Microsoft Online Hosted Services
On Tuesday, July 8, 2008, Microsoft dropped a helluva bombshell: it would offer a complete set of SaaS offerings for $15 per user per month, with the Exchange Online product for $3.00 per user per month.
It was a jaw-dropper!
Microsoft walked the talk.
Understandably, quite a few Microsoft partners were upset at the very low pricing. Especially those who had plans to create practices around the offerings. While valid, I think the low pricing would server to help develop and grow the available market, with the focus on reliability and forcing partners to develop valueadd services and verticals, with the focus on subscriptions rather than a one-time hit.
Putting aside the anxieties of Microsoft partners with respect to the low pricing, how does Salesforce.com see this move?
Salesforce.com has been at the vanguard of buffoonish pronouncements about the fact that Microsoft didn't have an offering in this space and could not compete. Benioff now has a competitor focused on winning. I love this. When AppExchange was announced, Salesforce.com touted it as a way to stay ahead, since it would be ‘developer driven’.
Microsoft was, is, and always would be a developer’s company. Guess what company developers would stay with?
At Logikworx, we are undertaking a beta test of this product to see if it is something we might offer to our indirectly managed clients.
(This is a reprint from the July 2008 issue of The Interlocutor)
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