Stories by Shane O'Neill

Will Skype be another Microsoft license gotcha?

After Microsoft acquired Skype earlier this month for $8.5 billion, most of the questions revolved around how Skype's IM, voice and video calling features will fit into Microsoft enterprise products such as Outlook and Lync.

MS Office alternatives: Many are trying, few are buying

When it comes to deploying Microsoft Office alternatives such as Google Apps, Zoho or Lotus Symphony, enterprise IT managers are in a state of intense curiosity but are still not ready for widespread adoption, according to a new Forrester research report entitled "Market Update: Office Productivity Alternatives."

Microsoft-Skype deal: Three ways it benefits enterprises

At first glance, Microsoft's whopping $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype may seem like a pure consumer play to bolster Windows Live, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect -- or an extremely expensive way to prevent Google from gobbling up Skype first.

3 ways to ensure Cloud benefits meet enterprise needs

For all the cost-saving appeal of cloud applications -- more commonly referred to as SaaS (software as a service) -- enterprises are still trying to get their heads around the benefits and risks of SaaS and which parts of the company need it the most.

Google apps for business: 10 powerful add-ons

Check out these 10 Google Apps add-ons designed to enhance the Google Apps experience and help you take care of business -- from data protection to project management and more. All add-ons can be found at Google Apps Marketplace, and most of them are free or offer a free edition.

Office 365 tips: Adding a registered domain name

If you are a professional or small business currently beta testing Microsoft's cloud-based productivity and collaboration suite, Office 365, you will want to add your registered domain name to the service.

Google apps: How we locked down documents

Although Google Apps has made progress over the past few years as a cloud-based collaboration and productivity suite for businesses, the first big wave of adopters have been government agencies, schools and nonprofit organizations.

Three phases of SharePoint: What type of user are you?

SharePoint, Microsoft's software program offering everything from online document management to Intranets to social networking sites, has over 100 million users and a majority of them are from Fortune 500 companies, according to Microsoft.

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