Azure
The Microsoft Ecosystem: Evolution And Extinction
Microsoft does not have an ecosystem for consumers or small businesses in 2018. There is very little synergy between Microsoft products and almost nothing locks us into Microsoft products when we move from one category to another.
It makes old-timers sad to think of the past, because Microsoft had a successful ecosystem for decades. […] continued
Read moreMicrosoft Is Moving Past Windows
If you’re an individual or small business Windows user, you might have the wrong idea about how Microsoft is doing.
We all tend to generalize from our own experiences. You can be forgiven for thinking that Microsoft’s future is dim when Outlook has just crashed or you’re paralyzed by an unexpected and unwelcome Windows update. […] continued
Read moreThe Latest Microsoft Branding Failures
Every month at Microsoft, a team of highly paid professionals writes words on slips of paper. They always include “Microsoft,” “Windows,” “Office,” “365,” “Pro,” “Home,” “Business,” “Enterprise,” “Azure,” “Surface,” and “Online.” They put the slips of paper into a hat and jumble them around. Then they randomly pick out three or four and lay them on a table. […] continued
Read moreMicrosoft’s Enterprise Products Are Literally Overwhelming
Overwhelm (verb) Defeat completely; give too much of a thing to someone; inundate
Microsoft’s roadmap for business apps and services is overwhelming.
Good news! It’s also not for you, my loyal small business readers. I’m going to list a staggering number of upcoming Microsoft products and services to give you an idea what the company is up to, but I give you permission to pay no further attention to any of them. […] continued
Read moreMicrosoft Starts To Untangle Microsoft Accounts And Office 365 Business Accounts
Background: Understanding Microsoft Work And Personal Accounts
Tip: How To Change The Login For Your Microsoft Account (And Why You Should)
Last week Microsoft candidly acknowledged that it has created a confusing and frustrating tangle with its two identity systems – personal Microsoft accounts and business Office 365 accounts. According to Microsoft, four million people use the same email address to log into their personal Microsoft account and their business Office 365 mailbox. […] continued
Read moreWhat Are All Those Unfamiliar Tiles In Your Office 365 Menu?
In the early 1990s Microsoft was the dominant company in personal computing but its products did not recognize or incorporate the brand new concept of something called the “Internet.” After a famous 1995 memo from CEO Bill Gates, Microsoft embarked on a pivot that led the company to integrate the Internet into everything it produced – one of the most stunning turnarounds in business history, and one that ensured the company would continue to dominate personal technology for the next fifteen years. […] continued
Read moreMicrosoft, LinkedIn, And Identity Management
(Warning: this article gets pretty geeky by the end. Feel free to look away. I’ll try to make the next article about a Dancing Kitten app or something.)
Last week Microsoft agreed to pay $26.2 billion cash to acquire LinkedIn. It’s one of the largest technology industry deals in history. It dwarfs Microsoft’s previous big acquisitions of Skype, Nokia and aQuantive. […] continued
Read moreUnderstanding Microsoft Work And Personal Accounts
Microsoft has two different types of accounts. Many of you have credentials – an email address and password – for both of them.
Years of marketing and branding blunders have made it very difficult to describe how Microsoft has organized these accounts. Many people are frustrated because they cannot understand what accounts they have or where each one is supposed to be used. […] continued
Read moreMicrosoft And The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow
In some ways Microsoft did not have a great year in 2014. Windows 8 deserves better but it can only be called an interesting failure and Microsoft is anxious to put it in the rear view mirror. Windows Phone does not show any sign of gaining momentum.
There is better stuff coming from Microsoft. […] continued
Read moreThe Curse Of Downtime: A Story From Real Life
Servers fail without warning sometimes.
This is what happened in a law office last month when the server failed. Each failure has its own story and the details of your story will be different if you’re ever in this position, but there’s a broad point to be made: unexpected downtime has become hard to tolerate. […] continued
Read moreThe Difference Between A Microsoft Account And An Office 365 Account
[June 16, 2016: an updated version of this article can be found here: Understanding Microsoft Work And Personal Accounts.]
Microsoft has taken great strides towards simplifying its products and services. It has discarded products that were overlapping (Live Mesh discarded in favor of Skydrive, Messenger discarded in favor of Skype), it has streamlined its product names (rebranding the Windows Live services, for example), and introduced the consistent interface used on Windows computers, servers, tablets and phones. […] continued
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