Strategy, Innovation, Leadership and Security
Google released an interesting blog post (link) regarding Office features. The most interesting revelation is that there will be Outlook Web Access OWA for Android. OWA will be released as a native Android app
Expect this feature to roll out to Office 365 subscribers in 2014.
Now that HP seems to have stabilized its business and it will be sticking with the small and medium business market, it seems to be looking for new ways to generate revenue. AllThingsD is reporting that HP will start selling Google Apps to this market.
"HP has become a Google Apps reseller and will package management tools with its PCs, printers and other IT gear. One extra thing that HP brings to the table is some management software that will simplify setup."
It seems Apple will wrap the "standard" Google offering with its hardware, software and services to deliver a distinctive service. This is another attack by the sultant of search against Microsoft's Office offering.
Related Article:
The CBC Chooses Google Apps Over Microsoft 365
The CBC is Canada's public broadcaster and offers an array of TV, radio , internet and mobile device oriented content in English, French and 8 aboriginal languages.
Like most private companies, they are constantly trying to stretch every dollar and deliver the best bang for every buck. They evaluated the 2 major offerings :
They wanted an easy to deploy solution that offered flexible pricing, real-time collaboration and excellent availability guarantees.
Once the decision was made to go with Google, the CBC leveraged the migration expertise of a Google Apps partner to transition its entire staff within 90 days. During deployment, they realized that many of their employees were already using Google's GMAIL service for their personal communications so training was minimal.
It was interesting to read how moving to Google Apps also changed their corporate communication culture. Instead of discussing issues via conference call (which is more impersonal and costly), their employees started to use the video chat features of Google Hangouts (which is accessible from anywhere and from almost any device).
The CBC also liked the real-time communication features of Google Docs that are built into the product. A globally distributed team can collaborate on a single version of each document making the process simpler and more efficient.
The rivals (Microsoft and Google) are really turning up the heat and competition is becoming fierce. More competition means consumers win with better pricing, more highly refined features and companies thinking about improving the user experience.
One of the major questions tech pundits were asking themselves when Office 2013 came out is “can the license be transferred to another PC?” Why would you want to transfer the license of a $150 software suite? A PC dies, you upgrade, it get’s stolen, etc.
Microsoft has now confirmed to Computerworld that Office 2013 software licenses will not be transferable and that it is only licensed to work on the first PC it is installed on. This is a bad policy for consumers buying the licensed legal copy and Microsoft hopes to entice you to move to their subscription based Office 365 offering instead of the traditional buy-once-use-for-3-year-software package.
Some people will pirate software even if it is cheap and affordable but many consumers do the right thing and buy legal licensed copies of their software. Unfortunately anti-consumer policies like this may encourage good law abiding software users to seek alternatives and move to pirated versions.
Microsoft’s next major release of Office is almost here and it is a great time to talk about a new licensing model you will be offered as a subscription. Sure they have tried it in the past but it had always been a badly designed unattractive offering that no one really bought. Microsoft hopes Office 2013 will change that.
Microsoft’s Office 2013 subscription will allow you to install the product on multiple devices (Windows, Mac and mobile) and you will be able to easily transfer a license from one device to another. This means that a family with multiple computers in the house will be able to legally use the same license.
This wonderful new Home Premium license will cost $99.99 a year. Since multiple users in the same house can share the license, it means each person will be able to log in using their own Microsoft account (no need to share account passwords) and benefit from the tied in online services (storage of files on Skydrive, settings sync, etc). The subscription comes with 5 device licenses and you can easily reassign a license from one device to another without having to call a helpdesk.
Plus because it is a subscription model, you will get all of the updates and version upgrades automatically. The other major benefit is the click-to-run feature which makes the app available within minutes (no long complicated installation process). The primary account holder (the one that buys the subscription) gets a 20GB storage bonus on Skydrive (bringing his/her total online storage limit to 27GB). Microsoft is offering the primary account holder 60 minutes of free Skype worldwide calling. And last but not least, you will get Office on Demand which will allow you to use any Office product on any internet connected PC without installation (using Microsoft’s app streaming technologies).
Obviously there are lots user benefits to this new subscription model. Microsoft, on the other hand, gets a steady income stream (instead of a lump sum user purchase every 3-5 years).