Microsoft building a Web-based Office suite?
My latest ZDNet column is a potential doozy:
Microsoft is leaping into hosted applications big time. InformationWeek reports that Microsoft plans to offer hosted implementations of SharePoint, CRM and ERP applications. But the best quote in that article was left till last. A "Microsoft insider" was asked which other products and services Microsoft would host and the reply was: "Everything. Hosted Office. Everything hosted."
Ahem, can anyone say Web 2.0 Office? Exactly a month ago I wrote what turned out to be a very popular post entitled The Web-based Office will have its day. My main focus in that post was all of the small start-ups that are currently building web-based office apps. I forgot to mention that of course there's nothing stopping Microsoft from building their own Web 2.0 Office! Perhaps that's their only option to head off Google, because Google Office has been rumored to be around the corner for 1-2 years now... [Full Story at ZDNet]
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Citrix, thin/fat/think client etc....
It's all so...so...1980's!
No no no no no. People who aren't 2.0-loving geeks don't trust anyone to host their sensitive office-related data online. Despite the most fervent wishes of the Slashdot crowd, MS Office on desktop PCs will continue to be the 95-99% dominant paradigm.
This is a smart move by Microsoft, as news that it is thinking about maybe releasing something in the distant future will discourage others from entering. It doesn't have to actually ship anything, and it probably won't. It has enough on its plate with that new OS.
Hosted Office doesn't necessarily mean browser-based. It could mean bits and pieces are hosted (file storage, backup, templates, components, activation, calendars, etc.) while the Office suite itself continues to live on the desktop. MS has been moving this way for a long time, not because of goofy Web 2.0 startups, but rather to combat piracy. Salesforce.com doesn't have a piracy issue.
Someone at Microsoft has to fear the day when someone comes out with an Ajax-based application suite. For Microsoft to do nothing now to prepare for the future could mean severe pain for the company down the road. Of course, web-enabled apps make the most sense in developing countries since they can't afford the same big-box PC's the developed nations have.
And don't forget, Microsoft is sitting on $37.5 billion worth of cash. They could essentially buy their way into several new markets, mitigating some of the risks they face vs. Google.
"At the same time, Microsoft is developing its own hosted service. The bCentral small business portal, launched last fall, will soon offer Microsoft Office Online. "Microsoft is very much toying with the idea of becoming an ASP or acquiring an ASP," said Lew Hollerbach, an analyst at Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston."
That's from March of 2000. ASP or (application service provider) has fallen out of favor as a term to describe hosted applications, but it shows the idea of hosted Microsoft apps isn't new. Like someone else said, it doesn't have to be ajax-based.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2000/0,4814,41789,00.html
- Scott
It's ironic that this is the very thing that Microsoft fought ferociously against back in 1995-2000 when Sun was pushing JavaOS as a thin client and the such.
Want a flashback and a reality check? Check out this article I found some time back:
http://www.cjmag.co.jp/magazine/issues/1997/sept97/0997sunmicrosystem.html
"Hosted Office doesn't necessarily mean browser-based. It could mean bits and pieces are hosted (file storage, backup, templates, components, activation, calendars, etc.) while the Office suite itself continues to live on the desktop"
Ta-da! Someone give Paul Montgomery a gold star!
MS Office is in the postion to offer the best of both worlds, and as a consumer that's what I want.
Great comments folks! A lot of interesting points. Charlie, I agree that MS will probably mix n match. But Joe, that's an excellent point about a web-based MS Office being suitable for developing countries.
My ZDNet collegue Dan Farber labeled this MS Office Lite - and I think that's a good way to look at it. ref: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2082
I don't see a web-based Office suite replacing the desktop suite - at least for the forseeable future. I think it'll be an extra product offering, with the hybridizing that Charlie and Dan suggested. But I certainly am looking forward to finding out what Ray Ozzie announces next week!