My last post re: Google Apps has been the source of a lot of traffic, based in part to the link from the good folks at LimitNone. Since then, there has been, as one would expect from Google these days, some progress and additional press coverage.
Of particular note: today's announcement that CapGemini is pitching Google Apps for collaboration needs. I particularly enjoyed Nick Carr's typically cheeky commentary asking, in effect, "Hey, wasn't it the big consulting firms that gave us all this IT infrastructure and complexity in the first place?" This is definitely of interest, and inspired an immediate and quite detailed response from Microsoft, as posted in Mary Jo Foley's ZDNet blog about Microsoft.
Of course, if you're looking for a somewhat less partisan view of the whole Microsoft Office vs. Google Apps, I highly recommend the recent research report (NOTE: free -- registration required) from The Burton Group, which provides a richly detailed analysis of Google Apps Premier Edition, and some advice to buyers of IT as they evaluate the offering, the company, and the business model. Microsoft's responses linked above looked, um, pretty familiar after I read this report.
Expect to see lots more hot air on both sides as people try to gauge whether Google Apps is a viable competitor to Microsoft Office, but no matter whom you believe, the prospect of competition can only improve Microsoft's offerings and benefit knowledge workers of tomorrow.
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