{"id":3405,"date":"2010-11-09T10:38:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-09T09:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/3405-the-cloud-permeates-microsofts-business-more-than-we-may-realise.html"},"modified":"2010-11-09T10:38:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-09T09:38:00","slug":"the-cloud-permeates-microsofts-business-more-than-we-may-realise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/3405-the-cloud-permeates-microsofts-business-more-than-we-may-realise.html","title":{"rendered":"The cloud permeates Microsoft\u2019s business more than we may realise"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m in the habit of summarising Microsoft\u2019s financial results in a simple table. Here is how it looks for the recently announced figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Quarter ending September 30 2010 vs quarter ending September 30 2009, $millions<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Segment<\/td>\nRevenue<\/td>\nChange<\/td>\nProfit<\/td>\nChange<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Client (Windows + Live)<\/td>\n4785<\/td>\n1905<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n3323<\/td>\n1840<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Server and Tools<\/td>\n3959<\/td>\n409<\/td>\n1630<\/td>\n393<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Online<\/td>\n527<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n-560<\/span><\/td>\n-83<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Business (Office)<\/td>\n5126<\/td>\n612<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n3388<\/td>\n561<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Entertainment and devices<\/td>\n1795<\/td>\n383<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n382<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n122<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Windows figures are excellent, mostly reflecting Microsoft\u2019s success in delivering a successor to Windows XP that is good enough to drive upgrades. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m more impressed though with the Server and tools performance \u2013 which I assume is mostly Server \u2013 though noting that it now includes Windows Azure. Microsoft does not break out the Azure figures but said<\/a> that it grew 40% over the previous quarter; not especially impressive given that Azure has not been out long and will have grown from a small base.<\/p>\n

The Office figures, also good, include Sharepoint, Exchange and BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), which is to become Office 365. Microsoft reported<\/a> \u201ctripled number of business customers using cloud services.\u201d <\/p>\n

Online, essentially the search and advertising business, is poor as ever, though Microsoft says Bing gained market share in the USA. Entertainment and devices grew despite poor sales for Windows Mobile, caught between the decline of the old mobile OS and the launch of Windows Phone 7.<\/p>\n

What can we conclude about the health of the company? The simple fact is that despite Apple, Google, and mis-steps in Windows, Mobile, and online, Microsoft is still a powerful money-making machine and performing well in many parts of its business. The company actually does a poor job of communicating its achievements in my experience. For example, the rather dull keynote from TechEd Berlin<\/a> yesterday.<\/p>\n

Of course Microsoft\u2019s business is still largely dependent on an on-premise software model that many of us feel will inevitably decline. Still, my other reflection on these figures is that the cloud permeates Microsoft\u2019s business more than a casual glance reveals. <\/p>\n

The \u201cOnline\u201d business is mainly Bing and advertising as far as I can tell; and despite CTO Ray Ozzie telling us back in 2005 of the importance of services financed by advertising, that business revolution has not come to pass as he imagined. I assume that Windows Live is no more successful than Online.<\/p>\n

What is more important is that we are seeing Server and tools growing Azure and cloud-hosted virtualisation business, and Office growing hosted Exchange and SharePoint business. I\u2019d expect both businesses to continue to grow, as Microsoft finally starts helping both itself and its customers with cloud migration.<\/p>\n

That said, since the hosted business is not separated from the on-premise business, and since some is in the hands of partners, it is hard to judge its real significance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m in the habit of summarising Microsoft\u2019s financial results in a simple table. Here is how it looks for the recently announced figures. Quarter ending September 30 2010 vs quarter ending September 30 2009, $millions Segment Revenue Change Profit Change Client (Windows + Live) 4785 1905 3323 1840 Server and Tools 3959 409 1630 393 … Continue reading The cloud permeates Microsoft\u2019s business more than we may realise<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,55,56,79,97,98,100],"tags":[185,221,586,664,666,996],"class_list":["post-3405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cloud-computing","category-microsoft","category-mobile","category-software","category-windows","category-windows-7","category-xbox","tag-azure","tag-bpos","tag-microsoft","tag-office-2010","tag-office-365","tag-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}