Who Is the Microsoft Cloud Boss?
November 10, 2008
Eric Lai, writing in ITWorld.com, tries to answer the question, “Who Owns the Cloud Business inside Microsoft?” With the cloud still forming inside Microsoft, I am not certain there is a definitive answer to this question. For his take, you will want to read his article here. ITWorld uses pop ups that I found incredibly annoying. You may enjoy these, but I found them junky. Mr. Lai identifies these executives as cloud owners:
- If a group “owns” a product or service for on premises installations, then that group will “own” the cloud service as well.
- Bob Muglia’s server and tools division “owns” SQL Server and Windows Server.
- The Office Web version is under the control of Microsoft’s business division.
- Azure is owned by Ray Ozzie.
The most interesting segment of the article was this passage in my opinion:
“I think it makes sense for the original product group to own the product so it can create a vertically integrated strategy,” said Rob Helm , an analyst with the independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. He cited as an example Microsoft’s tactic of offering vouchers to Exchange and SharePoint customers that let them try Exchange and SharePoint Online for free. Helm’s main criticism is that Microsoft has too many cloud services today, with an overlap as a result. He cited the example of SQL Server Data Services , Live Mesh , and its Sync Framework. “How is Microsoft going to resolve this?” Helm asked.
I don’t think Microsoft itself knows.
Stephen Arnold, November 10, 2008
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