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Salesforce.com tries to make cloud computing sexy at Dreamforce (photo gallery)
The term “Cloud” typically refers to the process of running a computer application on a powerful remote server that you can access through a web browser or client.
Well, don’t tell Salesforce.com that. The customer relationship management (CRM) software provider puts on a yearly conference in San Francisco called Dreamforce that gets more extravagant each subsequent year. As years go on, the conference is inching toward a more Consumer Electronics Show-style gonzo festival featuring bright, flashing lights and booth babes. (Yes, booth babes. At a cloud computing conference.)
VentureBeat attended the conference this year, where Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff unveiled a whole host of new social networking-style features for its enterprise software inspired by the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Benioff was also pretty bullish on mobile and social media, going so far as to say Hewlett-Packard made the right call in spinning off its $40 billion PC industry.
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You can check out a slide show of some of the sights and sounds of Dreamforce 2011 in San Francisco this year below:
Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff introduces his company's newest tools to a crowd of more than 40,000 at Dreamforce.
Appirio floor presenters show off the company's new tools at Dreamforce.
Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff walks through the crowd during the company's Dreamforce keynote.
Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff details the company's new social enterprise tools at Dreamforce.
Cloud storage provider Box.net was a presenter at Dreamforce this year.
Search giant Google, which also has online enterprise apps, had a small booth at Dreamforce.
A Salesforce.com representative shows off the company's newest HTML5 app on a giant iPad.
A Salesforce.com representative shows off the company's newest HTML5 app on a giant iPad.
A Dreamforce attendee stands in front of one of several large interactive screens shaped like various popular phones.
Dreamforce attendees sit in on a Radian6 presentation by Salesforce.com
Dreamforce attendees sit in on a demonstration of Salesforce.com's Radian6 social media engagement software.
Salesforce.com easily had the largest booth at its own convention with multiple interactive screens.
A Salesforce.com representative shows off the company's newest Service Cloud online software.
Toyota brought a Toyota Prius hybrid car onto the Dreamforce show floor to promote its newest connectivity with Salesforce.com
A Dreamforce presenter — one of many — dresses up to attract attendees.
Zuora, a billing payments company, entices Dreamforce attendees with a quick game.
GoodData, a data analytics company, shows off its newest web dashboard to Dreamforce attendees.
A presenter at Dreamforce encourages attendees to visit a booth.
LinkedIn, a popular business social network, was also present as a presenter at Dreamforce.
A Salesforce.com representative shows off the company's new Java web development framework from Heroku.
Dreamforce presenters hand out Dippin Dots ice cream to Dreamforce attendees.
Dreamforce attendees view an interactive photo wall displaying photos from around the conference.
An Oracle representative stands outside the Dreamforce convention. Salesforce.com and Oracle typically spar over whether large companies should use in-house servers or public cloud servers.
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