Microsoft

Is the Desktop Really Dying?

By Mark Evans in Google, Microsoft, Uncategorized 5 Comments Tags: , ,

Everything is going into the cloud. Or is it?

If you listen to Google, the Web browser is becoming everything when it comes to how people use their computers. With the Chrome OS hitting the market soon, Google is ramping up its efforts to convince consumers that the need for desktop applications is disappearing because anything you want to do with a computer can happen online. This quote from Linus Upson, Google’s v.p. of engineering, makes this belief clear as a bell:

“Everything’s happening on the Web. All of the companies and all of the services that people are using — Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, eBay — all of the applications and services that people are using are Web-based. The desktop ecosystem has basically stopped.”

If you’re Google, this is a no-brainer approach given the major growth of the Chrome browser and Google’s the number of online services such as Google Docs, Picasa, Google Calendar and GMail. In the Google world, there are fewer reasons to use desktop applications and, of course, reduced need for Microsoft’s operating system.

The question is whether the desktop is actually dying amid the tsumani of cloud computing. As more applications going to be online will there be little use for desktop applications, or has the enthusiasm about cloud computing become over-heated and frothy?

There is little doubt that cloud computing is becoming more common but I don’t think it means desktop applications are going to disappear.

There may, in fact, be some users who can and will rely exclusively on online services but, at the same time, there will be many people who will continue to rely on using software that is off the grid. Yes, Virginia, there are people who aren’t online all the time and/or don’t want to use an application that stores all their data in the cloud.

Personally, I continue to use desktop applications. This includes Microsoft Office, Tweetdeck, DayLite, iTunes and 1Password. At the same time, I’m an enthusiastic user of Google Docs, GMail, Dropbox and WordPress.

What it means is I marry the best of what both worlds – the cloud and the desktop – have to offer. For some activities such as working with clients, cloud computing makes a lot of sense. For other activities, a desktop application works really well. It’s just a matter of picking the right application for the right job.

Are you still using desktop applications? Could use see giving them up completely?

Toronto Company Kills Word Sales

By Mark Evans in Microsoft 2 Comments Tags: , , , ,

From the hard-to-believe file, a Texas judge has ruled that Microsoft can’t sell its popular Word product in the U.S. because Microsoft is allegedly violating a patent involving XML owned by Toronto-based i4i Inc. (For the news story, check out Seattle PI.)

Judge Leonard Davis, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ordered a permanent injunction that “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.”

In addition to the injunction, which takes affect in 60 days, Judge Davis also awarded i4i damages of $290-million.

So, who’s i4i?

According to its Web site, i4i is a ” world leader in the design and development of collaborative content solutions and technologies” that was founded in 1993 by Michel Vulpe.

If you’ve never heard of i4i, you’re probably not alone.

That said, i4i was thrust into the spotlight in May when it received a $200-million patent verdict from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.

After an eight?day trial, the jury agreed with i4i that certain versions of Microsoft’s Word 2003 and Word 2007 products use “extensible mark?up language”, or XML, in a way that infringes i4i’s U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449.

i4i filed the lawsuit in March 2007, seeking an injunction and damages. The Eastern District of Texas is known for being a haven for patent litigation.

More: CNet did an interview with i4i chairman Loudon Owen, who notes that the injunction only affects Word that features the company’s customer XML technology.


Surprise, Surprise (Not): A Google OS

By Mark Evans in Google, Microsoft 8 Comments Tags: , , , ,

Last night, I was thinking about some of the products I’d like to see Google develop (e.g. a blog publishing tool and iPhone apps for Google Reader and GMail).

In mentally considering other possibilities, one thing that I didn’t thing about was an operating system. So, it was interesting to wake up this morning to discover Google has unveiled plans to launch a new (and free) operating system, Google Chrome OS, next year.

My thoughts:

1. If the battle between Google and Microsoft was heated before, it’s even more intense now. Instead of politely jabbing at Microsoft, Google has taken off the gloves and intent on punching Microsoft where it hurts.

2. It was really only a matter of time before Google launched an OS given it’s been moving into Microsoft’s turf with a Web browser, e-mail service and productivity tools.

3. For consumers, another OS is only a good thing to encourage Microsoft and Apple to continue to innovate. Given Google Chrome OS is an open-source project, it should be good news for Linux by validating the viability of an open-source OS.

Here’s what Google had to say about Google Chrome OS:

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

So, would you abandon Windows or Mac to use Google Chrome OS?

More: Here’s what TechCrunch has to say about Google Chrome OS.

First Impressions of Bing: Promising

By Mark Evans in Microsoft, Search Engines 6 Comments

The launch of Bing has, if anything, been interesting.

It was apparently going be launched last Thursday before Google pulled the rug out from Microsoft by unveiling Wave. Then, Bing was going to be launched on June 3. But, today, Bing is live.

First impressions are that Bing has some interesting features that could make it an interesting proposition. I don’t think anyone is going to blown away enough to declare Bing a Google-killer but Bing shows enough potential that you’ll probably give it the benefit of the doubt.

Bing shows particularly intriguing potential when it comes to product searches by providing a variety of options. For example, a search for digital cameras provides links to the top-10 cameras, types of cameras, accessaries, brands and images.

Bing

Another really nice feature is the ability to get a snapshot of a blog’s content through a new mini-window that pops up when hover over it. Here’s what you would see if you did a search on “Mark Evans”, and then hovered over the link for my blog.

Bing
More: Mike Arrington gives Bing the thumb’s up – “I like it. And I would consider using it as my search engine”, while FastCompany’s Kit Eaton was also impressed. It’s been a long time since a Microsoft product received this kind of reception.

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Is Google Afraid of Bing?

By Mark Evans in Microsoft, Search Engines 5 Comments

Bing
Perhaps this is a thought coming from left-field but is there a possibility that Google is afraid of Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing?

This thesis is based on a few developments:

1. On the day Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was apparently scheduled to unveil Bing at the All Things D conference, Google unleashed its eye-catching Wave, a new real-time communications platform that will be unveiled later this year. (See TechCrunch for details on what Google did last Thursday.)

When it comes to new product announcements, there’s usually an unofficial code of conduct in which companies respect each other’s launch days – similar to guys agreeing to not mow each other’s lawns when socializing with the fairer sex. So Google’s decision to break the code is eye-catching.

2. There seems to be people impressed with Bing. Apple founder Steve Wozniak, for example, had some glowing things to say about Bing after seeing the demo at All Things Do.

“I don’t normally come to these business presentations and all that, but I thought it was one of the most astounding software demos I’ve ever seen,” Wozniak said. “It was so well thought out, the algorithms, the intelligence of it, really impressed me.”

If you’re Wozniak, there’s an element of risk by publicly praising a new search engine taking on Google. If Bing falls flat on its face, Wozniak’s words could come back to haunt him.

Then again, maybe Wozniak is on to something. Maybe Bing is pretty good.

If Bing starts to attract accolades from a growing number high-profile users, it could – and I stress could – give Bing’s some much-needed momentum that would never get from an expensive advertising campaign.

In search, success depends on two things: a service that works as well if not better than Google, and people excited about using it. It’s the formula that propelled Google, and allowed it to quickly leap over Excite, HotBot, Lycos, et al for supremacy in the search engine wars.

If Bing can catch catch lighting in a bottle, the phrase Ba da bing could take on a whole new meaning.

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The Goodness of Google

By Mark Evans in Google, Microsoft No Comments

Google
As the world’s dominant search engine, it’s not surprising that Google attracts a lot of attention and, along with it, a fair of criticism for how it operates.

But stepping back from the fray, the thing about Google that’s even more impressive than the power of its search engine is the portfolio of services it continues to roll out.

Google’s services meet specific needs so well that it’s easy to forget you’re using a growing number of them. Before you know it, GMail, Google Reader, Google Blog Search, Google Docs, Google Maps, YouTube and Google News have become regular parts of your daily digital world.

This is probably the biggest threat facing Microsoft. If you think about it, people are very aware they’re using Microsoft products – be it Windows, Internet Explorer or Office. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing but I think it’s more of a challenge for Microsoft when it comes to convincing people to embrace new products and services.

A good example is Live Writer, which is probably one of the leading blog publishing tools even thought it doesn’t get anywhere near the love and respect it deserves (Note: Having a Mac version would be a nice touch!). Live Writer’s is clearly a Microsoft product so there may be a small hurdle when it comes to bloggers embracing it – a hurdle that I don’t think Google faces.

You could also argue that Internet Explorer suffers from the same problem. Even though it is still the world’s leading browser, it gets nowhere the same amount of respect or buzz as Firefox. The world loves Firefox for obvious reasons but IE has been getting better.

What do you think? Does this thesis hold water at all?

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