Disrupting Microsoft

We had the first wave of our roll out of Google Apps today at work. We’re still without Mail, and the Calendar doesn’t sync with everyone’s Blackberries – so it’s still not quite there yet; but it will be interesting to see how it gets used – and what will be the impact on our Office-dependency

An ex Microsoft employee told me they thought this was the perfect example of disruption in action. I suspect the spreadsheet and presentation packages are going to have to get quite a bit better before it really starts to hurt Office’s sales…but you can sort of count on Google delivering that.

Microsoft I’m sure would argue that there’s nothing in Google Docs you can’t get from Office Live. (tried it..didn’t like it).

At the same time, the BBC last week reported on the proposed post-Windows operating system Midori (see coverage also on ZDNet and SDTimes. I won’t pretend to grasp the full technical details, but as the BBC describes it

It is centred on the internet and does away with the dependencies that tie Windows to a single PC. It is seen as Microsoft’s answer to rivals’ use of “virtualisation” as a way to solve many of the problems of modern-day computing.

Clayton Christensen’s colleague Scott Anthony asks on his blog whether Windows could be disrupted (quick answer – yes, everyone can) and if so – can they do anything about it..

The fundamental question behind Midori and other efforts that are surely kicking around Redmond is to what degree will Microsoft truly let go of Windows? Can the company truly approach solving the problem of enabling computer applications and providing productivity enhancements from a somewhat blank piece of paper?

Microsoft’s overwhelming tendency will be to look at the world through Windows-colored glasses. The urge will be to try to force fit its current business model–where most of its growth comes through the sale of a new computer–onto new growth markets. If Microsoft does this, the company will miss the real opportunities to prosper from disruptive growth.