Microsoft's latest results look incredibly positive. This is especially true in the area of cloud computing, and in particular Office 365 and Windows Azure.
Office 365 subscribers have passed the 2 million mark. Many home users need access to the real thing (rather than office-like alternatives) and a subscription offers great value. The same subscription model suits businesses too as it keeps costs under control.
As for Window Azure it continues to make big strides. While there's a long way to go before it reaches Amazon's hold on this segment of the marketplace it's already well ahead of the rest, including Google's App Engine and the various offerings from IBM, HP, Oracle and such.
Why is this? As I showed in my recent articles (part 1 and part 2) Azure not only has enviable technology scope but is also a leader in promoting openness. Openness in service access, in coding languages, in frameworks, in industry standards and in development tools. How things change...
Obviously Microsoft needs to change to survive. And it is. More importantly lots of organisations and influential developers are noticing. Momentum is growing and it would seem the only way is up.
Read more Microsoft analysis posts.
