And because it could make money on the advertising surrounding those products, it could give them away for free. Google could embed its calendar and its email app into every one of the hundreds of millions of phones and tablets that use its Android system. When that change arrived Microsoft was at a disadvantage.

In fact, that mobile access has become more important than the heavy system that Microsoft had for so long been selling to businesses. Users also need to be able to access their calendars on their phones and tablets. At the same time the spread of mobile devices has made calendars fixed into an email system on the workplace computer insufficient. The rise of competition from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Yahoo Calendar and other companies has given businesses and individuals the opportunity to use different platforms to manage their time and their messages. It was never very friendly or particularly convenient but at a time when the best advice on technical knowhow came from an animated paper clip, the system worked-more or less. Employees would find their work stations already set up with Microsoft Outlook, and from the desk at reception the administrative assistant would enter the company’s dates and meetings in Outlook’s calendar. Back in the early days of the Web, there was only one way for a business to organize its communications and its schedules.

Ms todo