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Cloud Computing: The Best of Both Worlds

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Anthony Salcito, Microsoft’s general manager for U.S. public-sector education, said during his appearance at the Educause Conference in Orlando, Florida, “We want people to have the best of both worlds,” he continued, “Flexibility is key. We want scientists to be able to start a Word document in a shared workspace with colleagues in a cloud, and then get on an airplane, where they don’t have access to the Web, and finish it on a laptop.”

Live@edu

Several education trade publications published articles following his appearance

Microsoft extends Office apps to web browsers – repost of John Fontana / Network World article, 10/28/08

eSchool News

Microsoft on Oct. 28 introduced Office Web applications, saying it finally would open its Office suite to access via a web browser in the next release of the software, reports the New York Times--something Google has been doing for years. The company made the announcement at its annual Professional Developers Conference, where it repeatedly has said all its software eventually would be offered as a service.

Microsoft plans 'cloud' operating system – repost of John Markoff / New York Times article, 10/28/08

eSchool News

Looking for growth in new markets where it is increasingly being bypassed, Microsoft said Oct. 27 that late next year it would begin offering a new "cloud" operating system that would manage the relationship between software inside the computer and on the web, where data and services are becoming increasingly centralized, reports the New York Times.

Beginning With Microsoft Live@Edu, Education Institutions Expect Innovation and Cost Savings – Brick O’Neil, 10/28/08

451 Press

Higher education institutions are seeking new ways of enhancing the IT investments they have already made and new reasons to consolidate their systems to ensure maximum savings and efficiencies. New cloud technologies enable convenient access to central applications and provide consolidation (and cost reduction) benefits. With hosted services and storage, for instance, customers are finding new savings. Schools are already seeing benefits with Microsoft Live@edu, a suite of messaging, mobile, and collaboration and productivity services that enables virtual campuses, where students and educators can benefit from the free flow of information and ideas within each learning community.

Microsoft Tells (and Sells) Colleges: Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground - Josh Fischman, 10-30-2008

Chronicle of Higher Education

Cloud computing is very much in the air here at the Educause educational-technology meeting. Everyone is talking about the benefits of using software kept someplace on the Web, rather than on your desktop. Everyone, that is, but Anthony Salcito, Microsoft’s general manager for U.S. public-sector education. “We want people to have the best of both worlds,” he said over lunch here. “Flexibility is key. We want scientists to be able to start a Word document in a shared workspace with colleagues in a cloud, and then get on an airplane, where they don’t have access to the Web, and finish it on a laptop.”

PDC: Microsoft Calls New Cloud Computing OS a 'Turning Point' for Company – Kathleen Richards, 10/30/08

Campus Technology

At its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles this week, Microsoft is unveiling the end-to-end vision for its Software plus Services platform. On Monday, key executives and partners gave a two-and-a-half-hour keynote on what Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie termed the "back-end" infrastructure for the company's emerging cloud platform.

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