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IBM To Announce Web-Based Desktop Apps
mgoulding writes "IBM is expected to announce a software bundle targeted to business users that will challenge the Microsoft Office package. Unlike Office, the email, word-processing, spreadsheet, and database products will be accessible to Linux, Unix, and heldheld users through a web server. NewsFeed posts the story from CNET." It's certainly something that's been tried before - witness sites like MyWebOS (no longer existing).
It said in the article that it could be accessed via Linux, so I don't see it requiring IE.
The BusinessWeek take on the announcement. They make a point that IBM's timing of this release is in some part due to the the delay in the "Longhorn."
WebSphere Portal 5 bundled in some web based word/excel replacements. I think the idea was "use our portal, and use us to view (and edit) business content. You don't need office!" The reality was less than inspiring. I'd put it on par with the large number of RTF/HTML editors out there - clunky. Not sure why they did not put their weight behind OpenOffice, because it is head and shoulders above what they included with the Portal.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
Dan Bricklin criticized this concept some years ago. He presented his criticism in the form of an hysterically funny demo program created with his demo program tool. You can find it at
http://www.bricklin.com/chiapaint.htm
Of course, that was the dialup days... and of course we're all on high-speed connections now, right? And they never go down? And they have zero latency? And there are never any version skew issues, because Web-based standards are so superbly engineered with respect to forward compatibility, and vendors, regardless of their business strategy, fully understand that it is in their best interests to be punctilious about following them?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
The application is accessed through the web, not necessarily written as web pages. Being on WebSphere and available offline I can almost guarantee it's a Java application. It's copied to the client through the browser and then runs as a client application that can communicate with the WebSphere server. They definitely are not trying to sell an HTML office application here.
Developers: We can use your help.
Anyway, the best thing to come out of this was since this was the second group at MS that my friend was at that got scrapped within 6 months of his arrival, he decided to get the hell out of there. People sometimes think MS succeeds at everything they do. They don't, they are just usually fairly good at cutting their losses on the screwups and milking the successes for all they are worth.
if Joe VP can't work on his PowerPoint on the plane, it's not gonna be acceptable.
From the article: unlike pure Web applications, the new software is designed to be used offline, so mobile users on laptops or handheld devices can connect, quickly access applications and disconnect to do work offline. When they connect, the Workplace software synchronizes their work with server-based applications.
Sounds like Joe will be able to work on the plane just fine.
For instance, check out BackBase, a company which provides almost the same functionality. I can't really give a good outline of their products, besides that they are supposedly coming over to give a presentation any time soon at our company. It sounds good tho...
To quote some of their website: "Backbase offers products and implementation services that allow our clients to develop rich user interfaces that move beyond the limitations of traditional HTML web interfaces. Our technology is based on open industry standards (W3C) and offers out-of-the-box integrations with leading IT-platforms and applications."
Veni, Vidi, Velcro!
RTFA: "BM's new software is designed to be distributed and accessed through a Web server, and to be accessible from systems running Windows and Macintosh, as well as Linux, Unix and handheld devices"
The product is based on Eclipse technology. It is called IBM workplace client and you can find more information here:
c kP resentations/ 21_Wilson.pdf
i nd ex.jsp
www.eclipsecon.org/EclipseCon_2004_TechnicalTra
It works also in disconnected mode and will be the base on which future version of lotus notes will be constructed.
IBM is not targeting this at home users, check out these links:
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/info/workplace/
Read the article before posting. That way you don't shoot yourself in the foot when making a statement about what an application can or cannot do...
>> From the Article...
And unlike pure Web applications, the new software is designed to be used offline, so mobile users on laptops or handheld devices can connect, quickly access applications and disconnect to work offline. When they connect, the Workplace software synchronizes their work with server-based applications
Don't automatically assume this is a hosted, subscription-model pricing. Despite all the 'On-Demand' concept marketing, most IBM software is still licensed on a server per processor and/or per user pricing model with reduced annual maintenance cost after the first year that includes upgrades and support.
The "$2/user/month" statement is just a marketing way of reducing the perceived cost of the product ; a "less than a cup of (Starbucks) coffee per user per month" kind of thing. They used the same technique to describe the cost of Lotus Workplace Messaging during its initial introduction. The percieved monthly cost they talked about in that case was derived by factoring the monthly average over three years including one year initial license acquisition and two years of maintenance cost for a licensed user. Probably the same thing here.
That's right. IBM no longer sees Eclipse only as their IDE platform. They see it as a business software platform.
The PDE (Plugin Development Environment ) is a brilliant mechanism that I feel has a strong chance of becoming the next "Killer App".
IBM will get the credit, but not the profit. This is why it will succeed.
Old story... see www.convea.com for a web based office. Pure DHTML. Looks like IBM copying few years to late!