At first glance, software as a service (SaaS) and open source are chipping away at Microsoft’s empire. But take a closer look, and there are at least three areas where Microsoft’s dominance remains unquestioned. Skeptical? Take a look.
1. SharePoint: The content management and collaboration system seemingly became an overnight hit. Now, so-called Master MSPs like Ingram Micro Seismic are hosting SharePoint for VARs and their customers. And you know you’re successful when an open source company (in this case, Alfresco) builds its entire marketing strategy around being “an open source SharePoint alternative.”
2. Small Business Server: Um, The VAR Guy is eating some crow here. In 2008 our resident blogger predicted SaaS applications would chip away at Small Business Server. But readers responded loudly, proclaiming SBS an ongoing hit with small business customers. And start-ups like Doyenz are helping VARs virtualize SBS deployments in the cloud.
Sure, open source companies — particularly Novell — have launched Linux-based small business suites, but for the most part those offerings haven’t slowed Microsoft’s SBS momentum. One reason: Most small business VARs continue to march to the Microsoft beat.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is looking to build a new small business empire with Response Point, a phone system for 1 to 50 employees. Our resident blogger wasn’t too familiar with Response Point until Rex Backman, a senior business development manager at Microsoft, dropped The VAR Guy a note. Response Point runs on hardware from Aastra Telecom, D-Link and Syspine.
3. Xbox Live: The VAR Guy’s kids — and roughly 17 million other members — are addicted to the online gaming service. Microsoft’s software plus service team should go visit the Xbox Live team to learn a thing or two about addictive, intuitive SaaS platforms.
Oh, and an honorable mention: The VAR Guy hears more and more about VARs and MSPs profiting from Microsoft Dynamics. In fact, some solutions providers have been buying up channel partners that have Dynamics expertise.
Feeling the Pressure
To be sure, many of Microsoft’s core businesses remain under attack — thanks to disruptive technologies like:
- Asterisk (the open source IP PBX)
- OpenOffice
- Linux (servers, desktops, notebooks and now netbooks)
- MySQL
- Virtualization
- SugarCRM
- And the list goes on
But don’t weep for Microsoft. Plenty of companies would kill for the software giant’s cash flow and installed base.
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Tags: Alfresco | Doyenz | Ingram Micro Seismic | Microsoft Dynamics | Microsoft Response Point | Microsoft SharePoint | Microsoft Small Business Server | Microsoft Xbox Live
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1) Sharepoint if you want vendor lock-in to the extreme
2) SBS because even a lobotomy patient can install it, never mind the fact MS servers have the worst security track record of any server OS in history
3) Can’t play Xbox live if you are gay/lesbian
The only thing M$ is crushing is their own foot as they continually step on it…
Paul: The VAR Guy isn’t sure he follows all your points… nor does he necessarily want to. Whether you love — or hate — the three products mentioned, they’re all performing extremely well in the market.
Chipping away is slow but sure.
To be sure, the locked-in folks are like money in the bank to M$ but I keep meeting folks who are willing to change. I just got back from a conference of teachers. Turnout to my display was a bit disappointing (food-poisoning, high wind chill, location amongst other things…) but every visitor was amazed at the performance of GNU/Linux on a terminal server, surprised by the price/performance of thin clients and unhappy with the performance of their existing solution. They are not solidly M$’s customers to take for granted. I will be converting a lab of too-tired-for-XP/2003 machines next week. I expect other calls.
It is all about growth. I see amazing growth in FLOSS but there is not the money to throw out for IT any longer. People from all over my school division are starving for IT but they cannot afford an upgrade to Vista/7 or whatever. They can afford to do things differently if they save money on software and get more bang for the buck on hardware.
One example… The conference was in a new school with a pretty computer lab. 30 machines running XP. 2.7 gHz processors and it still took 2 minutes to log in. We were given a conference userid/password. We just kept the machines logged-in. It saved a lot of time. So, in that room was the power of a small super-computer and no performance. Using several of those machines as a GNU/Linux terminal server I could give them fast login, apps all pre-loaded, RAID storage and much better performance with shared memory and file caching, for no additional expense except maybe a few new hard drives. They could run a bingo and buy a powerful new server to make things first-rate. They would have to do bingo for years to replace everything they have with something that runs what M$ sells. Even if M$ gave them free software, they could not afford all new hardware. Where is M$’s growth with these folks?
We see most end users relying on Sharepoint for file sharing, calendars, action item/to do lists, and discussions.
For companies that move their email/calendar/IM to Google Apps Premier Edition, Google Sites provides these capabilities (along with others) at no additional cost.
Take into account that you need separate infrastructure to secure your internal Sharepoint sites from your customer sites, and you have a cost/benefit equation that is tough for the SMB market to swallow.
Hosted Sharepoint services off-load much of the hassles and cost, but are not always the best cost/benefit mix.
Allen
afalcon@horizoninfoservices.com
Allen,
Always great to have your perspective. Can you remind our readers: When did Horizon get involved with Google’s various SaaS offerings?
The VAR Guy:
No secrets here … we started with Postini in mid-2006. We were invited to be part of the Google Apps pilot reseller program starting in September of 2008. In addition to our google relationship, we continue to evaluate other SaaS technologies for the SMB market. We are currently looking at Box.net, eBID, Jaduka, and others.
To complete the disclosure, we also have relationships with Mozy and AmeriVault for online backup services.
Regards,
Allen