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Microsoft Ex-Chief to Launch Web-Based Software
prostoalex writes "Search for Paul Maritz and you're most likely to find Microsoft references. However, next month his new venture, PiCorp will start distributing Web-based software applications that might compete directly with Microsoft offerings. Former Microsoft exec also has an opinion on the future of software industry: '"The strength of the PC is also its weakness," Maritz says. "People don't want a single dedicated computer. They don't want their whole lives bound up in one piece of hardware. People want to get access wherever they are, from whatever device they're using."'"
. . . I might not want my life "bound up" in one piece of hardware, but I sure don't want it depending on paying some "service provider" every month while they share my files with every three letter agency, investigator, advertiser, and anyone else under the sun who will pay, either. I'll stick with open source software running on my desktop for my personal files, thank-you-very-much. If I need to not be "bound up," I'll VNC in over SSH.
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
I have only one piece of hardware, you insensitive clod.
I agree with not wanting my data on-line.
But with the price of USB drives so low now, why not just encrypt your important data on one of those? That's what I do.
That way, I have a copy on my home machine and a copy with me if I need it.
PI (pronounced "pi," like the number) has 50 employees and is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Its 15 founding executives
15 executives to 50 workers! I wonder how many qualify as managers? 40? I don't expect to see much coming out of this company.
No Windows in the vista. All of those that are going to be sold, have been sold. Microsoft should stick to xBoxes.
This, of course, is why people own iPods, PDAs, cell phones that store dialing lists, etc. They can decide on the type of machine that's best suited to storing particular data.
At least to me, his service doesn't seem like much of an improvement on that. In fact, it seems to do rather the opposite: while I suppose with his service, my data might be spread across a bunch of machines in a web server farm (plus back end servers, etc.) it all looks and acts like it's on one centralized computer.
I have a small number of devices, each with a particular purpose. He probably has more devices, but they all seem to have the same purpose: taking my money, while reducing functionality.
The universe is a figment of its own imagination.
Weeeeee!!!!!!!! the wheel goes round and round.
Actually, I like having all of my stuff in one place...
I predict that when they release their "office suite" that it will be exactly the same as Google's offerings. And I predict that credulous reporters will pass on the claim that they have 99% of the core functionality that Office users need, while eliminating all the worthless features.
You know, things like a decent set of formulas in your spreadsheet and style sheets in your word processor.
I find Alexis Smirnov.
What a great opportunity for a "In Soviet Russia..." post.
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
Does anyone actually think the "net cafe" is going to be a mainstay of our society?
The only reason it isn't now is because North America is affluent enough to have most households have their own and it is an extension of the same 'needs' that drive everyone to believe they must own a car and must own a house and must own this or that to be successful in their life.
Net cafes do very well in just about every other country with decent internet access.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Not really. Net cafes are still pretty expensive for doing any amount of work and you have no idea how much spyware (including keyloggers to catch you entering your passwords for PiSoft JavaScriptyGoodness BETA) is on the machines. For the traveling hipster who needs to upload some new pics to his Flickr account, sure, the Net cafe will remain a useful tool. For businesspeople who actually care about security, the corporate laptop with VPN client will continue to be the weapon of choice.
For more information, click here.
My question is, what kind of services qualify for government snooping? Sure, if you use a service that involves storing your files on, say, Google's servers, well then government agencies can just demand that Google provide your info to them. But what if a company just provides a service to connect you to your own storage servers? Would that change things?
We need to undertstand where the boundaries lie on personal property. Take the brick-and-mortar analogy: if you own your home, nobody is supposed to be able to just come in a rifle through your stuff (I think the PATRIOT Act changes that, actually, but be that as it may), whereas if you rent an apartment you have far less protection. Even if you own an apartment inside a building, I doubt you get the same protections as if you own the land as well. The parallels to owning/renting/leasing servers are obvious. Are there any folks out there who know about the legality involved?
So, should we all be running file servers off our home PCs and just using service providers to access our own actual server via whatever device we're using, or is it enough to own one that's running at your web hosting company?
A-Bomb
Normal people don't do weekly off-site backups or verify that the backup media is readable on some other computer. (if you don't do this, quit being so damn smug) Normal people don't do any backups at all.
Normal people buy a new PC when the old one is bogged down with spyware, useless toolbars, and a spamming engine. They buy what is on sale at Walmart. This new PC does not include the user's old data files! The old PC may be kept around for access to these files, which could be printed on the $20 inkjet using $60 ink cartrages.
whole lives bound up
I'd very much more prefer my whole life bound up to pieces of hardware that are mine, than "trusting" it to some company whom I cannot influence, can change policies and terms as they see fit, have usually some obscure and ignorant thinking about "Security" and "privacy" as such, and have no control over, thankyouverymuch. Especially if that company has a leader with such a long term "education" in MS's way to see and do things.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
"People want to get access wherever they are, from whatever device they're using."
He's right, and that's why web based software will continue to fail. You can't use it in places without internet access.
I don't mind having a "single dedicated computer" or having "my whole life bound up in one piece of hardware" (is he saying that people don't make backups??). Why? Because it's MY machine, under MY control. Nobody else has access to it, nobody else can see anything on it unless I specifically allow them to, and that's the way I like it.
This way, if I forget to pay my internet bill, or my wireless bill, etc., I don't lose my files. They're still on my computer, and I can still use them. All I have to do is be at the machine.
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
"People don't want a single dedicated computer. They don't want their whole lives bound up in one piece of hardware.
No, I don't want my information "bound up" in a single, non-networked device. However, this statement shows just how out of touch this guy is. The Net, in it's current form, has been around since the 90s. Non-tech people have been doing remote connections since the mid 80s. Is "I left the data in my work computer" really still a viable excuse? Do computers still exist that can't be remote accessed (excluding systems designed that way for security reasons)? And no, I'm not talking about systems that just need some switch turned on, I mean they completely lack the ability. I ask because that is the only type of system I can think of where your life might be "bound up in one piece of hardware."
One thing I can say, I don't want my whole life bound up in a single dedicated pay service. Not when it's so easy to remote access my own systems or even just take the data with me (via USB drive or some such). Why pay someone else to keep my data for me when I can keep it myself for free? On top of that, I feel much safer securing my own data. I don't want to worry about someone snooping without a warrant.
People want to get access wherever they are, from whatever device they're using."
I already have this ability without this service. Of course, this service will probably sell. I keep seeing ads for a remote access service on TV. It amazes me every time I see it. I think to myself, people really pay for a service that lets your computer do something it could already do? Wow. I wonder if I could sell a service that changes your wallpaper for you once a month? Of course you would have to supply your own wallpaper.
Request a Linux Shockwave player here: http://www.macromedia.com/support/email/wishform/
From the article
the software will let people share and access their information without having to know where a certain e-mail or photo is stored
from that, and from the diagram here I'm guessing that they are developing an API for 'peer to peer' web applications, i.e the applications are distributed over multiple servers and hosting companies but to each other and to the programmer they're part of the same environment.
Also, they seem to depend on search a lot, and want to use it instead of traditional databases. This makes sense since a distributed application wouldn't be written to connect to a hardcoded address but to request some piece of information "wherever it is".
Whether in practice that's a good or bad idea remains to be seen, but it is interesting.
Companies tell YOU what you want! ....oh wait, nevermind.
I think this is a fantastic idea, and frankly, I'm surprised there have been so many negative reactions posted so far. There are certainly a few downsides to this approach, but for the most part I think people just have an over-inflated fear that third-parties have the time & desire to snoop through their saved files. Any document of mine that is absolutely unfit for public consumption is encrypted.. and I could care less if anybody wants to look through the rest of my stuff - have fun wasting your time. They're all stored in my gmail account.. have a blast.
Either way, ensuring privacy is a very easy problem to work around. For any documents that contain trade secrets or corporate financial data, it's almost trivial to add a layer of encryption (even at the point of user interaction) to eliminate unauthorized access. If PI is planning to market their services to large corporations, some form of user-controlled encryption will need to be built-in to comply with Sarbanes-Oxely/HIPAA/etc, so I doubt this will even be an issue.
A couple people have pointed out that Internet access is required for this model to work, and that's absolutely correct. Even today, my electricity goes out more than my Internet access does, and when that happens, I just use my cell phone & laptop. I would argue that most of their target customers are already in the same situation I am, and if not, they'll be there in time for the release.
Yeah! Why would we want to buy Coca-Cola, Nike, or Mattel? Oh hey, perhaps we shouldn't use any IBM or Sun products because they're made by an American company. And Boeing, Ford, GM and Chrysler can go to hell too!
...), and that's what you need to get into the market. And an Indian can write just as good LAMP or .NET code as anyone else.
An Indian.
*****
Grow the hell up. Web-services can be anywhere and cater to anyone (speed of light/latency permitting). And who's to say none of the 'founding executives' are Indian? And you think only the blessed United States is in need of web-services?
And when you're starting your own company, you may find you can provide services at a lower cost if you base yourself out of India (or China, or
And when you do realize this, I hope you remember to get some equity and a piece of the *rich cronies'* pie! And yeah, life's pretty good even in our part of the world.
Have fun!
All bow to his Noodliness!! His Noodle Appendage has touched me!
If a facility is useful, a very large proportion of people seem to not give a stuff about security e.g. Outlook.
I use different computers at work, at home on holiday, when I am out and about. They are all different systems and I don't own them myself necessarily. I have a powerful PDA phone but I don't always carry it with me and it has limited capacity anyhow.
The more "devices" that we end up using, the more desirable is will become to be able access one's information without having to be involved in the mechanics of how it moves around. I think so because I appreciate simplicity and I think that other people do too unless they are hooked on "messing around with gadgets."
I find Gmail useful because I can get to all my messages from anywhere and I don't need to stuff my pockets with devices or manage the disc space on them them or find a charger that works in country X or put up with the sometimes rubbishy software.
Gmail is like a worldwide clipboard too - you can be anywhere and put new links, travel details, addresses and phone numbers etc into it (a draft message) and can search through later on to find something - much better than post-it notes.
So - good for Paul Maritz and his efforts. I had better declare 2 reasons for bias, though:
1) He was born in Zimbabwe like me although he was brought up in South Africa.
2) He has flown a Hawker Hunter at Thunder City (a place in Cape Town where you can fly old British combat jets) and in some odd way I admire him for doing what I would like to do. I want to fly in the awesome BAC Lightning, though.
http://www.thundercity.com/tiger_paul.htm
This is all just my personal opinion.
Also, people generally tend not to care about their sensitive data?
Actually, the average person doesn't give a hoot at all about security. They just care that they can get to their stuff. The average user most likely isn't going to understand that this "service/software" doesn't work off their machine.
But keep in mind that it will impact the performance of their main device.
Maybe not. Others upthread made a good point about how it appears that this "is an API over a peer to peer network". If that was the case, who says the primary seed isn't your machine? That would remove some of the speed concerns.
I am Ergo the magnificent. Short in power, tall in stature, narrow of vision and wide of purpose.
Just curious, is anyone else in the Slashdot community really not that interested in web-based software? I find that pretty much any machine I use "on the go" has MS Office or similar installed, and when I need portability I prefer to just email myself my document(s), which as well as removing the reliance on a third party service I trust less than my mail provider, it also means I have a stored backup online if the worst happens. I really couldn't be less interested in doing office-type editing through my browser - am I alone in this?
Wow Tim, that was quite a little rant. Have you ever been to India? (If not, I have some travel photos at http://flickr.com/photos/mark_watson/sets/1622965/ - enjoy :-)
Seriously, India has been investing heavily in education for decades, and they are justifiably reaping some well deserved benefits from that policy. Overall, I had a very positive feeling about India and the people there.
Wow Tim, that was quite a little rant. Have you ever been to India? (If not, I have some travel photos at...enjoy :-)
Those are great snapshots, Mark. They really change the substance of my argument. After all, a few vacation photos tell the whole story of India better than the many, many, many, resources that tell us that India is a third-world country.
India has one of the worst infant mortality rates on the planet, they have a sickening gap between rich and poor, they have high rates of diseases that are all but eradicated in the first world, and they have...suburbs in Bangalore.
The reality of the situation is very simple: labor in India is cheap because it is a very poor country. They have abysmal standards for public health, medicine and sanitation, and tens of thousands of people die every year from diseases that are completely preventable. International aid organizations funnel billions of dollars a year into the country to fight things like polio and malaria, and meanwhile, the Indian goverment spends massive amounts of money on technical education that benefits only a relative few members of the highest castes.
It would be easy for the USA to compete on cost of labor, if we allowed our infrastructure to degrade to match that of a third-world country. If we stopped filtering our water, treating our sewage, and housing our homeless (just in the poor regions, of course), we could save billions on taxes. Then, we could deny higher education to 2/3rds of our students, label them as "laborers" or "merchants" and tell them that they could never aspire to a higher standard of living, due to birthright. Think of the savings!
Yessir, we could make those changes, and we would almost certainly become internationally "competitive"...I wonder why we don't?
Let's try not to let fact interfere with our speculation here, OK?