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The stark contrast between MS and Google

The NYT article on MS vs. Google contains 2 seemingly unrelated parts that illustrate the stark difference between MS and Google.

Mr. Raikes (from Microsoft) notes that Microsoft has spent years and billions of dollars in product development and customer research, studying in minute detail how individual workers and companies use software.

Later in the article, the authors relate the story of how some cellphone software a Googler developed was released just 6 weeks after the idea was born. No formal product reviews or formal approval processes.

Different worlds.

UPDATE. A great follow-up on this: Microsoft in Denial: Google threat is classic disruption

There are other related posts like this by Guy Creese. This post displays the fairly common lack of understanding that Google Apps is NOT simply a MS Office replacement - it is much more disruptive than that. And I think Guy’s comment that the adoption of cloud computing will follow the same curve as electricity is just silly, as if the pace of change hasn’t changed in a hundred years. Yes, it may take a while for companies in the USA that already have huge infrastructures in place to make the change - but the real growth will be in places like China and India, where there are a lot fewer legacy data centers and related bureaucracy to deal with, and where adopting cloud computing out the gate is a n o-brainer.

Amazon’s SimpleDB another brick in the Super Platform

As I wrote about previously (here and here), the move to the Super Platform in the cloud continues in grand style.

In the same way that no business has its own electric generator any longer, so it will come to pass that no business will have its own servers. They will plug into a super platform in the cloud, just like they plug into the electric grid and pay by the sip.

Amazon’s SimpleDB is the latest addition to the Super Platform stack, adding incredibly powerful database capability.

So the components of a Super Platform are starting to become clear. To be complete, it appears that a Super Platform needs to include the following:

1. A database, like SimpleDB or Google’s BigTable.
2. Storage, like Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3).
3. A processing environment, like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2).
4. A simple, standard protocol for accessing the Super Platforms technology, like the Google Data APIs and Amazon’s Web Services.
5. A built-in, flexible payment system so users can pay for the applications they are using on the Super Platform, like Amazon Payment Services and Google Checkout.
6. A built-in ad capability to facilitate an ad-supported application monetization model.
7. Fully integrated generic services, including email, docs and spreadsheets, wikis, social networking, etc. Only Google provides this currently.

UPDATE: Just got my new Businessweek in the mail. Timely!

Google and the wisdom of clouds