Today we decided to move to Office 365 from previously using Google Apps (Mail, Calendar, Docs) & Microsoft Office Desktop & Box.net for storage. The impetus to make the move came from this great article: From Google Apps to Office 365: Why my company ditched Google. For us it boils down to:
- We are passionate Microsoft users and developers since forever
- B2B image: Going with “Microsoft Exchange / Office 365” just sounds more corporate and serious than free “Google Apps” where you and your data “are the product” and pay with advertising
- History & Cost: But we started using Google Apps when Gmail was miles ahead of outlook.com and the entire apps suite was free for up to 50 users
- Both systems will have flaws
- Ecosystem: Our clients all use the Microsoft applications, chances are they will keep using Microsoft even when using Cloud Apps
- Drive & Docs:
- the attribution of files to accounts + permissions drove us crazy (now using box.net + Google Docs for real-time collaboration)
- We depend on Microsoft Office and Googles integration of Microsoft Documents into Drive /
The rough plan we made is:
- Sign up Office 365
- Test Word & Excel for Google Docs like real time collaboration
- Make 365 Play with our IOS / Android phones
- Migrate
- Calendar
- Contacts
- Google Drive
- Box.net (Files)
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