…this initiative pushes forward many of Google’s agendas: get into an institution through its end users, not its admins, get more people online so they’ll click Google ads, and, the future is the Web, not the hard drive.
It’s interesting to see people question why businesses are reluctant to adopt cloud computing models, particularly public ones. Arguments in favour of the economic benefits tend to focus on one specific cost saving – that on-premise IT systems are rarely used to full capacity meaning there is waste, both financial and environmental.
CNet has an interesting write-up of a Goldman Sachs report looking into the shift to software as a service. Web conferencing tops the list with 66% although I was surprised to see Email only make it to 4th place with 44%…
Following on from the last post – Evolving Web Business Models – three separate news items cropped up yesterday about Amazon. Whilst so much attention gets focused on what Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft are doing, it seems Amazon has been one of the most successful at evolving its web business model…
Reported by the Yale Daily News, Yale University has put its planned switch to Google Apps for Education on hold. It seems IT went ahead with the decision to switch without first consulting their customers – the students and teachers who will be using the system. When they notified people, concerns were raised.
“People were mainly interested in technical questions like the mechanics of moving, wondering ‘Could we do it?’ But nobody asked the question of ‘Should we do it?’ ” Michael Fischer, computer science professor.
Some of the concerns raised should be a lesson to all providers of cloud computing…
