Fud Buster Friday # 31 - Hosted Mail is the killer app

Microsoft SVP Chris Capossela puts it bluntly: "Customers will write us bigger checks."

from this Fortune article. Thanks to Ed for posting it this week.

Couldn't resist putting this quote up here. Hate Microsoft? No. Jealous. I wish everyone bought our service and products so easily. Moving on...

Foolish mortals, it's a new world, full of fun, excitement, twitter and someday soon Football again.

I start this by admitting I have been and always will be a strong proponent of email but as my clients start asking for more hosted options I am wondering if hosting is the convenience people prefer because the cost savings really aren't there...yet.

Your world is not your own any more, everyone is screaming at you to use an ASP, I mean, an SaaS, no I mean a Host/Hosted facility, no Microsoft, no wait Google or IBM, no "The Cloud".

Save money right? Cut expenses. Reduce your budget. Fire some one, anyone, except yourself, of course.

In 2009 you have a choice to get off the Microsoft merry go round, but is Google a better answer? Desktop or laptop or netbook? Phone? What drives a company like GSK to make the choices they make?

The bottom line still is applications, not email. Email, while important, is secondary to the spreadsheets, documents, databases and yes presentation software.

What is the real killer app? I would argue wireless technology as a whole.
In Fahrenheit 451 the idea of a wall being a video screen seemed futuristic, today it's a reality and soon may be one for everyone, ok maybe not yet but soon enough.

Virtually unlimited drive space is also a killer app. We may be seeing a dawn of a new era for online everything, but who will make it happen well, not first.

Does IBM want to play in this space as Duffbert posited? Should they? Symphony is not hosted yet although it is conceivable but is it enough?

Should Google win? It's not about winning for them, it's about the greater good( I know some feel otherwise) of the world. Microsoft really doesn't care about the world, not in the same way. And maybe Redmond is experiencing some of the 90's IBM issues.

Perhaps someone else out there is thinking they can take over this space, maybe they can, but lead with an application other than email...the world has enough religions.