Microsoft is hiring up to 500 sales reps for its public-sector cloud-computing solutions to add more firepower to its intensifying competition with Google for the hundreds of millions-and potentially billions-of government dollars being pushed into the cloud.In a news article on the site crn.com, Microsoft's Vince Menzione, general manager for partner strategy in the US public sector, said "We are changing up our message to customers" and underscored the company's end-to-end commitment to cloud computing:

To back up that talk, Microsoft is adding at least 300 and possibly as many as 500 direct sales reps for public-sector accounts as the current administration has been aggressive in pushing the cloud model as a primary way for government organizations to rein in bloated IT budgets, failed projects, poor customer service, and low levels of accountability in many public-sector IT organizations.

And Menzione took a direct shot at Google, which he said is ill-equipped to compete at the enterprise level in spite of its long cloud legacy, according to the crn.com article:

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