As Ballmer embellished Office 365’s launch with nice expressions – “people are looking to combine their experience, expertise and knowledge to reach even greater success”, “connect with IM, conduct real time meetings” “whether in the corner, the same room, or around the world” – it felt like an overused record being played all over again.
A no nonsense review of Office 365
Indeed, Microsoft’s entry to the cloud communication and collaboration market is belated - by about a decade. While lots of Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps comparisons go around, the market was pioneered neither by Microsoft, or Google, but by early cloud collaboration companies like WebOffice, HyperOffice, Zimbra and Zoho, some of which continue to survive and thrive. These companies garnered credibility for the market, chipped away at prevailing perceptions, and educated the market about the benefits of the cloud, and collaborating on the cloud, arguments that Ballmer today makes as his own. And this difference in experience shows - in product functionality, uptime record and services provided. But, good comparisons between Office 365 and these other solutions are far between - for example this comparison between HyperOffice and Office 365 - and this website is an attempt to provide seekers of an Office 365 alternative a larger market view. Bur before that..
Here are some reasons why you need an Office 365 alternative:
A no nonsense review of Office 365
Indeed, Microsoft’s entry to the cloud communication and collaboration market is belated - by about a decade. While lots of Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps comparisons go around, the market was pioneered neither by Microsoft, or Google, but by early cloud collaboration companies like WebOffice, HyperOffice, Zimbra and Zoho, some of which continue to survive and thrive. These companies garnered credibility for the market, chipped away at prevailing perceptions, and educated the market about the benefits of the cloud, and collaborating on the cloud, arguments that Ballmer today makes as his own. And this difference in experience shows - in product functionality, uptime record and services provided. But, good comparisons between Office 365 and these other solutions are far between - for example this comparison between HyperOffice and Office 365 - and this website is an attempt to provide seekers of an Office 365 alternative a larger market view. Bur before that..
Here are some reasons why you need an Office 365 alternative:
Complex
Microsoft Office 365 and its precursor Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), repurpose its on-premise range of enterprise focused server products – SharePoint, Exchange, Lync – for the cloud. However, since SharePoint and Exchange are powerful solutions designed for highly intricate implementations in a closed network environment, they are wholly unsuitable for the cloud era, where solutions are deployed over the internet, and characterized by ease of use. Since it shares genes with Exchange and SharePoint, this complexity finds its way even into Office 365.
Microsoft Office 365 and its precursor Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), repurpose its on-premise range of enterprise focused server products – SharePoint, Exchange, Lync – for the cloud. However, since SharePoint and Exchange are powerful solutions designed for highly intricate implementations in a closed network environment, they are wholly unsuitable for the cloud era, where solutions are deployed over the internet, and characterized by ease of use. Since it shares genes with Exchange and SharePoint, this complexity finds its way even into Office 365.
Non Integrated
The components of Office 365 – SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync are stand alone products with their own different target markets. The integration between the different parts of Office 365 therefore tends to be like a patchwork job. Users have to deal with multiple screens and disparate interfaces. The following are the various screens users have to deal with. Notice how different they are:
The components of Office 365 – SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync are stand alone products with their own different target markets. The integration between the different parts of Office 365 therefore tends to be like a patchwork job. Users have to deal with multiple screens and disparate interfaces. The following are the various screens users have to deal with. Notice how different they are:
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Terrible Uptime Record
In recent times, the precursor to Office 365, BPOS, experienced persistent downtime issues. Leading up to the launch of Office 365, users experienced multi-hour BPOS outages on May 10, 11, 12 and 19. It doesn’t end here - BPOS again went down on June 23 and the service health dashboard, which is supposed to inform users of uptime status, went down as well. That’s like the Richter scale being broken in an earthquake. Last year, on Aug. 23, Sept. 3 and Sept. 7, Microsoft BPOS customers went through a similar series of outages.
A senior Microsoft executive acknowledged that the problem was in partly caused by the fact that BPOS was based on Exchange 2007, which was not a true multi-tenant solution. Office 365, she promised, would be different. Wait. Isn’t Exchange 2010 an on premise, server based solution? Besides, why should users believe you now?
In recent times, the precursor to Office 365, BPOS, experienced persistent downtime issues. Leading up to the launch of Office 365, users experienced multi-hour BPOS outages on May 10, 11, 12 and 19. It doesn’t end here - BPOS again went down on June 23 and the service health dashboard, which is supposed to inform users of uptime status, went down as well. That’s like the Richter scale being broken in an earthquake. Last year, on Aug. 23, Sept. 3 and Sept. 7, Microsoft BPOS customers went through a similar series of outages.
A senior Microsoft executive acknowledged that the problem was in partly caused by the fact that BPOS was based on Exchange 2007, which was not a true multi-tenant solution. Office 365, she promised, would be different. Wait. Isn’t Exchange 2010 an on premise, server based solution? Besides, why should users believe you now?
Upgrade Cycles
Here’s some food for thought. With its range of communication and collaboration products, Microsoft has to straddle two markets at the same time. It has its range of on premise server products – Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, Lync 2010 – and its range of cloud products Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Exchange Online, which are in turn based on its on premise products. The upgrade cycles for its on-prem software are typically one or two years. Cloud solutions on the other hand are supposed to be upgraded continuously. So how does Microsoft sync the two? One thing is for sure, users aren’t getting any major upgrades to Office 365 before the 1-2 year cycle.
Here’s some food for thought. With its range of communication and collaboration products, Microsoft has to straddle two markets at the same time. It has its range of on premise server products – Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, Lync 2010 – and its range of cloud products Office 365, SharePoint Online, and Exchange Online, which are in turn based on its on premise products. The upgrade cycles for its on-prem software are typically one or two years. Cloud solutions on the other hand are supposed to be upgraded continuously. So how does Microsoft sync the two? One thing is for sure, users aren’t getting any major upgrades to Office 365 before the 1-2 year cycle.
Microsoft pushes its own agenda
How’s this for a conflict of interest. If Microsoft controls one part of the tech ecosystem, it has to adapt itself to changes in the ecosystem. But it controls many parts of the ecosystem, it can dictate terms to companies. In light of this, there are certain business software that are used nearly universally in companies – MS Outlook, MS Office. Companies want these software to be compatible with their cloud communication and collaboration solutions. But since Microsoft owns these products, it has a strong vested interest – it wants you to purchase most recent versions. If it owns your cloud communication and collaboration software (Office 365) and your popular business tools, it can force you to upgrade – Office 365 driving changes to your software portfolio rather than user needs driving changes to Office 365. One example of this is – Office 365 does not support Office 2003 or Outlook 2003. The substantial user base of Office and Outlook 2003 will be forced to upgrade if they want to use Office 365.
How’s this for a conflict of interest. If Microsoft controls one part of the tech ecosystem, it has to adapt itself to changes in the ecosystem. But it controls many parts of the ecosystem, it can dictate terms to companies. In light of this, there are certain business software that are used nearly universally in companies – MS Outlook, MS Office. Companies want these software to be compatible with their cloud communication and collaboration solutions. But since Microsoft owns these products, it has a strong vested interest – it wants you to purchase most recent versions. If it owns your cloud communication and collaboration software (Office 365) and your popular business tools, it can force you to upgrade – Office 365 driving changes to your software portfolio rather than user needs driving changes to Office 365. One example of this is – Office 365 does not support Office 2003 or Outlook 2003. The substantial user base of Office and Outlook 2003 will be forced to upgrade if they want to use Office 365.
Functionality
Contrary to what many people might think, Office 365 is not the most powerful in terms of functionality. For example, Office 365 has very basic shared tasks and Gantt charts and does not provide advanced project management features like Zoho or HyperOffice.
Contrary to what many people might think, Office 365 is not the most powerful in terms of functionality. For example, Office 365 has very basic shared tasks and Gantt charts and does not provide advanced project management features like Zoho or HyperOffice.
Mobility
Again this relates to point #5. Microsoft has a vested interest in giving users a superior Office 365 experience on Windows Mobile compared to other mobile phones, because it wants to drive Windows Mobile into businesses. Also, Office 365 only supports Activesync devices and not SyncML devices, which adds another constraint on users’ choice of mobile devices.
Again this relates to point #5. Microsoft has a vested interest in giving users a superior Office 365 experience on Windows Mobile compared to other mobile phones, because it wants to drive Windows Mobile into businesses. Also, Office 365 only supports Activesync devices and not SyncML devices, which adds another constraint on users’ choice of mobile devices.
Support
Microsoft offers phone support only for administrators, that too for “critical” issues. Which means, you only get to talk to a human when smoke is pouring out of your computer. If you want assistance on a feature, or have any issue which falls short of “critical”, the best you can do is scavenge through help materials and forums and hope someone else had the same problem.
Microsoft offers phone support only for administrators, that too for “critical” issues. Which means, you only get to talk to a human when smoke is pouring out of your computer. If you want assistance on a feature, or have any issue which falls short of “critical”, the best you can do is scavenge through help materials and forums and hope someone else had the same problem.
