I heard the news from a friend at Microsoft. “Wha???” he asked. Believe it or not, Microsoft is now a pro-Linux, pro-open source Web 2.0 company that believes in hosted software.
1. Microsoft and Novell have agreed to work jointly on virtual machine technology that allows Windows and SUSE to run on the same machine. CNet says Microsoft will even offer coupons for SUSE maintenance and support. (Tough times for Red Hat; now it’s competing with both Oracle’s and Microsoft’s salesforce.)
2. Microsoft has signed an agreement with Zend as well. Microsoft will develop a free add-on (FastCGI) that will serve as the interface between PHP and IIS, and work with Zend to “ensure production-quality PHP runtime environments” on Windows Server 2003 and the upcoming Longhorn server.
3. I came across this Microsoft white paper via David Terrar’s blog. Microsoft apparently believes that web-based applications offer large enterprises a flexible alternative to expensive on-premise software. (David points out the irony of this statement given the imminent Vista launch.)
4. Most relevantly for web hosting providers, Office Live, Microsoft’s free domain registration and web hosting product, will come out of beta in a couple of weeks. InfoWorld says Microsoft will release a free adManager add-on, which lets users buy ads on MSN.com/Windows Live Search today, and Yahoo!/Google/Ask.com within 6 months.
Office Live’s uptake hasn’t been stellar (160K signups since Feb 2006), but adManager is HUGE. It could go a long way towards setting Office Live apart from industry-standard shared hosting.
Office Live also integrates with Office Accounting Express 2007, a free accounting program that’s also eBay/PayPal compatible. TechCrunch points out that this product parallels Google’s partnership with Intuit.
In other words, back office functions will play an increasingly important role in small business web hosting. To continue competing with Microsoft and Google, you’ll need to offer more than front office features like site builder/ecommerce software.
Tags: Microsoft, Novell, Zend, Office Live, SUSE
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