Microsoft readying ‘BPOS Lite’

For such a smart company, Microsoft really, truly does some boneheaded things.

Really, they do.

Take the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Services, or BPOS.

(Now, who is the dum-dum who came up with that moniker? Isn’t there a branding department up there in Redmond?)

Introduced at a $120 per annum rate, it is too rich for many companies.

While BPOS is very good – we use it – and affordable for us, we think, it is still a bear.

For instance, do you know that the only migration path to BPOS is from Exchange Server?

Think about this: Microsoft has NO upgrade/migration path from Hotmail/Office Live Mail to BPOS!!!

I know, I found out about this several months ago, and I am still in disbelief.

Now, Mary Jo Foley, plugged in to Microsoft, as usual, is reporting that Microsoft is in the process of creating a BPOS-Lite which will be targeted at smaller companies than BPOS.

This is a very good idea.

Hopefully, one of the paths being considered for this BPOS-Lite service is the creation of upgrade paths from Office Live to it, which will be a boon for all the small companies that use Office Live.

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