Microsoft and Google in a War of "Nines"

[JMH]

Last week, Google issued a controversial announcement, claiming that the Gmail portion of its Google Apps service had achieved 99.984 percent uptime in 2010. That's a pretty fantastical claim, especially when you consider that most Google Apps customers aren't even paying for the service. But Google took things a step further: Citing a 2010 paid study by The Radicati Group, Google also claimed that Gmail was "46 times more available than" Microsoft's Exchange Server product.

Line, meet crossed.

When Google issued this battle cry last Friday, I figured it would be best to wait until Microsoft issued a response. And now, of course, it has. According to the software giant, not only is Exchange availability comparable to that of Gmail, it's better because Microsoft measures such things more accurately. Microsoft and Google also differ significantly in their responses to customers when availability promises aren't met.

Microsoft and Google in a War of "Nines"