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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Google Apps are out of beta

Yesterday I was talking about the Google Chrome OS, the clearest move Google has done in order to provide a lightweight OS and a set of (enterprise) application running entirely in their servers on web.

Today Google did another step forward announcing that Google Apps have ended their beta program. We all know that Google beta tags have been sticking around for years, in some cases: Gmail is such an example. Nevertheless, Google has been offering such applications to enterprises with service level agreements and support around the clock. Beta doesn't frighten me, if it's a Google tag. This announcement isn't surprising either, it was just a matter of time. The interesting thing is the timing: the Chrome browser, the Chrome OS, now Google Apps. Google's engines are hot since a long time, now I'm just waiting for the big move. Google is boldly going where no enterprise has gone before: will they succeed in beating Microsoft where no OS and no application hasn't succeeded yet? I'm speaking about an OS for mobile phone (Android vs. Windows Mobile) or netbooks (Chrome OS vs. Windows, no PCs, though), office applications (Google Apps vs. Microsoft Office), enterprise servers (Google Apps vs. Microsoft Exchange)?

I'm really looking forward to knowing who will win this battle. I'm a Solaris freak, nevertheless I'd really like a Linux-centric enterprise to win such a game. It would be a win for open source software. It would mean real competition and it would benefit the real winners: the users.

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