Office 2.0
Sunday, December 4th 2005 | Ismael Ghalimi
In its original incarnation circa 1996, the concept for a Network Computer (NC) did not really make sense. It offered a fraction of the functionality provided by a regular Personal Computer (PC), at a similar purchase price. But most importantly, nobody really cared. The web was just starting and the promoters for this new platform (Oracle and Sun Microsystems) found it difficult to make a case for it beyond their common distaste for anything Microsoft.
A new programming model for web-based user interfaces called AJAX and a killer application for it—Gmail—are now bringing new life to this concept. The idea is pretty simple: use a generic web browser and a set of online services to provide all the functionality needed by a computer user, removing the need for any application to be installed on the computer itself. I call it Office 2.0.
This category will witness my personal attempt at turning the theory into practice. Through the extensive use of carefully selected services such as Gmail and Salesforce.com, I will try to increase my personal productivity while refraining myself from using any application installed on my personal computer other than a web browser. No word processor. No spreadsheet editor. No email client. No files on the local file system. Now let’s see if Sun’s original vision for the network as computer can actually be turned into reality today.
Entry filed under: Office 2.0
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I’ve been using Yahoo! Mail beta and am amazed at the functionality. It drags on slow machines but for the most part I love it. It really convinced me of the reality of “Office 2.0.” But what about the bugaboos of security, confidentiality, and flaky network connections?
Dennis, you’re asking very valid questions. Here are some quick answers:
Security: Can your sysadmin make it more secure that Yahoo!’s can?
Confidentiality: Most confidentiality breaches come from inside infractions.
Connectivity: Office 2.0 only works with broadband. No challenge there.
“Mr CEO, I’m proposing that we replace our inhouse email system with GMAIL.”
“Mr CIO, is that a good idea, having someone else manage our secure documents?”
“Mr CEO, I trust Google to take better care of our documents and attachments than we can. Look at their resources!”
“Mr. CIO, have you read Google’s policy statement?”
“Mr. CEO, I haven’t. Why?”
“Mr CIO, can you tell me how long Google will retain copies of our corporate emails and attachments after we delete them from the GMAIL system?”
“Mr CEO, ?????”
[…] When I started my little experiment with Office 2.0 on December 4 of last year, I did not really expect it to work out so well. Reality is, Office 2.0 is turning into a working alternative much faster than I thought it would, and many other people are coming to the same conclusion. For this reason, I have decided to organize a little conference on the subject, sometime in October 2006. […]
I’m thinking “get rid of this laptop boat anchor with a sleek iPhone”.
Which ones work on iPhone?
How do we contact you to become a sponsor?
Bernadette,
Just contact ismael at monolab dot com.
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