When Tim Berners-Lee conceived the World Wide Web, he saw his creation as being more than just a place to dump documents for display. To Berners-Lee, the Web would be a collaborative workspace in which users could create, publish, and edit documents.
As we all know, things didn't quite work out that way. Depending on how you look at it, the Web is either a useful tool, a cool place to hang out, or a huge waste of time. Few people see it as a place to get work done. Several recent developments have started to change the prevailing view of the Web. In fact, in some ways Berners-Lee's dream is coalescing into a reality.
A number of players, both major and minor, are embracing the idea of moving applications off the desktop and on to the Web. According to the vision, you'll just point your browser to a Web site, and from there do whatever you need to do. This includes creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, checking your mail, reading news, jotting notes and ideas, browsing stock quotes, and even playing games.
Welcome to the latest computing acronym -- ASP, or application service provider -- and what many believe will be the next step in the evolution of computing.
According to Cahners In-Stat Group, ASP industry revenue will rise to $7 billion in 2004 from $7 million this year, while the number of ASP users will reach 30 million, up from 20,000 today.
Moving computing away from the desktop and onto the Web. It's an interesting concept, but is it ready for prime time?.
The appeal of the Web-based desktop is obvious. All the software you use is accessible using a computer with a Web connection. The software is updated as soon as a new version appears. You don't have to worry about installing more bloatware, conflicts with other applications, or whether or not the programs will run on your operating system. On top of that, you don't have to worry about potentially buggy service packs and upgrades. And you avoid the potential guilt -- not to mention the legal hassles -- of possessing pirated software.
The idea isn't a new one. Since the mid-90s, several companies have pushed the idea of Web-based computing with their so-called network computers and Internet appliances. These devices have one purpose: connecting to the Net. They have minimal hardware and software, and you access the programs you need while online.
Since the late 1990s, a number of start ups have jumped on the bandwagon. According to Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, network computers and Internet appliances are what "people will want as they use PCs more and more to access the Internet." Add to the mix the growing popularity of palmtop and handheld computers, as well as Internet-enabled phones and set-top devices, and you have the perfect hardware platforms for Web-based computing.
Among the big guns in the computing world, Microsoft and Sun have expressed intentions of putting their software on the Web. There's been little news out of Redmond about this project. It's beginning to sound like more Microsoft vaporware that will go the way of the the ill-fated Java port of Microsoft Office. Sun, on the other hand, is going full steam ahead with StarPortal. StarPortal is the Web-based version of the StarOffice suite Sun acquired in 1999.
Sun calls StarPortal both an update of, and an extension to, StarOffice that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, graphics capabilities, a database, and a scheduler. Linda Carnochan of Sun Microsystems says that StarPortal "is going to work in your browser and anything that needs to be on your system will be downloaded automatically." However, nothing has gone live and isn't expected to for some time.
While Microsoft and Sun are taking their time bringing their office portals live, a number of small companies have beaten them to the punch.
Personable.com creates a personal virtual desktop containing folders, files, and icons. You can get access to a number of programs, including Microsoft Office 2000, as well as a variety of games, Web applications, and personal productivity tools.
While many of the applications are free to use, the catch is that you have to pay to use the good stuff and will be charged up to $24.99 (U.S.) a month for server access. The software fees range from $6.95 to $26.95 a month, but you do get access to the latest versions of the software.
Like the idea put forward by Microsoft and Sun, Personable.com is more akin to the idea of centralized computing, wherein the server does all the work and your computer is merely a conduit for what you type, than to a Web-based desktop.
One of the first companies out of the blocks with an actual Web-based desktop is the appropriately-named Desktop.com. Katie Burke, CEO of Desktop.com, says that that the company "wanted to take the PC metaphor and put it on the Web." They haven't quite succeeded.
When Desktop.com went live in 1999, it resembled a pumped-up PDA rather than a true computing environment. Applications like a note taker and a to-do list were functional, but nothing spectacular. The focus of Desktop.com recently changed, with the elimination of the original set of applications and the introduction of new ones. You can now choose a handful of tools from the Apps Library, including a database and a photo album. You can also enter a list of your favourite Web sites for quick access. Not exactly industrial strength computing by any stretch of the imagination.
The Desktop.com interface is bereft anything that looks like it belongs on a desktop. In fact, it looks more like a Yahoo! or Excite-like portal site than a workspace. Besides a Windows-like Task Bar, most of the interface is taken up by links to Desktop.com applications and to external sites offering services that compliment Desktop.com.
One interesting aspect of Desktop.com is that the company is offering the building block for Web applications to developers, free of charge. Using these building blocks, programmers can presumably create powerful and complex Web-based applications for use both by their companies and by Desktop.com itself. If Desktop.com can maintain its momentum, this could be the starting point for a whole generation of interesting and useful Web-based software.
myWebOS re-creates the look and feel of the computer desktops we all know and love within a browser window. It's made up of two components: HyperOffice and WebOS.
HyperOffice is a set of productivity applications including e-mail, a jotting pad, and a to-do list. WebOS, on the other hand, is your actual Web desktop. The appearance is reminiscent of BeOS or OS/2, with liberal dashes of the MacOS, Windows, and the Amiga Workbench thrown in for good measure -- including the ubiquitous desktop icons and Task Bar. It sounds strange, but it works. You get the point and click convenience you're used to. There's no learning curve.
The range of applications available from myWebOS is wider than most of its competitors. On top of the HyperOffice applications, there's a word processor and some third-party tools. However, they're not power tools by any stretch of the imagination. The word processor is usable but nothing special. The mail, calendar and contact manager functions are no better or worse than what you find in Microsoft Outlook, or in freeware and shareware you can download from the Web.
The other applications won't appeal to all users, especially considering you have to register each separately to use them. But if you're a small business owner or travel as part of your job, you might find things like the expense tracker and Internet phone services useful.
myWebOS is the most ambitious of any Web-based desktop provider. Its name suggests that it is an operating system -- company officials even hint that their product could soon be a replacement for traditional operating systems.
ThinkFree is the new kid on the Web. And it's offering is one of the most interesting packages. ThinkFree Office is an office suite written in Java, which means it will work on any Java-enabled browser or platform. You get a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation program, and a file manager of varying levels of power. An e-mail client is also on the way, as are other yet-unspecified applications.
The look, feel, and functionality of ThinkFree Office mimics that of its Microsoft counterpart. All the core features of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Windows Explorer are there. The starting point, however, is a little different. The file manager is where you not only work with files and folders, but also launch applications. Just click the icon for the ThinkFree application you want to use, and you're off. Each time you add a new component of ThinkFree Office to your collection, you download a few small Java files. These files allow you to work offline, although you must regularly connect to ThinkFree.com to keep using the applications.
Best of all, you can choose only the software you need. Say you won't be creating a presentation? No problem. You just don't download those components. Interestingly enough, the folks at ThinkFree don't see ThinkFree Office as a competitor to current office suites. Instead, they describe it as a "companion service" that offers "an entirely new dimension of functionality to users who cannot always get to their own computers."
While the vision these companies put forward sounds great on paper, in the real world there are a number of factors that will inhibit the success of the AS model.
You're out of luck if you want to do graphics work and desktop publishing, or even use the types of utilities (like WinZip) you've become so accustomed to. What's currently online is interesting, but it's not enough to entice people away from their PCs.
Home users with fast Internet connections may find some of these services useful. Using them beats paying several hundred dollars for software, on top of the cost of a new computer. The features missing from most Web-based applications are ones home users rarely if ever use anyway. For the small business owner and business traveller, Web-based applications could be the perfect way to cut costs. They won't have to break their already strained budgets to purchase the latest generation of software.
The Web-based desktop is an idea whose time hasn't yet come. But when its time does come, it could signal a shift in computing as powerful as the move from mainframes to the PC.
Truly universal computing will finally be within our grasp.