Marketing Trumps Research and Development

"Hiring lots of salespeople is not good for a company," he said. "They cannot deliver affordable software." But part of the disparity, he admitted, is that Zoho prefers to remain private.

While Vegesna said Zoho operates under the "never say never" clause that most companies take, he agreed Salesforce.com is probably not going to come knocking again anytime soon. 

He also questioned whether or not Salesforce.com and Google would be able to work together because Salesforce.com focuses on the enterprise while Google is pretty open to work with anyone. Some analysts agree.

IDC analyst Rachel Happe said Salesforce.com is serving some big accounts and needs the service-level agreements required by larger businesses, while Google targets businesses that want to pay little or nothing.

"That difference will likely cause tension in the relationship, but it will also likely grow over time," Happe told eWEEK April 14. "In the short term it gives Salesforce some publicity and a product extension, and it gives Google a go-to-market channel for its Apps product."

Gartner analyst Tom Austin told eWEEK April 14 the Salesforce.com-Google deal is designed to generate more press for cloud computing in the hope that it will generate longer-term dividends for Salesforce.com.

What those benefits are, he added, is unclear.