While I have been sitting around thinking about this idea and ever so slowly writing about it, other folks are writing about the same thing :) Although I think this short article in Technology Review sees the tip of the iceberg, it misses full threat.
Pardon me if I am skeptical of Microsoft's tests of disruptive technologies that threaten its cash cows. It will be a few years but the day when "the computer is the network" will come eventually. Software as a service is inevitable because it is so useful.
Will Google Threaten Microsoft Office?
The recent acquisition of an online word processor by the search giant raises the question.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Why is the blogosphere abuzz lately about Google buying Upstartle, a four-person software company with no revenues? The obvious answer: industry-watchers are sensing another fight coming between Google and Microsoft.
Upstartle makes Writely, a Web-based word processor that's free. Launched in November 2005, the product has gained around 150,000 users. That's just a blip for Google, of course, but the deal is interpreted by some as confirmation that the search-engine leader is trying to knock Microsoft off its software throne -- using so-called "Web 2.0" technologies. These technologies, such as asynchronous JavaScript and XML (together dubbed AJAX), allow Web applications, such as word processors, to perform at speeds comparable to desktop applications.
So how realistic is this idea that Google is targeting Microsoft's productivity applications? In fact, applications like Writely are not a serious threat to Microsoft Office -- which has beaten back numerous challengers, and still controls 95 percent of the market. Writely is designed to be a collaboration tool, rather than a document-creation tool, meaning it's more like Microsoft's free SharePoint Services than Word.
...
She notes that Microsoft itself tested Office as a hosted application -- but the results were so poor that it abandoned the effort.
