Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    Keep Track of Friends, Enemies

    By
    Spencer F. Katt
    -
    April 18, 2008
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Or is it “the enemy of my friend is my enemy”? The Learned Lynx was having a hard time sorting out the significance of all the alliances that were shifted, stressed, strained and dinged in the latest maneuvers among Salesforce.com, Google and Microsoft.

      Some analysts continue to scratch their heads over the application mashup between Salesforce.com and Google Apps. Gartner analyst Tom Austin pondered: Why did Salesforce.com really do this deal with Google?

      See, Salesforce.com guns for enterprise users with its CRM products. Google guns for anyone who will take its apps, which Austin told eWEEK does not include a lot of big businesses, since Google doesn’t provide those coveted service-level agreements.

      “Google Apps are not selling to enterprises. Not yet, anyway,” Austin said. “Why would they when a lot of users are exploiting the free Google Apps as supplements to everything else they have? Why pay when you can get it for free? Using -for free’ products and services means no one has to sign off on the expense. And there is no political exposure for the decision maker. If Google Apps ultimately succeed in a big way, why, these people are heroes! If it fails, no one knows anything. How simple is that?”

      He added that the path of least resistance for Google is to pervade as much of the enterprise as they can in absolute stealth mode.

      So, the Quizzical Katt wondered: Will Salesforce.com chuck away its integration with Microsoft Outlook over this?

      Unlikely, Austin said. “This doesn’t feel like an attack on anyone else,” he added. “The old -the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend’ strategy doesn’t seem to suffice as an explanation. So I chalk it up to cloud PR with some unspecified, potential long-term benefits.”

      Then the Sagacious Gato turned his thoughts to what these cloud-computing developments mean for Microsoft, as he reviewed his notes from the recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Las Vegas.

      Microsoft takes a beating from the press, pundits and even Google for its Windows Live platform, which is essentially SAAS (software as a service) built on top of Microsoft’s core desktop capabilities. Microsoft views this as its entr??«e into cloud computing, where powers such as Google and Salesforce.com are well ahead. But Gartner’s David Mitchell Smith told Spencer during a meeting at the Gartner confab that Live is, well, alive and well, calling the notion that Microsoft doesn’t get the Web “way too harsh.”

      So, why does Microsoft get beaten up so much over Live? Smith said the company’s well-documented struggles to get Vista out the door, which contributed to some executive turnover, could have gone toward building momentum for Live.

      To that end, Smith also cautioned the high-tech world against proclaiming “the cloud is king,” as he believes there is plenty of room for traditional packaged apps for the foreseeable future.

      Avatar
      Spencer F. Katt
      Spencer F. Katt, the Whiskered Wonder, has been the mascot and tipster extraordinaire for eWEEK and its predecessor print publication PC Week since 1984. The Gadabout Gatto makes the rounds of the high tech centers of the U.S. and beyond in search of news and gossip about the products, companies and people that keep the IT industry in top gear. By day he can often be found padding about the exhibit halls and briefing rooms searching for tips about the latest breakthrough products. By night he haunts the sushi bars and watering holes his ears alert to the merest whisper about a big round of venture capital funding or a blockbuster corporate buyout. The often tart-tongued tabby is always ready to share his own views about the inside stories behind the headlines. 

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×