Today is Friday the 13^th, so the theme for This Week in BPOS News is when the cloud becomes spooky.

Our first article takes a look at what happens when a user finds that Going Google was a haunting experience and the second story unveils a nifty new tool on one of the world’s most popular websites.

The Trouble with Going Google: Four Reasons Why I Got Out

Today’s first acronym intensive story comes from CIO regarding why users are making the switch from GAPE to BPOS. Google Apps Premier Edition, or GAPE, is Google’s competitive card to Microsoft Online Services BPOS. Leaving acronyms aside, this story focuses on four key pain points, or “horror points” (because it’s Friday the 13^th) as to why users are leaving Google behind for Microsoft:

1. E-mail Interface Quirks
2. User Revolt
3. Downtime Hits
4. Customer Support Letdowns

The article outlines each “horror point” scenario with examples from real companies including Aisle7 and Serena Software. Ron Brister from Serena Software says “he was nearly driven crazy by what he calls Google's ‘arrogant and complacent’ view of customer service.” CIO sums up the article with a quote from Brister, “At the very least, we are going back into familiar waters instead of being in deep water without a boat."

Microsoft Online Services Community Page

Microsoft Online Services has devoted a lot of time to various social media sites so that we can keep in touch with users no matter where they exist. Arguably, the most popular social media site is Facebook, and they introduced a new social feature called a “Community Page.” A community page is not owned by anyone and hosts information about a certain topic. The Microsoft Online Services community page has recently appeared on Facebook and pulls information from Wikipedia and Facebook posts about Microsoft Online Services. Check out the community page to see information and the latest conversations surrounding Microsoft Online Services.

So what does this story have to do with Friday the 13^th? If you are talking about Microsoft Online Services on Facebook, then someone might be watching you!

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here.

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