

Is Microsoft trying to get rid of partners through Office 365? - wilhil
http://blog.williamhilsum.com/2011/08/office-365-partner-experience-is.html

======
raganwald
_I feel that Microsoft are really screwing partners... the new hosted Exchange
solution costs less and offers more than any hosted solution from any partner
I have seen - I simply do not know why any partner will want to offer their
own hosted Exchange going forward._

In simpler words, partners that offer hosted Exchange no longer add any value
to the customer experience or to Microsoft's business other than as a sales
channel. Given the direction SaaS is going, into massively centralized clouds,
this shouldn't surprise anyone at all.

It doesn't feel like Microsoft is being predatory here, I'd say this is simply
an instance of a larger market force acting on everyone in the space. A vendor
who makes a hosted software solution is either going to host it themselves in
a ginormous and expensive cloud or host it in a cloud utility like Amazon or
Google. There simply isn't extra fat in the "supply chain" to support an
intermediary host.

This explains why Microsoft's own solution is cheaper and better. It has to
be. My conjecture is that the only reason it has taken so long to be cheaper
and better is because of internal politics over hosting their own Office
competing with desktop license revenues.

~~~
sunchild
Does Microsoft offer migration services directly? I'm sure that's a huge
requirement for most enterprise and SMB customers. While the partners are
going to lose their hosting windfall, they still have a chance to build a
third party services market for migration/backup similar to what you see on
Google Apps, no?

I know next to nothing about Office 365 offerings, BTW. I looked at them
briefly, and gave up trying to figure them out. Also, I've read Microsoft's
terms for BPOS and they scare me.

------
ghurlman
They're not getting rid of their managed or gold partners, or even really the
small ones... they're just not going out of their way to avoid hurting the
"partners" with an online presence like this: <http://www.ezpcltd.com/>

~~~
wilhil
I do not understand what you are trying to achieve by a comment like that, I
get my clients through personal recommendations and other means... I never
said I was the biggest partner or made any claims. I however am like thousands
of other small Microsoft partners and these are simply my experiences. That
being said, I am not trying to promote my company anywhere here (or even on
the blog), and do not really see how it is relevant. All points from the blog
post still stand.

------
runjake
Just a comment for fellow HNers who peruse the comments before hitting the
url:

1\. The HN submitter is the linked post's author.

2\. I fail to see how this has anything to do with startups or hackers, but
I've been wrong before. Raganwald's comment sums it up.

~~~
wilhil
Sorry if you feel like that! Not trying to hide anything... I read similar
posts all the time... Cloud/Microsoft/Company v Company...

I found out about this place after someone else submitting one of my articles
and have since submitted my own posts a few times simply because I felt they
would be a good fit.

~~~
sunchild
As long as we're OT, I want to address your other article:
[http://blog.williamhilsum.com/2011/07/my-take-on-google-
apps...](http://blog.williamhilsum.com/2011/07/my-take-on-google-apps-vs-
office-365.html)

Using Google Apps with Outlook is a recipe for disaster. I use Google Apps
IMAP (for local backups) via Apple Mail, Postbox, Swallow and other clients.
I've never had the slightest issue.

On the other hand, I've supported IMAP users in Outlook and hated every second
of it. Outlook generally is a mess when it comes to playing nice with other
non-MS tools. For example, .ost files that fail to back up properly, etc. It's
definitely 90% my ignorance of Outlook, but I can't be bothered to learn the
nuances of Outlook when everything else just works. The other 10% is due to
the Google vs. MS rivalry.

I realize you had no choice, given the client's use of a plug-in. I just
wanted to point out that using Outlook with Google Apps is asking for trouble.

~~~
wilhil
hehe - Thanks for reading! I have mixed feelings about Outlook Data Files
(.ost or .pst). These are great when they work, but, I think they show their
age for large modern mailboxes.

As for Imap, I don't really know what to say above what I wrote in that
article - It is clear that Outlook is built for Exchange... That being said, I
have one client (and myself) that runs IMAP from a Hmailserver box and have
never had a problem.

Going over slow links/VPN when abroad has given me a lot of problems with
Outlook, which I do not see whilst using a mobile device (I<device> or
Android) when set to only download the last 50 messages - so, again, I agree
that Outlook's handling could be a lot better.

But... On top of that, Gmail has just given me so many problems weather using
Oulook, Thunderbird or a few other mail clients. If you only use Gmail through
their website, it works great - but, I personally think that the way they use
labels instead of folders along with a few other things (deletion etc.) made a
mess when they tried to implement the IMAP protocol.

~~~
sunchild
Yes, migration from Exchange doesn't work well because of the fundamental
difference between search vs. sort. I'll never use Exchange again, personally.
It feels like time traveling back to 2002. I'd never use 365, but I know a lot
of people are wedded to the MS platform now.

