Longhorn vs. Groove Platform, Next Office vs. Groove Desktop
The race is on.

Ever since I've learned about Groove I was amazed as to why such obviously useful technology has so little competition. I've explained it to myself as "Well, Ray and his team kick ass". Then, I've learned about that $51M deal and I though to myself - "Wow, Ray and his team really do kick ass! Not only they have great tech, but also Microsoft won't be killing them anytime soon. Perfect!"

Recent news about Windows group buying small P2P company didn't change my views of Groove's team of course, but comes as a sharp reminder of age-old truth about Microsoft - one should treat Microsoft's product groups as successful and highly competitive companies on their own. In order to succeed these "companies" sometimes step on each other's toes. They are opportunistic and may make business decisions that benefit their own group, but at the same time putting pressure on other groups. This rule is espetially true with cach-cows like Windows and Office.

What does this have to do with Groove? I'm guessing Office group (Jeff Raikes & Co.) was the primary proponent of Groove/Microsoft deal. They have good reasons to do so. As Office people were building their road-map, they desperately needed the technology that allowed cross-enterprise online/offline collaboration technology. I suspect they have talked to Windows group and inquired how Windows would address this requirement. At that time Windows people didn't have a good answer. By making the decision to invest in Groove, Office group got their roadmap in good shape. But it also have indirectly put the pressure on Windows group to come out with their answer as to how Windows itself would support the collaboration scenarios required by Office.

The acquisition of XDegrees by Windows' storage group illustrates that Windows group is now serious about providing cross-enterprise file sharing abilities. One can expect Longhorn to provide a lot of Groove-like technology. (One can also expect that Windows implementation will be built on GXA from the ground-up.)

What this all means for Groove? It will soon have competition - Windows. That's... serious competition. (Strictly speaking, Groove's basic productivity tools like calendar, project management kind-of competes with Office, but Groove's integration with Office will likely render those tools irrelevant for Office users).  The good news is Longhorn is far away, so Groove still has time to mature its platform and get good client base. 

The other good news is, Windows isn't after everything that Groove stands for. Groove has three crown jewels in its crown: Moving data cross-enterprise. Working online/offline transparently. Lastly, enabling collaboration features deep inside desktop applications. Windows Inc. wants the first two. The last one is still undisputed and has to be protected at all costs. So in order to sustain the business over the long term, Groove has to excel in enabling collaboration of desktop applications well beyond file sharing, well beyound Groove Desktop. This is Groove's chance to keep being one step ahead of its competitors.