Challenging Microsoft on the Desktop

Dotnaught writes "As Microsoft moves to offer software-as-a-service with Windows Live, online companies are moving to challenge Microsoft on the desktop. In a decision that would have been seen as foolish a few years ago, file sharing and social networking company TransMedia plans to release desktop productivity apps (in conjunction with online ones) as lightweight Microsoft Office alternatives. Google, meanwhile, through its deal with Intuit, is colonizing desktop apps as it has done with browsers and search toolbars. Microsoft used to have a home field advantage on the desktop, thanks to Windows. Lately, operating system ownership is looking a lot less valuable."

Comments

Re:Is this new?

[jedidiah]

It's not about "advancement", it's about balance coming back to a market that Microsoft is seem to dominate (inevitably).

I Smell a Dot-Bomb 2.0

[mpapet]

I find it hard to consider this seriously when the CEO's bio reads:

"Mr. Leka established strategic partnerships with industry leaders including Apple Computer and Microsoft and throughout the HealthSCOUT Syndicated Network of over 3,000 sites (e.g. Yahoo, USA Today, NBCi, iWon, Juno, AT&T, Prodigy). Previously, Mr. Leka was a co-founder and Executive Director of The Fultz Foundation in Washington, DC where he was instrumental in securing funding from the George Soros Foundation and USAID among others. Mr. Leka developed and directed various international projects focused on business development and management training including telecommunications and the internet." http://www.transmediacorp.com/about/board.htm

Sounds like he's successful at shaking money out of wealthy people's pocket because http://www.fultzfoundation.org/ is little more than a placeholder and the dot-bomb marketing speak is so 1998.

They just admited it...

[thorkyl]

There will be no more operating systems on users machines...

You will boot flash memory
Your machine will go to MS
Your machine will then run what MS thinks you need
Your machine will tell MS where you went and what you downloaded
Your machine will tell the NSA where you went and what you downloaded
Your machine will stop error when your isp has a hickup

Your machine has MS

--
Stupid people should not breed

Let me tell you....

[CdBee]

I keep my car service schedule in Google Spreadsheets so my mechanic can log in and see when core parts were last changed or maintained. I use Writely to compose blog posts and note down useful information for later retrieval. I use Google Calendar so I can add events whenever I get a message rather than just at home. Thats what Onlline apps are for. use-anywhere.

Re:Online apps

[DragonWriter]

Online apps are being developed with a lot of advantages over locally running applications, however only one of them can't be duplicated in a conventional application--network file storage of your files.

Assuming you have access to a network location to do the storage, its fairly trivial to have network storage of files from a desktop application. What you lack, typically, is guaranteed software with which to access that store from just about any standard browser, which ias the real advantage of online applications.

an egg might have just been laid

[Monsuco]

I often hear of the Chicken and the Egg analogy used to explain why companies don't develop software for Linux. Perhaps this is the egg being laid. Trueth is, web apps, even those made by MS are good for Linux because they are always cross platform. Not to mention the fact that over the past few years linux has gone from being a difficult to use OS with little software avalible to it to becoming a high powered, easy to use OS with thousands and thousands of apps avalible for it. Years ago, I wouldn't have been able to play music, read office documents, browse SMB shares, watch DVDs, dial in a modem, use wifi or possably even print stuff. Now that is easily accomplished. Open Office, Gaim, Firefox, VLC, Libdvdcss2, and thousands of other programs have helped linux beyond belief. Interestingly enough, FOSS and open standards are actually helped by being used by people on Windows and Mac. Take Open Office, if more people use it, ODT gets more popular. Firefox has been a huge example of this. When I started using FF nobody seemed to support it because it had a low market share. Once it gained market share most web sites started to support it. Because FF is natively on Lin and Win it helped lin to have more people support a nonIE browser. Keep in mind, unlike windows, Linux is noncommercial. Linux doesn't need the desktop market to servive. It doesn't need to be good enough for you and me. It needs to be good enough for those who write it. This may sound bad, but it is actually good. It means it will give us a realistic chance to develop and we can't go out of buisness. In adition to all the Web apps, native ports, and alternativeware, we have wine. Wine can run most windows stuff pretty well and it is a nice option to have. It also helps people port software to linux.

Re:Is this new?

[omeomi]

I've never had any problems opening documents from newer versions of Word. To the best of my knowledge, they haven't changed the file spec at all since 97.