Google IO 2011

I am so bummed that I could not get tickets to the Google IO 2011. I wanted to be there this year but tickets were sold out in 59 minutes and I could never get to the site.

As expected, a lot has been going on at the IO this year with big announcements coming from Google including its Cloud Music Service. My previous post was about Amazon’s cloud storage and music player and now we have another tech giant jumping into the same arena. I think Google has an advantage since it can immediately have an Android app and accessibility from Android phones will be high. However, I am not quite sure if I would use it from a mobile device especially if I have to use my 3G data plan. With telecom companies limiting the data plans, it is difficult to take advantage of such cloud based players.

One thing I would like to see is Google coming up with something totally radical and not just follow some other company’s game plan. Google is better than that and somehow, It trying to imitate others especially in the social network playground and now the cloud, leaves me a bit disappointed.

There were bunch of other announcements too including Movie rentals for Android, Icecream sandwich etc. You can find more of the google announcements here.

To watch it live, go here.

A lot of twitter activity is going on too and you can track it with tag #io2011. Google IO site has a cool around the globe tracking that you can see at http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/io2011.html .

I hope 2012 will be the year I can make it to this annual event.

More Google vs. Microsoft

Just a few days after the Chrome OS announcement, we see Microsoft being selected as USDA‘s choice to move to cloud computing. Google is crying foul over this development.

You can read about it at:

http://www.cioupdate.com/features/article.php/3916421/Microsoft-Claims-120000-Cloud-Users-in-USDA-Deal.htm

http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/125239-google-cries-no-fair-over-usdas-microsoft-selection.htm

The federal government agencies are adopting cloud platforms and even have a “cloud-first” plan. Even the Obama administration has said that cloud computing will allow more people to share a common infrastructure, cutting technology and support costs.

Last week GSA collaborated with Google as their email provider. What will be interesting is to see whether different agencies will choose different cloud providers and whether they should be choosing a single one?

Google Chrome OS

Google announced its Chrome OS some time last year – trying to create a lightweight operating system targeted mainly towards notebooks. Chrome OS is designed to mainly work through the web and can have web applications. Even the Chrome OS startup page looks like a web browser. All files for the applications have to be stored online or in the cloud. This is the first cloud based operating system that we will be seeing. Just this week, Google finally announced their pilot program to provide test notebooks to qualified users so they can get feedback from those users. The notebooks will have no hard drives since one of the primary goals of the Chrome OS is to be fast. Some web applications designed for Chrome OS will run without being connected to the Internet. It remains to be seen, how seamless the integration of web-based OS with web applications can be considering bandwidth speeds. Also, how successful can a lightweight OS be for bigger corporations or data intensive workload that can be done with traditional operating systems. Will Windows be wiped out or still hold a niche market for enterprises?

Google also demonstrated printing in the cloud from within the Chrome OS. There is still a long way to go, but it can be a great idea. Security is the first concern in cloud-based printing. Will Google snoop around in the documents to target advertising? And of course, how does this all connect to having a physical device to print? HP already has web printers that can be used to print from anywhere. The physical printer does exist in your home/office but can be used from anyplace.

Google vs. Microsoft

I came across this article in SFGate about Google introducing a new plug-in to extend Microsoft Office to offer a more convenient online syncing experience than Microsoft’s own product using Google’s Cloud Connect technology. It is an interesting read about how Microsoft has to make a business decision.

This isn’t just a technical limitation, it’s a business decision. Microsoft doesn’t want cloud services to cannibalize software sales, so it goes to great lengths to make sure that its cloud services work best (or only) with the latest versions of its software. Google can take advantage of Microsoft’s quandary by making its online services work with whatever version of Microsoft software you happen to use.

Microsoft has been all over the place with its new advertisement – “To the Cloud” and try to gain ground in the cloud computing market. It is definitely going to take some time for them to gain foothold with competitors like Amazon, Google and Salesforce. Microsoft will have to work on a pricing strategy as well as a distribution strategy considering that they have vast distrbution channels to sell their conventional software. We will need to wait and see how that plays out for one of the biggest software giants.

(Picture taken from SFGate article – love it!)

Google Apps

We all know about various Google services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and so on that are available for personal use. These are provided free of charge and are universally popular. But, I want to delve more into Google Apps for enterprises and educational institutions. Google offers the same suite of applications to business users while providing more storage, features for nominal charge. However, Google Apps for educational institutions such as universities and K-12 schools is free.

But Google’s true cloud offering is the App Engine which allows companies to run their web apps on Google’s infrastructure. While providing reliability, support and security, Google’s app engine runs using Java and Python environments. This can be a limitation compared to Amazon’s varied offerings in multiple environments. Google is in a good position to build its clout in the cloud arena and diversify its revenue resources from its advertising model. However, the support and services for the cloud offering need to be more comprehensive especially in the IaaS and PaaS section of cloud market.