Remember all that Web 2.0 hype back in the day? Remember how some predicted an end to the monopoly of Microsoft in those basic applications like Word, Excel and others as these functions moved to the Cloud? Well it looks like that trend is well on its way now and especially in the UK.
According to a survey by Accredited Supplier, a B2B services marketplace, Microsoft is losing their grip on the UK small business market under increasing pressure from cloud computing and open source software.
In their poll of 1,400 Microsoft customers, all small businesses in the UK, they found that 13% of them intend to switch to Google Apps within 12 months while 22% are “undecided”. In other words a healthy number are either switching or probably poised to switch. Of the remaining, 36% were Not Switching and 29% were “Not aware” of Google Apps.
However, despite many remaining undecided about switching to Google Apps specifically, 62% would “prefer” or “strongly prefer” to have their business applications work through a browser, while the rest have no preference or plan to stick to desktop apps.
Of course, you could also surmise that businesses plan to switch to Microsoft-based cloud apps – but that seems unlikely since Microsoft still favours its desktop strategy.
