So… it seems that the boys at MS are not just reorganizing to APPEAR better suited to tackle the ever growing threat from the G-Men, but that they are actually TAKING ACTION by (quasi) announcing a move to make MS Office a web-based app. One big point for Microsoft as they take a gigantic leap into uncharted waters in their (quasi) promise to make Office an Online App – should they fulfill their word this will be something quite remarkable indeed.

Now the billion dollar question is not IF they will implement this, but rather HOW WELL they will pull it off. Unlike Google, Microsoft has a poor track record with their final products, which typically begin to work well after the a few dozen patches and critical updates have been thrown at them.

But lets take an optimistic (or fictional if you prefer) approach here and say that they are able to pull it off AND lets say that it even works really well – then what? By then there will surely be the argument of pay – vs. – free, and all things being equal, who wants to pay? But will this really be the big questions? My two cents? – Probably not. Why? Read on…

My fear about Microsoft’s web based initiatives (aside from being expensive) are really more on HOW and WHERE I will be able to use them, as I would be pleasantly surprised if this ended up being something that could be used on any operating system, with any browser and most importantly – on any device. Not that they couldn’t do it, but in their own self interest (and historically) they will most likely lock this down to be a Windows (or flavor thereof) + Internet Explorer, type deal.

Googles + SUN on the other hand, are playing the long game, and will probably 1) beat MS to the punch (on quality rather than speed, if not both), and 2) give users far more options.

But enough of the MS bashing (at least for this post), kudos to them for taking a bold step into the future! I simply hope this is more than the hype machine at work.

¶ 11/01/2005 01:46:00 PM