Microsoft today announced new packages bundled under the Microsoft Online Services name. Looks interesting. They’re talking about something called Exchange and Sharepoint “Online Deskless Worker” (targeted at people who only occasionally use a computer during the day) for $3 per month, whereas “information workers” are supposed to purchase the full suite, including Exchange, Sharepoint, Live Communicator, and Live Meeting for $15 per month.
I assume that there’s more difference between the two offerings other than just the addition of Communicator and Live Meeting, but there’s no way to tell that so far.
While the press release is enticing, the web sites that it links to make no mention of the new packages – looks like a case of right hands and left hands in Redmond not exactly meeting up on the marketing front. Compare that to Apple’s MobileMe announcements around WWDC, and you’ll see why people are so easily confused about what Microsoft is doing – even when they’re doing good stuff!
The $3 Deskless Worker sounds pretty useless: read-only SharePoint and no mobile email or calendar access. That sounds like the sort of low functionality that should be free.