Microsoft's Google-killer strategy: Finally on the way?

With Google beefing up its app business, we've been wondering when Microsoft would respond. We've been reporting on Microsoft's intention to support a mix of Web-based services and on-premise software. Now Nick Carr has word that the news may come down quite soon.

"The new strategy will, I'm told, lay out a roadmap of moves across three major areas: the transformation of the company's portfolio of enterprise applications to a web-services architecture, the launch of web versions of its major PC applications, and the continued expansion of its data center network. I expect that all these announcements will reflect Microsoft's focus on what it calls "software plus services" - the tying of web apps to traditional installed apps - but they nevertheless promise to mark the start of a new era for the company that has dominated the PC age."

It's about time. In the last couple of years, Microsoft has moved in fits and starts toward embracing cloud computing. That's been a pet project of Ray Ozzie, who has increasingly imposed his vision for corporate computing on Microsoft since taking over the role from Bill Gates as chief tech visionary. It's been a slog. Ozzie has had to fight one turf battle after another to convince the apparatchiks that this is the way to ensure the company's survival in an increasingly Web-centric world. But however slowly, he has been making progress.