Microsoft has been forced to issue service credits to customers affected by recent problems accessing hosted Exchange and SharePoint services, and is promising to improve its system for notifying customers about cloud computing outages.

Google likes to boast that more than 2 million businesses run Google Apps, but IT pros harbor concerns about security in the cloud and the limited functionality presented by Google tools such as Gmail and Google Docs.

Microsoft's 2010 software suites present "the most complicated lock-in decision in years," and many customers will be justified in sticking with the 2007 versions of Office, Exchange and SharePoint, Burton Group analysts said this week at the Catalyst conference.

The growing maturity of virtual desktop technologies and customer interest in Windows 7 has virtual desktop infrastructure  vendors expecting big adoption numbers in 2010. But while most CIOs are at least thinking about desktop virtualization, this year's projects may be limited to pilots and small deployments because of up-front costs and technology challenges that hamper user experience.

Gartner has purchased the Burton Group, its second acquisition in a month, expanding the firm's already massive presence in the IT analysis market.

Desktop virtualization has a predicted growth curve that leaves much of the PC and IT services industries smiling: Yet none of the technologies or service providers promising to offer hosted virtual desktops are ready to step into key roles in enterprise IT infrastructures, according the same well-respected analysts who set the server virtualization market on its ear with a similar conclusion last year.

Most CIOs have started considering virtual desktop infrastructure and other types of desktop virtualization, but only a minority has reached the deployment stage. (See related story, "As Windows 7 gains steam, VDI set to rise".) Virtual desktops can potentially provide more flexibility for users, make it easier to apply patches and reduce IT help desk calls, but there are still numerous problems that keep desktop pros up at night. Here are five pitfalls to watch out for.