Microsoft Web Products for Cloud Computing

Now that Ray Ozzie is responsible for spear-heading Microsoft into the web computing world, Mitchell shares his thoughts on what Microsoft is doing right and where is the packaged software giant lagging behind Google, etc.

What’s good: Data Synchronization with Live Mesh - While Live Mesh won’t move markets, it is a bellwether move that puts some meat on the S+S bones and gives a view into how Ray Ozzie is thinking Microsoft should play this new game.

What needs to improve: Online versions of Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Until then, Google Docs rule the roost with Abobe acrobat.com apps working to become the #2. Microsoft really needs to do some catching up and get Office Live applications out there before Google wakes up and gets its act together.

What’s missing: Will Microsoft respond to Google App Engine, Amazon EC2 and Salesforce Force.com? It seems inevitable that Microsoft will have to offer some cloud- or utility-computing on demand so applications stay on Microsoft products and technology.