Where Microsoft stands on cloud computing

Forecast for Microsoft? Increasing cloudiness

Microsoft is betting on the cloud to provide the next wave of innovation and opportunities for technologists, businesses and consumers. CEO Steve Ballmer has said that the vendor is “all in” for the cloud, which potentially represents a $3.3 trillion
market. But where does its cloud computing platform stand today? To gauge Microsoft’s cloud momentum, check out our latest news stories, product reports and user adoption stories.

Microsoft emphasizes hybrid cloud at TechEd
As the technology industry moves toward the cloud, users can ease the transition by adopting a hybrid computing model, said Bob Muglia, Microsoft's president of servers and tools. "We're creating the precursors for the cloud. Today there is a lot of work you're doing inside your environment that could be delivered as a service.”

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Microsoft is betting on the cloud to provide the next wave of innovation and opportunities for technologists, businesses and consumers. CEO Steve Ballmer has said that the vendor is “all in” for the cloud, which potentially represents a $3.3 trillion
market. But where does its cloud computing platform stand today? To gauge Microsoft’s cloud momentum, check out our latest news stories, product reports and user adoption stories.

Executive commitments

Microsoft emphasizes hybrid cloud at TechEd
As the technology industry moves toward the cloud, users can ease the transition by adopting a hybrid computing model, said Bob Muglia, Microsoft's president of servers and tools. "We're creating the precursors for the cloud. Today there is a lot of work you're doing inside your environment that could be delivered as a service.”

Microsoft exec: We and users win with cloud
Microsoft is firmly on the cloud-computing bandwagon and with good reason -- it can make more money by doing so, even as it helps customers cut costs, said business division head Stephen Elop. Microsoft is not only selling applications via the cloud, but raw computing power and a development platform with its Azure service. "We're going after more of the pot."

Microsoft's Ballmer: 'For the cloud, we're all in'
Microsoft has 40,000 people employed building software around the globe, and about 70% of those folks are doing something for the cloud, Steve Ballmer said during a March address at the University of Washington.

Microsoft ‘all in’ the cloud, customers not as much
While the benefits of cloud computing are demonstrable -- lower costs, greater flexibility, scalability and the like -- not all software applications are suitable for being delivered in the cloud and it will take a while for cloud computing to become mainstream, said Tim O'Brien, senior director of the Platform Strategy Group at Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Muglia: Cloud revenue to hit in a couple years
Microsoft plans to invest heavily in its cloud platform, but expects to see little revenue for two to three years, as businesses to resume spending on client and server software. “[The cloud] is not what will drive financial growth in server and tools. It is essentially zero percent of our current operating revenue."

Product progress

Microsoft: Features still missing in Azure
Due to an early emphasis on getting the right architecture for its Azure cloud platform, which went live in February, Microsoft's cloud service is still missing key features that are available in the company's standalone products, said Microsoft executives at the company's 2010 Tech Ed conference.

Microsoft's cloud-based Exchange, SharePoint still stuck in 2007
Microsoft has begun upgrading cloud-based Exchange and SharePoint services to its 2010 offerings, but the migration is expected to last all year and many customers may see only a "preview" version of the technology in 2010. Exchange 2010 shipped last November, and SharePoint 2010 was released in May of this year, but the cloud-based versions of Exchange and SharePoint are still running on the 2007 versions.