Google Takes Apps Pitch Worldwide

Cloud computing, especially with Google is vital to non-profits that are cash strapped and looking for ways to improve their efficiencies/economies of scale. What struggling non-profit trying to provide direct services to folks (and spend the bulk of their money there) can afford full time (competent) IT Staff and hideously expensive licensing requirements and upgrades? This is the way out of the hole, once cloud computing’s stability and redundancy issues get sorted out. ~Michelle

http://www.internetnews.com/breakingnews/article.php/3844361

Google said more than 2 million businesses now use its online office software, and the Web search leader is going global on Monday with an advertising campaign to lure customers away from Microsoft and IBM.

The campaign, which starts Monday in countries including France, Japan and Britain, represents a rare foray by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) into mass-market advertising and underscores increasing competition to provide businesses with e-mail and other office software.

More at the link!

Letting Data Die a Natural Death

One big failure in Cloud Computing does not deter me; it takes stuff like this to keep people awake and on their toes. But are we really SPOILED by the expectation of data being forever?~Michelle

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/10/respectfully-letting-data-die-a-natural-death/

he big story today is about Microsoft subsidiary Danger losing all T-Mobile Sidekick customer data from their servers. Danger is the company noted for the T-Mobile Sidekick, the revolution in cloud mobile, and most memorably, almost everybody living in 90210 having to get new phone numbers because of Paris Hilton. Valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers received a notice today from the company updating them on the “data disruption” problem. The good news is that data is no longer being disrupted. The bad news is that there is no data left to be disrupted.

This latest large-scale publicized data loss will surely lead to managers everywhere forwarding a link to the story to their IT departments asking “what are we doing so that this doesn’t happen to us.” It will lead to the issue of data loss and backups being written about ad naseum by technology pundits. Research companies will rub their hands together as they prepare new 80 page whitepapers with titles such as “How Companies Who Pay Us Money Can Prevent Your Data Being Lost” (complete with FDA “may cause drowsiness” warning label on the cover). Consultants will flock to their customers, pat them on the head, and reassure them that everything is ok because their project specification powerpoint shows that they included two of everything (and charged for it).

More at the link.

IBM email challenges Google in the cloud

Hmph. No comment. No, wait. One word. Wave. ~ Michelle

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20091003/tc_afp/usitinternetibmgoogle

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) -

IBM on Monday will begin offering businesses a basic “cloud computing” email service at a price that undercuts a plusher offering by Internet giant Google.

IBM unabashedly pitched its new LotusLive iNotes as an alternative to email service Google has been promoting as part of a campaign to win businesses over to using applications hosted as services on the Internet.

“Email and other collaboration services are the right entry point for many companies to realize the promise of cloud computing,” said IBM Lotus Software general manager Bob Picciano.

“But, only if clients feel confident they’re getting business-grade service from a trusted leader in enterprise services.”