At this past spring's Ignite -- Microsoft's new one-stop software conference that combined all of the other domestic technical events into one giant pot of soup -- the software giant revealed some interesting details about SharePoint 2016, the next release of the on-premises version of its collaboration and Office development platform.
At the end of 2014, Microsoft bought Acompli, creators of a popular email app that it quickly rebranded as Outlook. The familiar name doubtless drew in more users, but it also gave IT teams a set of expectations about the security and management options a product called Outlook would have.
It's hard to imagine an open source project more likely to fail than one that attempts to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft's Office productivity suite.
It's hard to overstate the impact of the Microsoft Office for iPad. The arrival of the dominant productivity suite on the dominant tablet promises to change how iPads are viewed in the enterprise. Office for iPad may also crush competitive apps, shut out Cloud storage providers and limit MDM vendors.
When Google Apps arrived in 2006, it stood on the cutting edge of Web-hosted email and collaboration suites for businesses, a bold pioneer clearing a path in the new, wild frontier of enterprise Cloud computing.
Microsoft's release of an Office suite for the iPhone is too little, too late and yet another timid move aimed at protecting Windows 8 sales at the expense of customer demand for a product like this one for iPads, according to analysts.
Office 365 Home Premium, Microsoft's new subscription-based version of Office 2013, lets you use your applications anywhere. But does it really cost less than the client version?
When Ben Fried left his post as IT managing director at Morgan Stanley and took over as Google's CIO in May 2008, he knew what he was getting into: supporting a user base full of technology experts and computer industry stars, like co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, CEO Eric Schmidt and Vice President Vint Cerf. In a recent interview with IDG News Service, Fried spoke candidly about his job and shared tips and advice for fellow CIOs, including the urgent need for tablet device strategies. An edited transcript of the interview follows.