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May 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Ballmer dances around SaaS
When it comes to SaaS (software as a service), Microsoft wants to turn being half pregnant into a brand. On Wednesday, at the Software 2007 conference, Steve Ballmer offered the Redmond spin on SaaS -- dubbed "software plus services." In other words, why use browser-based applications when fat Microsoft clients can connect to a range of services behind the scenes?
That's roughly the same tune Microsoft has been singing since the company introduced .Net seven years ago. In fact, in 2001, I did an interview with Microsoft's Charles Fitzgerald in which he cited the primitive nature of browser-based applications and declared that Web services would, without exposing themselves to the user, enrich Office and Windows. That's why today we have....auto updates??
This sentiment -- we'll be the concierge between you and the Internet -- stretches all the way back to Microsoft's initial resistance to the Web. Hey, you use our apps on the desktop all the time, why confuse yourself with a browser window to other brands?
Microsoft can't seem to resist regressing to that argument. Which is odd, since in 2005 (at the prodding of Ray Ozzie) Bill Gates issued a company-wide "services wave" e-mail that was similar in tone to the ultra-urgent "Internet tidal wave" e-mail he broadcast in 1995.
Well, that was then, this is now. Thanks to AJAX and Flash, browser apps are competing with desktop apps. Microsoft understands that, or it wouldn't have launched Silverlight. Plus, SaaS is riding a hockey stick of adoption -- and Microsoft knows that, too, which is why Ballmer said he would not rule out acquiring a large SaaS provider.
Old habits die hard. Everyone knows that when Microsoft aggressively pursues a software area, watch out. But Microsoft's SaaS attack just hasn't gotten off the mark. The whole Live initiative is as confusing as it is incremental. Microsoft may need to buy a big SaaS player just to discover which direction it needs to go.
Posted by Eric Knorr on May 10, 2007 12:27 PM
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It is appropriate that you titled this piece, "Ballmer Dances Around SaaS". Every time I see Steve Ballmer I am reminded of the "Putting on the Ritz" sequence from, "The Young Frankenstein"; which you can review here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGN2aa3oQRM
Just substitute Bill Gates for the Gene Wilder character and you get the complete picture.
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