Rewind to 1995, Bill Gates wrote the famed Internet Tidal Wave memo to help turn Microsoft toward the Web. Earlier today, current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was trying to recapture some of that old memo magic, this time saying Microsoft is going “all in” with cloud computing. Will that old memo magic work again? Our sister site, The VAR Guy, has some thoughts.
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Joe – this story is getting big coverage in Seattle. Ballmer’s speech was delivered locally which is rare for him + he issued the “all in” jihad cry! Good tie to ’95. It’s not lost on me that Windows Essential Business Server was discontinued last Friday – the same day Ballmer gave the all in cloud speech you right about! Keep up the good work…harrybbbbb
Harry: Sorry I wasn’t able t make it over to your Vegas event. Looking forward to SMB Summit when it comse to NJ.
I have a slightly different view on Microsoft’s decision to kill Windows Essential Business Server. I don’t think the cloud killed ESB.
Instead, I think it was simply a case of ESB having no real market; Windows Server is fine for enterprises and midmarket. And Small Business Server continues to serve smaller customers. I think trying to squeeze ESB between the traditional Windows Server and SBS lines was a waste of marketing time on Microsoft’s part.
But I’ll be sure to pick your brain at SMB Nation.
-jp