VMware Makes a Move on Office

It's bought SlideRocket, a five-year-old San Francisco SaaS-based business presentation ISV that leverages cloud computing, collaboration, social media and mobile computing platforms, giving it a practically perfect checklist score, especially if you throw in the fact that, in keeping with the custom of the day, it gives its entry-level widgetry away for free.

VMware observes that presentation software - to wit the "25-year-old" PowerPoint - is second only to e-mail as the most widely used business tool. And VMware's already got Zimbra's open source e-mail and collaboration software from Yahoo, an application ornament that, like SlideRocket, is anyway you look at it supposed to advance its scheme whatever it is.

It as well just took over Mozy, the consumer online backup operation, from its parent company EMC, and went into the Platform-as-a-Service business a couple of weeks ago with an open source thing called Cloud Foundry for building applications that run and scale in the cloud, anybody's cloud, public or private.

The Cloud Foundry move pushed Gartner VP Chris Wolf to remark that "VMware can't remain primarily as a platform for Windows applications in an area where Microsoft is a direct competitor. That story always ends the same." Like a lot of other people he's just not sure, all things considered, if VMware will be an enabler or a provider.

The SlideRocket acquisition

VMware said the SlideRocket acquisition would advance its vision of leveraging cloud computing "to deliver access to applications and data from any device, where and when a user needs it" and "help VMware drive a new model for end-user computing for the enterprise."

Maureen O'Gara the most read research reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected innovation reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara