Perspective from the Web 2.0 crowd on Microsoft’s hosting announcements

It’s always interesting to listen to what Techcrunch and it’s readers say about Microsoft’s moves in certain markets and yesterday at the Worldwide Partner Conference there was lots to talk about.  Microsoft unveiled it’s hosted offering for Exchange, SharePoint and Office Communication Server under the brand “Microsoft Online” which will come in starting at $3 per month per user.  You can get the full announcement here: Press Release- Microsoft Unveils Pricing and Partner Model for Web-Based Messaging and Collabora

Comment from Techcrunch’s readers is generally positive and they are quick to compare to Google Apps but recognise the maturity of Exchange vs Google Mail for example.  Worth a read through these comments as they are normally anti-Microsoft and help to see things without rose tinted spectacles.