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The identifiable conversation behind this title is Tony Redmond’s interview with Microsoft Exchange executive Perry Clarke, published on December 17, 2013—not a verified follow-up from two years later. It offers a snapshot of Microsoft’s thinking about Exchange quality, cloud services, on-premises deployments and mobile access at that time. Its statements describe Microsoft’s 2013 position, not current product plans or support guidance.
Which conversation does “Two Years On” refer to?
The identifiable source is ITPro Today’s “Talking Exchange Server with Microsoft’s Perry Clarke,” published December 17, 2013. It discusses Exchange’s state at the time, the move toward cloud services, the future of on-premises software and mobility.
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A distinct follow-up published two years later could not be verified. The “Two Years On” framing should therefore be read as a retrospective prompt, not as evidence that a 2015 interview or revisit exists. A separate retrospective reference published in 2026 discusses Clarke’s career, but it does not establish a current Microsoft title or resolve the missing follow-up.
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Redmond says he recorded the conversation and wrote from that recording. He distinguishes Clarke’s direct words from his own account: “Direct quotes from Perry are shown within quotation marks. The rest of the text is my interpretation of what Perry said (and my attempt to put it all into a logical order).” That distinction matters when reading the piece: its analysis and organization belong to Redmond, while quoted remarks are attributed to Clarke.
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The interview is best treated as a historical record of Microsoft’s perspective in 2013. It does not establish what the company does today, what current Exchange releases contain, or what support and migration choices are available now.
What did Clarke say about Exchange quality and updates?
As Redmond recounts the discussion, Clarke described a shared code base serving both on-premises Exchange and Office 365. Clarke’s argument was that operating the cloud service at scale exposed new code to real-world use before related functionality reached on-premises customers.
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The conversation also acknowledged the difficulty of maintaining quality: regressions could affect customers, and organizations had their own interoperability requirements. Redmond’s account notes that enterprises could take considerable time to adopt major releases. These are the concerns and rationale recorded in 2013; they should not be taken as a description of Microsoft’s current servicing process.
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Clarke’s position in the interview was that Microsoft was evolving Exchange for both cloud and on-premises use. The discussion recognized that customers had differing reasons to keep deployments on their own infrastructure, even as more organizations considered cloud services.
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The 2013 exchange therefore reflects a dual-deployment strategy as Clarke described it then—not an announcement that on-premises Exchange would end, and not a guide to the choices available today. The balance between service operations and customer requirements is part of the historical discussion; current deployment decisions require current Microsoft documentation.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What role did mobile access play?
The interview also covered mobile email access and Exchange ActiveSync. Clarke argued that the protocol ecosystem helped make Exchange connectivity practical on mobile devices. That is his historical assessment, not an independently established statistic or proof that ActiveSync alone caused mobile adoption.
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What the retrospective can—and cannot—establish
- It establishes: Redmond published a recorded conversation with Clarke in December 2013 about Exchange quality, cloud and on-premises development, and mobile access.
- It captures: Clarke’s 2013 defense of developing Exchange for cloud and on-premises use, alongside Redmond’s account of customer concerns about quality, interoperability and adoption time.
- It does not establish: that a specific “two years on” follow-up was published, what Microsoft’s present-day Exchange plans are, or Clarke’s current role.
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