More →]
Azure emerges from beta, is a price war next?
February 3, 2010 — GusMicrosoft kept to its schedule and has promoted Windows Azure from its very long beta status to full-fledged paid product. And the first market reaction came almost immediately, as Amazon dropped prices.
The timing could not have been more obvious. The same day that Amazon agreed to change pricing policies on Kindle eBooks in reaction [Read More →]
Microsoft is asking Congress to legislate on cloud computing
January 22, 2010 — GusApparently Brad Smith’s mother never told him, “Be careful what you wish for.” Mr. Smith went to Washington yesterday and spoke out in favor of federal laws to support cloud computing.
Smith is a senior vice-president and general counsel at Microsoft, and he was speaking at the Brookings Institution, one of the top think tanks in [Read More →]
Chinese hack into Google mail may be a flaw in Microsoft browser, not cloud defences
January 21, 2010 — GusWhen Google warned that it might not be able to provide secure email within China, a number of people considered it an indictment of the cloud computing model. However, it now appears that the security hole is in Microsoft’s IE browser, not Google’s security layer.
The WindowsSecrets tip site has the story on this Internet Explorer [Read More →]
New page on cloud computing stocks
January 15, 2010 — GusIn recent months, a number of technology companies have seen their share prices rise on positive news about cloud computing initiatives. To keep up, I’ve compiled a list of publicly traded companies with a significant cloud business. I’m not going to include every company that has made a cloud announcement. If their new initiatives turn [Read More →]
Microsoft and HP say they’ll spend $250 million on cloudy collaboration
January 14, 2010 — GusSpecific plans were vague when Steve Ballmer and HP CEO Mark Hurd took the stage at Interop yesterday. But one number was very clear: 250 million. That’s the number of dollars the two CEO’s said they would commit to spending on a unified approach toward enterprise-level products over the next few years.
“This is all cloud-motivated,” [Read More →]
NetApp and Microsoft partner on cloud infrastructure products
December 9, 2009 — GusThis looks like another sign that Microsoft is serious about taking a leadership position in the cloud computing market. It is entering into a three-year relationship with NetApp covering sales and product integration. NetApp has been successful in winning some significant cloud computing platform customers. Its technology includes Unified Storage and Storage Vritualiation, which reduce [Read More →]
Microsoft’s cloud email services chosen by UK post office
November 30, 2009 — GusIn the battle to win market share for cloud computing services, one of the advantages in Microsoft’s can claim is its formidable partner network. So this should not come as a surprise: in the announcement that the UK Royal Mail Group is signing on to run 30,000 desktops with Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), [Read More →]
Microsoft’s bid for open source applications begins with WordPress
November 19, 2009 — GusOne of the more interesting stories to come out of the Microsoft PDC conference is the possibility that Azure could become a leading platform for hosting open source applications. In giving his Azure update, Ray Ozzie gave the full spotlight to a couple of open source developers, including Automattic, the company that develops WordPress [Read More →]
Azure updated in preparation for 2010 “pay-to-play” release
November 18, 2009 — GusSomething changes on New Years Day: Microsoft Azure becomes a paid product. It is a year since Azure was first offered for free as a technology preview, and Microsoft is going to start 2010 by taking the plunge into the world of cloud hosting. The formal announcement was made by Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s chief software [Read More →]
Move to cloud technology faster than Microsoft exepcted
November 10, 2009 — Gus“People are embracing cloud computing faster than we anticipated,” Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, told a Dow Jones reporter yesterday. He pointed to growth in hosted email as an example of the shift he is seeing. Elod said Microsoft is responding by cutting prices
Last week, the price of Exchange Online was cut [Read More →]
Microsoft is cloudy on Taiwanese R&D plan
November 4, 2009 — GusDuring a visit to Taipei, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer signed an agreement with the Taiwan economic ministry to jointly establish a research center there. The facility will be called the “Software and Services Excellence Center” and it should open in about a year. But Ballmer provided few other details.
A joint statement indicated the center would [Read More →]
Los Angeles city council OKs move to Google apps
October 28, 2009 — GusLos Angeles city workers will be moving their email and calendars into Google’s cloud environment after all. The city council voted to approve their CTO’s plan to switch 30,000 workers from Microsoft Outlook to Google Apps.
The plan was challenged by a consumer watchdog who questioned whether cloud computing was reliable and secure, citing the case [Read More →]
Los Angeles worries over the “dependability of cloud computing”
October 19, 2009 — GusWith the Los Angeles municipal email contract still up for debate, The LA Times published a “think piece” today on whether cloud computing is dependable. The piece is even-handed, ending with a quote by the city’s chief technology officer, “Is it going to be 100%? There’s probably going to be a time when we may have an issue. But what don’t we have an issue with?”
Cloud security clashes with politics in Los Angeles
October 15, 2009 — GusIt started as a noble effort by IT managers within the Los Angeles city government. Over the last eighteen months, they worked on a plan they believe capable of saving several million dollars while giving 30,000 municipal employees updated software.
They did their homework. They invited bids and sifted through fifteen different vendor proposals. They considered [Read More →]
New York Times: Microsoft in ‘Cloud’ Computing
September 3, 2007 — DorothyOne of the first pieces written about Microsoft’s cloud computing strategy.
In 1995, Microsoft added a free Web browser to its operating system in an attempt to fend off new rivals, an effort ultimately blocked by the courts.
This week, it plans to turn that strategy upside down, making available free software that connects its [Read More →]
