Imagine a world where operating systems are open source. Proprietary software is non existent. And everything from office applications to music players are desktop/web transparent. What sort of place would that be?
Lately, there have been a lot of advancements in technology suggesting a less distinguishable difference between online and offline applications. Mozilla has said they are building the functionality into their next Firefox launch – being the first ones to do so. Adobe has what is called AIR, and they hope to accomplish the same thing. The first to the game though, is Google.
Google Gears (an absolutely brilliant name if I must say so myself) makes online applications function whether the computer is connected to the Internet or not. Here’s a bit more from the download page:
Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality using Javascript API’s.
Right now, Gears exists as a plugin but I imagine it can be built right into an application at some point in time. But think about the possibilities – the most mentioned being Docs and Spreadsheets. But it would allow you to completely manage your Adwords accounts, get Adsense statistics, have a desktop Google reader widget, and so much more.
To me, Ubuntu Linux is the best bet for office computers at a startup; especially if your company utilizes online applications such as Zoho, Basecamp, or Docs and Spreadsheets. All you need is an Internet browser and you are off and running. What better way to keep startup costs down than by minimizing software expenses?
Now, imagine all of those applications being available online or offline! In my opinion, Microsoft is up against something bigger than it can handle.
For more information, check out this article at slate.com.
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Google as a whole is not good for small business any longer. It’s a black box designed to extract as much money as possible from small business while giving back as little value as possible. This piece explains why Adwords is something to be skeptical about: “Why Google Adwords is Not Helpful to Small Business” http://smartstartup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/07/a-fable-doing-b.html
I do agree with you to some extent. In any advertising platform, it is up to the small business (or marketing professional) to use discretion and minimize risk. In a lot of cases, Google does end up ‘taking money’ from the small business without returning any real value. But who’s fault is that? The system’s or the one who runs the campaign?
Think of Adwords, or any advertising platform, in the same way people think of door to door sales. There are ways to sell people on your product, and ways to qualify good leads. Both can be used through PPC campaigns. The trick is monitoring those campaign and drilling down the wording.
I am not going to say that Adwords is the key to solving every small business’s problems, but when used correctly it can pay huge dividends. The solution instead might be getting rid of employees that are wasting money with Google products.
I disagree. Google Gears sounds great, but the state of web based applications vs. desktop applications today there is no comparison. The pipes are too small, the programming languages too weak, and the architecture to frail.
There is a lot of advancement necessary before a web app can function to the level of a desktop app. Arguably, a desktop app, like Microsoft Office, is too heavy for most people. But a web app, like Google Docs is much too light for most people.
As a developer, I don’t think you’ll see a whole lot of apps built on Google Gears until technology and tools evolve more for it. Gears is not easy to implement and the value you get will not pay off for time and resources spent for most apps.
Adobe AIR probably has more of a chance with a better technology and toolset.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens over the next five years. Especially as new user interface designs come into play (like the 3d effects of Vista, Mac, Ubuntu/beryl) that will keep pushing the super-rich desktop experience forward in step with the much-less-but-still-rich web experience.
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