The evidence is mounting that Microsoft will soon be getting into the SaaS and Office online services business in a very big way to pre-empt Googles move into the same sphere. Here are some of the handwritings on the wall:
1)Huge $half-billion/per site investments in 600,000++ square feet data centers worldwide continues with 24 new mega-centers on the rumor mill;
2)Microsoft has already declared that it intends to do major things in this sphere – it just has not tipped its hat on the scale of things;
3)The bid for Yahoo would provide hardware, Brand and software infrastructure to help carry this off;
4)The recent announcements on Interoperability and IE8==Web Standards indicate a determination to placate IT shop and developer communities who are none to enamored of Microsofts record in supporting standard Web Development. Mind you a $1.3B fine from the Europe Union along with an upcoming Opera instigated EU antitrust complaint may have accelerated the move in Redmond.
5)Steve warned Google that he might have to do this – and the HBO series Rome may have spurred him on. Just kidding. Rather the Office and Vista sales curves may have indicated the timing to leap to the Web is right.
6)Microsoft needs to bet the farm on something better.
All I have to say is if those datacenters are running Windows 2008 Server even in its stripped down role as a “Core” web server (an officially permitted trimming down), Alexa.com has some bad news for Steve Ballmer – running Server 2008, the big honcho=Microsoft.com website is slower than 67% of all websites. But, take heart, Steve, Alexa is also reporting that Google has fallen in recent months from 1.7 seconds average response time to 2.1 – 50% faster than Microsoft but not the old 100%.