The spats between Microsoft and Google have been going on for years. Whether comparing email services, web browsers, or portable devices, the two companies have a great deal of rivalry between them. The latest bone that the two dogs are fighting over is who is stealing the most customers from who as people moved between Google Apps and Office 365, and vice versa.
At the Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft said that some 785 customer had made the jump from Google to Office 365 in the preceding 18 months. It’s probably worth pointing out that we’re looking at enterprise customers here; although the likes of you and I are obviously important as customers, losing or gaining 785 of us isn’t really going to be much to shout about!
Google was quick to fight back, pointing out that it is currently enjoying a daily sign-up rate of more than 5,000 enterprise customers, and that many of these including customer who were switching from Microsoft. This is obviously designed to make Microsoft’s 785 claim pale into insignificance, and there are further facts to take into account.
Microsoft highlighted a number of specific customers when making its claim — the likes of City of Edmonton, Guardian Insurance, and Dixons Retail — and included them on a presentation slide. Google has hit back against claims that Microsoft has managed to poach many of its customers by pointing out that, for example, Smithfield has renewed it Google Apps subscription this year, Dixons Retail was never actually a Google Apps customer, and Anhanguera Educacional underwent a business restructuring and was offered free licenses and services from Microsoft. Rather a different picture to the one Microsoft was trying to paint.
It makes you wonder — for whose benefit are these figures pushed out? It is a case of ill-thought-out self-promotion, or false advertising. Google goes as far as saying that Microsoft has made “misleading statements” about the state of the market. Let’s hope that this doesn’t deteriorate into another silly tit-for-tat exchange that drags on ad nauseum.