Microsoft's Office 365 Beta Yet Another Cloud Step

Microsoft has launched its Office 365 public beta, repeating the company's well-worn pattern of soliciting widespread feedback ahead of a general release. Public betas also help spread the word about a new product months before it hits browsers or store shelves.

In this case, Microsoft needs that word spread as far and as wide as possible. Office 365 (the beta is available in 38 markets and 17 languages) bundles Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in a cloud-based platform for a starting price of $6 per user per month. On top of that, Microsoft is launching the Office 365 Marketplace, with more than 100 productivity apps and 400 professional services.

For many months, Microsoft has publicly embraced an "all in" cloud strategy. CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives regularly espouse the cloud as the future for both businesses and consumers. In doing so, the company not only hopes to open new business channels, but blunt the competitive threat presented by the likes of Google and Salesforce.com, which offer their own cloud platforms.

That being said, Microsoft's enthusiasm for the cloud has yet to translate into anything resembling significant revenue. As with Bing and other initiatives, the cloud represents a long game for the company: You pour in hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development, and hope that paying customers eventually take to what you're offering.

To further promote its cloud ambitions, Microsoft is also partnering with Research In Motion to integrate its cloud offerings into BlackBerry devices, with the latter providing cloud-based BlackBerry service in support of Office 365. RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise servers will connect "cloud to cloud" with Microsoft's data centers to host Office 365 on users' BlackBerrys.

RIM's new PlayBook tablet (which I reviewed for eWEEK) will be able to port and display Office 365 data from any user's BlackBerry, via the BlackBerry Bridge tethering service. As mobile devices enjoy broader adoption by businesses and consumers (the projected tablet numbers for the next five years, as predicted by research firms like Gartner, are pretty insane), the cloud will likely assume greater importance as a means for porting user data from one gadget to another. Rumors are already flying that the next version of Windows, which will support the ARM architecture underlying many mobile devices, will include a substantial cloud element.

A number of government entities and larger corporations are already moving in limited ways to the cloud. Consumers have also shown an interest, mostly in services such as Amazon's Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. And competitive pressure from Google will ensure that Microsoft keeps pushing money toward its own cloud initiatives. But as the "all in" strategy takes yet another step, with Office 365 ramping toward release, I'm starting to wonder about Microsoft's strategy for making all this pay in a substantial way.

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