Microsoft Absent from Cloud Show
Posted by Margaret Dawson on March 18, 2010
I just returned from the Cloud Connect event in Santa Clara, where Microsoft was a sponsor and a featured keynote. But while most other big IT companies vying for cloud cred, including Oracle, IBM, Amazon Web Services, McAfee and others, had active and full-staffed booths in the expo, Microsoft was surprisingly absent. In fact, the booth was an empty shell.
I found this too ironic considering just earlier this month Ballmer spoke at the University of Washington about Microsoft’s cloud ambitions. Personally, I am rooting for Microsoft in the cloud, particularly for Windows Azure, which I think has a good chance of becoming the standard for building Web-based applications – the .Net in the cloud.
But what happened? Having an empty shell of a booth is worse than not having any booth at all. Especially since it was positioned in a prime section of the expo hall. I saw several people walk by with confused looks on their faces, but after a while, people started using it as a meeting area or a place to put their food.
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft’s presence is at the upcoming Cloud Computing Expo in New York, where they are again a sponsor and speaker.
Tags: Cloud Computing, Cloud Connect, Microsoft, Windows Azure
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