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A tongue-in-cheek press release from Intermedia spoofs real-world concerns over Google’s Apps on Your Domain service.
I realize I have just fallen into a PR trap by posting the press release below, but it was too funny to pass up. (And yes, I realize Intermedia is a Microsoft shop.)
FWIW, Intermedia’s tongue-in-cheek press release spoofs some important concerns that business owners and IT managers have concerning GAYD (Google’s Apps for Your Domain). I received one e-mail from a network manager in Kansas City that said, in part, “Our email and desktop suite of productivity apps need to be available to our 2000 employees all the time, not just when the internet is up and running well.”
Another fella wrote in to say GAYD’s inability to sync to handhelds — including ActiveSync, BlackBerry and Good — renders Google’s solution impotent.
Personally, I think GAYD is an interesting release, but not terribly important. It doesn’t compete with Microsoft Office, but may make the battle with Microsoft Live Services interesting, especially when Writely.com is included. Check out the comments on my previous post for more insight from the trenches. Also see Anil Dash’s excellent post, and the comments on Techcrunch everything on Techmeme.
Anyhoo, the release:
“New York, August 28, 2006 – Intermedia.NET, the US leader in Microsoft Exchange hosting for small and medium businesses (SMBs), today praised the innovative new service, Google Apps for Your Domain. By offering 24×0 support, no wireless access and scanning of company email and documents, Google has bucked the trend of what companies expect from a business email provider. The Apps for your Domain key features:n 24×0 support. This is important because companies for whom email and schedules are mission-critical will want to know they can pick up a phone and get support 24 hours a day, 0 days per week. Google also gives the option of filling out a support form and receiving an automated response.n No wireless access. Where Intermedia.NET hosted Exchange gives users access to information via BlackBerry, Treo, Q or any other device, Google has bucked this trend, perhaps suggesting that wireless email is in fact a productivity-sapping distraction for employees.n Private data read by others. Google Apps for your Desktop again bucks the trend that businesses should not allow outsiders to read their proprietary documents and email. Businesses can rest easy knowing that Google is looking at all emails and documents.n Ads inside applications. Clearly, employees are more productive when their business applications stream ads for online poker sites and pills to combat ED.n No uptime guarantee. Rather than a predictable 99.9% uptime guarantee, such as the one offered by Intermedia.NET, Google does not provide a set percentage of the time when email will be up and running. This keeps corporate collaboration more exciting, by allowing staff to guess whether the system will be working or not.“