What others are saying about the Office 365 beta
It’s been a little over a week since the public beta of Office 365 became available, and there have already been some great comments on it from the press and customers.
For those not familiar with Office 365, it’s an always-up-to-date cloud service which brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online and is currently available in public beta across the globe in 38 markets and 17 languages.
For a couple bits and bytes on what the press are saying about Office 365, check out the following quotes from their stories and links to them:
Paul Thurrott, Windows IT Pro:
“We're both (Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera) impressed by the deep collaboration features in SharePoint in particular, and the ability to collect information, share it, and then write side-by-side, literally, in the same document. It's going to change the way we work going forward.”
“Individuals and small companies that have shied away from the big server tools now have a chance to catch up with the large corporate installations, without breaking the bank or seconding an employee to full-time server servitude. That's a notable achievement.”
"Office 365, frankly, is to Google Apps as XBOX 360 Live is to Pong. It’s in a different league entirely and represents a leap into the next generation of computing.”
“I can tell you-enthusiastically and without reservation-that Microsoft’s soon-to-be-released cloud services are incredibly promising.”
Here are a couple things customers and partners have said about Office 365 from a variety of sources, including the original public beta announcement and real time sources such as the Office 365 Twitter feed:
David Kroenke, an original Office 365 beta tester and book author:
“I work out of two offices, and Office 365 saves me the hassle of tracking book files between so many different places” said Kroenke. “I don’t have to wonder where I put everything, because it’s always available to me, no matter where I am.”
Stephen Cracknell, managing partner for US Medial IT (a Microsoft Certified Partner):
“When the doctors travel, Office 365 can help them spend more time performing surgeries, rather than screening candidates or handling surgery follow-up,” Cracknell said. “The doctors also plan to use Office 365 to collaborate with each other, when a patient requires the expertise of several different specialists.”
William Bunce (Twitter handle @ds2600 on the Office365 Twitter feed):
“…just started using the beta of @Office365 and it already blows away Google Apps.”
There’s a link to join the beta on the Office 365 site, as some good blog entries on the Office 365 Community site like this one on the Top 10 Q&A’s.
For information on other Microsoft cloud offerings, check out the Cloud Power site. If you have questions or comments, please post them here, and I’ll work to respond as quickly as possible.
Thanks for your time. - Allen