Is It Time to Dump Your Desktop?
Web-based software claims to do everything
There's a revolution brewing on your desktop.
For years, software makers and Web boosters have been forecasting that the Internet would break Microsoft Corp.'s stranglehold over business software. Instead of buying a copy of, say, Microsoft Word and installing it on your computer, you would travel to a Web site, type and edit your document there and store it online. The fee would be tiny compared with the cost of buying Microsoft's software, and you wouldn't have to pay anyone to troubleshoot the program or update it.
Now a host of small software companies -- and some Internet giants like Google -- are bringing that vision closer to reality. A quick search online will yield a host of inexpensive -- or free -- online alternatives to Microsoft's widely used software. With names like Writely, ThinkFree and AjaxWrite, these offerings cover the gamut of standard desktop applications -- from word processors to spreadsheets to email.
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But that raises a big question. Should your business make the switch?
The answer: It depends on the size of your organization, and your needs.
The appeal of these programs is simple. They're much less expensive than Microsoft's offerings, and since they're based online, you can use them anywhere you can access the Web. In addition, since you're storing your data online, it's much easier to share with colleagues, customers and suppliers. People can simply travel to a central Web page and see the information they need.
But those benefits come at a price. These programs are basically stripped-down copies of Microsoft's offerings. The interfaces look and feel similar in some instances, but the programs often have very skimpy features. The online word processors can do basic functions such as cut and paste and spell check, but forget about things like the fancy formatting tools you'll find in Word.
If you can live with that, these programs are worth checking out. The early adopters of online software are mostly small companies that want simpler, less-costly applications than they can get from Microsoft. Many are start-ups with limited budgets, while others are divisions or branch offices of larger companies that don't want all the functions packed into Microsoft's Office suite. They are also willing to overlook some of the shortcomings of the online programs -- such as a lack of full compatibility with Office -- and trust that the service providers are securing their sensitive data.
"Our current desktop tools have become almost too powerful for the average desktop users," says Melissa Webster, an analyst at research firm IDC. "There's a point where the online tools get good enough for some significant percentage of users."
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For instance, Ted Hughes spent about two months last year trying to use a Microsoft program called Access to create a database for his industrial-supply company, SoluChem LLC of Austin, Texas. But he found the complex program daunting to use. And he knew that when he was done with the database, he would face another challenge -- figuring out how to let his suppliers and co-workers tap into the information over the Web.
Then Mr. Hughes discovered Zoho Creator. This free Web-based software handled the job -- but without the bells and whistles of Access that had baffled him. And since the program stored his data on the Web, his colleagues could tap into it easily with a browser. "To me it was like a godsend," says Mr. Hughes, operations manager at SoluChem. "It did everything I wanted without the learning process."
But this software may not work for larger organizations. Businesses already running Office on thousands of PCs probably need the benefits of a mature product like Office and a big backer like Microsoft. For their money -- which can be $400 per user -- Office customers get support, bug fixes and peace of mind that their supplier will be around for years to come. The software giant also has deep resources to invest in new functions for its products, such as forthcoming additions that let workers manage phone calls and instant messages from Office applications.
Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's Business Division, downplays the knockoffs as narrowly focused and "simpler in form" than Office. "Most companies want one set of office tools that can meet the broad range of needs in the organization," Mr. Raikes says. "It's simpler, easier to use and manage, and everybody can share their content."
At this point, it's unclear what effect these new programs will have on Microsoft's commanding position in business software. Even if lots of small businesses migrate to these online offerings -- which is no sure thing -- Microsoft will likely hold on to big corporate customers for some time. Large businesses generally need more feature-full software than small ones, such as the advanced number-crunching options that Excel offers. And many large businesses, for security and competitive reasons, are loath to entrust their computer systems to other companies and so likely won't move to applications hosted by a third party anytime soon.
Still, some businesses say they'd be prepared to abandon Microsoft if and when the alternatives grow sophisticated enough. That's the view at Interim HealthCare Inc., a home health-care provider with tens of thousands of PCs spread across the U.S. Satish Movva, Interim's chief information officer, says his company has tested many Office alternatives over the years but has yet to find a solid replacement. The alternatives still can't handle documents created in Office well enough for his needs and aren't as "polished" as Office, he says.
But moving from Office to a cheaper alternative remains a goal. "Realistically, we want that day to come," Mr. Movva says. If another program can let Interim open a huge Excel spreadsheet without a hitch, "I think I can make a business case for moving to it," Mr. Movva says.
There are signs that Microsoft is watching its back. The software giant is taking a page from its online competitors and rolling out its own Web applications under a service it calls Office Live. Now being tested by about 100,000 people -- mostly in small businesses -- the service is designed to coexist with Microsoft's Office software. One selling point: Users will be able to collaborate over the Web more easily and access their documents anywhere.
Here's a look at the state of play in online software -- some of the best offerings out there, and what users have to say about them.
SUITES
In the 1990s, Microsoft bundled a host of programs into one suite of software called Office -- a tactic that won a commanding share of the market. But over the years, Office has drawn lots of fire. Beyond the price, businesses grumble about the pressure to upgrade. The next update, expected early in 2007, will feature radical changes to the product's interface that could make it easier to use but will force users to relearn many of its features.
Now businesses can choose from a host of Office knockoffs that combine word processors, spreadsheets and other software. One of the most full-featured offerings comes from ThinkFree Corp., of San Jose, Calif. The company originally sold the suite as conventional desktop software, but it didn't catch on. So, in April, ThinkFree recast it as an online offering that includes the ThinkFree Write word processor, ThinkFree Calc spreadsheet and ThinkFree Show presentation software. The suite is currently free, but ThinkFree is prepping another version that will carry a subscription charge. The company hasn't set a price.
The big knock on ThinkFree's suite was compatibility: Users complained that the software had problems handling Office documents. Since so many businesses use the Microsoft suite, a company using an alternative is sure to receive Office files from other companies. Any alternative program must be able to, for instance, open a Word file without disturbing the document's formatting.
Jonathan Crow, ThinkFree's director of marketing, acknowledges that the suite doesn't support some features in Office, such as macros, which are shortcuts for automating frequently done tasks. But he says that the company has addressed many of the compatibility concerns, and that about 85% of Office users shouldn't have any problems opening their documents with ThinkFree.
One of ThinkFree's big competitors is AdventNet's Zoho line, which SoluChem's Mr. Hughes tapped. The programs, including Zoho Writer and Zoho Sheet, are available free on AdventNet's Web site. In addition to the Zoho line, the company makes a range of software for businesses.
Tim Lauer, principal of Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, in Portland, Ore., uses the Zoho suite. He uses Zoho Creator, for instance, to make a form on the Web to collect student information from his teachers. On the plus side, he says, Zoho is online and as such it allows him and his staff to share documents more easily. But the software's Web interface is also a drawback, he says. There may be times, such as while traveling, that his staff wants to work on the spreadsheet but doesn't have an Internet connection.
SPREADSHEETS
Over the years, Microsoft's Excel has grown into a powerful piece of software, able to handle high-level data analysis for Wall Street firms and other numbers-intensive businesses. For some companies, however, the program has become too complex for their needs. Now a host of upstarts are offering simpler spreadsheets, with names like WikiCalc, Num Sum and iRows. Though few can handle the heavy load of number crunching that Excel can, some of these new offerings are exploiting the strengths of being online services, such as making it easier for multiple employees to share their work in a single spreadsheet. Others are more specialized spreadsheets and online databases that command higher annual subscriptions.
Healthways Inc., a health-care support provider in Nashville, Tenn., used to merge Excel spreadsheets from across the company during the annual budgeting period. Financial analysts had the unenviable task of combining 100 different Excel files, says Ian Miller, senior director at the company. One problem, he says, was that a change in one spreadsheet wouldn't automatically "cascade" into others, meaning that an analyst would have to manually enter the change into different spreadsheets.
So, last year, Healthways signed up for an $800-per-user annual subscription to an online budgeting spreadsheet from Adaptive Planning Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. Each Healthways unit can enter its data directly into a central service that runs remotely on Adaptive Planning's computers, eliminating the need to merge the different units' data after the fact.
The service is far pricier than Excel, but Mr. Miller says it's worth it because Healthways' analysts now spend more time on their jobs -- analyzing information. "We focus less on data entry than on analysis," Mr. Miller says.
Still, Healthways isn't done with Excel entirely. The company still uses the program as a "supplemental tool" for tasks such as creating a quick report before a management meeting, Mr. Miller says.
WORD PROCESSING
Google Inc. in March raised awareness of online word processors when it bought Upstartle LLC, maker of Writely.com. The program has a simple editor and spell checker for creating and altering documents. At Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, Mr. Lauer says his teaching staff uses Writely to share meeting notes. It's free and the school doesn't have to worry about installing upgrades on all its PCs, he says. As with other Web applications, features and improvements are added incrementally over the Web. Others in the same field are AjaxWrite, a free service from Ajax 13 Inc., a San Diego-based company building an online suite, and gOffice from Silveroffice Inc. of San Francisco.
Still, the offerings are "nothing like a full-featured text editor," says Bruce Byfield, a reviewer for NewsForge, a Web site that tracks open-source software. One problem is that while many office workers use only, say, 10% of the features of an Office application such as Word, "not everyone uses the same 10%." So, many users are likely to find their favorite feature stripped out of an online word processor.
The larger question is whether Google will add Writely to its hosted services, a package of services that it sells by subscription to businesses. Expanding on those services would put Google more directly on Microsoft's turf. Along with Google Spreadsheets, the company has Gmail and a calendar program that could be combined into a suite of hosted offerings. "When we feel like we have a product that is appealing to the end user, then we take it into the business world," says Google General Manager Dave Girouard.
EMAIL
Consumers in recent years have flocked to Google's Gmail, Microsoft's Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and other Web-based email services. The approach is now catching on at small businesses, schools and branch offices of larger companies that don't have the money or expertise to run their own email systems.Yahoo Inc. is offering email as part of a package of online offerings that starts at about $9 a month and includes a customized email address and tools to set up a Web site. Many of its customers are small e-commerce sites. Yahoo's latest version of the software looks a lot like Outlook and has many of the same features, such as a calendar and functions like spell-checking.
Late last year, San Jose City College, a community college in Silicon Valley, didn't have an email system for its students nor the money to set one up itself. In December it cut a deal with Google for a hosted version of Gmail. In February, the school turned on the email system for its 11,000 students, giving each two gigabytes of storage and an address with the ending "@jaguar.sjcc.edu." Michael John Renzi, director of finance and administration at the college, wouldn't disclose the financial arrangements with Google.
The goal was to provide a service to students in the most cost-effective way, Mr. Renzi says. "This email service does that," he says. "I've been getting calls from around the world interested in this solution."
要扔掉桌面软件了吗？
你的桌面程序(Desktop)正在酝酿一场革命。
多年来，软件商和网络服务推动者一直在预测，互联网有可能会打破微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)独霸办公软件行业的局面。比如，你也许不再需要买微软的Word装在电脑上，你可以在某个网站上录入、修改你的文档，并保存在网上。使用这种服务的费用跟微软软件的价格比起来将微不足道，而且也用不著支付软件维护和升级的费用。
目前，不少小软件公司和包括谷歌(Google)在内的互联网巨头正在把这个梦想变成现实。在网上快速搜索一下，你会找到一大批能够取代常用微软软件的便宜、甚至是免费的线上程序，如Writely、ThinkFree 和AjaxWrite，这些软件涵盖了所有的标准办公软件，从文字处理程序、电子表单到电子邮件，应有尽有。
但这产生了一个重要的问题：你的公司是否应该随之而改变呢？
答案：这取决于公司的规模大小以及你的需求。
这些软件程序的吸引之处很简单：它们比微软的产品便宜得多，而且，由于是线上操作，你能在任何可以上网的地方使用它们。此外，由于资料是保存在网上的，因此，跟同事、客户和供应商分享这些资料也变得更容易。人们可以方便地访问一个中心网页并看到他们想要的信息。
不过，享受这些好处是有代价的。这些软件基本上是在仿照微软办公软件的同时又进行了简化。有些程序的介面和给人的感觉与微软的产品颇为相似，但能实现的功能却很有限。网络文字处理程序能实现剪切、粘贴、拼写纠错等基本操作，但Word提供的那些变幻多样的编辑手段是它们望尘莫及的。
如果你对此并不在意，那么这些网络程序还是值得一试的。较早开始使用网络软件的大部分都是小公司，它们需要比微软的产品更简单、更便宜的软件。这些公司中很多是刚起步的公司，财力有限。还有的使用者是一些大公司的分部或办事处，它们也不需要整套微软Office的所有功能。网络软件用户往往不会在意网络软件有某些缺憾（如不能和Office完全相容），并且也相信网络服务商能稳妥地保存他们的机密资料。
“现有办公软件的功能已经远远超出了普通用户的一般需求，”国际数据公司(International Data Corp. (IDC))分析师梅丽莎?韦伯斯特(Melissa Webster)说，“而对于相当部分用户而言，网络办公软件目前具备的功能就已经够用了。”
看一个例子吧：特德?修斯(Ted Hughes)在德克萨斯的SoluChem LLC of Austin工业品供应公司工作，去年他花了两个月的时间尝试使用微软的Access来创建一个数据库，当时他就觉得这个程序太复杂，用起来很麻烦。而在建立起数据库之后，他发现自己又面临另一个挑战：怎样让他的供应商和同事通过网络使用数据库的资料。
后来，修斯发现Zoho Creator这个基于网络的免费软件也能创建数据库，而且不像Access那么复杂、让人困惑。由于这个程序是把资料存储在网上的，因此他的同事可以很方便地通过浏览器进入数据库。“对我来说，这简直是天赐之物，”身为SoluChem运营经理的修斯说，“它能实现所有我想要的功能，而我不用花时间来学习。”
但这个软件也许不适用于规模较大的企业。已经在数千台电脑上安装了Office的公司需要像Office这样的成熟产品和像微软这样的实力雄厚的服务提供商，这些优点都是小软件不具备的。Office的用户每人要支付的价格可能高达400美元，而与之相匹配的是良好的技术支援和故障维修，用户还可以高枕无忧，因为未来无论什么时候发生问题，供应商总会派人来解决。而且，作为软件业巨头，微软有雄厚的财力去投资开发产品的新功能，如即将增加的一项功能将使用户可以处理电话及来自Office应用程序的及时消息。
微软企业部总监杰夫?雷克斯(Jeff Raikes)认为，目前的网络软件的功能都非常狭窄，形式上也比Office简单。“大多数的公司都需要一整套办公工具来满足内部的各种需求，”雷克斯说，“他们希望这套工具更简单，更容易使用和管理，让所有人都能共享内容。”
在这点上，到底这些网络软件会对微软的霸主地位造成什么影响现在还很难说。尽管很多小企业已经改用网络的软件产品，但微软在一段时期内也许仍能稳住那些大企业客户。大企业一般比小公司更需要功能完备的软件，例如Excel强大的数字处理功能。另外，很多大企业为了保险起见或出于竞争方面的考虑，不喜欢把自己的电脑系统委托给其他公司来管理，它们在短期内同样也不可能转用由第三方公司提供的软件程序。
尽管如此，仍然有些公司表示，只要替代软件足够成熟，他们就准备离微软而去。家庭健康服务提供商Interim HealthCare Inc.就是其中一个持这种观点的公司，该公司在全美国的分公司中总共拥有数万台电脑。Interim的首席信息长萨提什?莫瓦(Satish Movva)说，在过去几年中，公司测试过很多款替代办公软件，但还没有找到一个可靠的产品。他说，这些软件还不能按照他的要求很好地处理用Office创建的文档，而且也像Office那么完备。
但用更便宜的工具来代替Office仍然是人们的目标。“现实一点来说，我们期待那一天的来临，”莫瓦说。如果有一个软件能让Interim公司毫无障碍地打开庞大的Excel表单，“我想，我会马上改用这个软件。”
有迹象表明，微软也在观察自己周遭的变化。这个软件老大正在向它的竞争对手学习，也推出了一个名为“Office Live”的网络程序。这个程序旨在和Office相呼应，目前已经有大约10万用户试用过这个服务，大部分是小企业。其卖点在于：用户将能够更容易地在网上一起工作，不管在什么地方都能操作自己的文档。
下面就来看一看网络软件的现状--最好的产品有哪些，用户对它们有何评价。
套装软件
上世纪90年代，微软把一系列软件捆绑成一个叫“Office”的套装软件，这个策略为其赢得了绝对领先的市场地位。但这些年来，Office引来无数非议。除了价格高昂，企业还对版本升级的压力表示不满。下一次升级预计在2007年初，届时微软将对Office的介面作一些根本性的改变，使其更容易使用，但用户需要重新学习很多功能。
现在企业可以从一大批模仿Office的软件中选择，这些软件包括文字处理器、电子表单软件和其他种类的软件。其中功能最齐全的一个要数加州圣何塞的ThinkFree Corp.公司推出的软件。ThinkFree公司原先把这个系列作为传统桌面程序来销售，但不太成功。因此今天4月，ThinkFree把它改作网络软件重新推出，其中包括文字处理软件ThinkFree Write、电子表格软件ThinkFree Calc、演示软件ThinkFree Show。该套装软件目前是免费的，但ThinkFree公司正在制作的新版本将采用收费的方式，但具体价格尚未确定。
ThinkFree的这套软件面临的一个大问题是兼容性。有用户抱怨这套软件处理Office文档时有障碍。由于很多企业都使用微软Office软件，因此使用其他软件的公司肯定会收到别的公司寄来的Office文档。任何替代软件都必须能够处理Office文档，比如能打开Word文件而不会影响到其版式。
ThinkFree的营销总监乔纳森?克罗(Jonathan Crow)承认这套软件不支持Office的某些功能，如宏命令，但他又表示公司已经解决了很多兼容方面的困难，85%的Office用户用ThinkFree打开他们的文档应该是没有问题的。
ThinkFree的一个主要竞争对手是AdventNet的Zoho系列，即SoluChem公司的修斯先生使用的软件。这套软件包括Zoho Writer 和Zoho Sheet，目前在AdventNet网站上免费提供。除了Zoho系列，该公司还为企业开发其他各类软件。
波特兰的Meriwether Lewis小学的校长蒂姆?劳尔(Tim Lauer)使用的就是Zoho软件套装。他用Zoho Creator在网上创建了一个表格，从教师那里收集关于学生的信息。他表示，Zoho的优势在于它是个网络软件，更方便于他和同事共享文件，但软件的网络介面存在不足。有时会出现这样的情况，他的员工想操作表格的时候却没办法上网，比如旅行的时候。
电子表格
微软的Excel在过去几年已经成长为一个功能强大的软件，能够为华尔街公司和其他数据密集型企业完成高级的资料分析任务。然而，对于某些用户，这个软件相对于他们的需求来说显得过于复杂了。现在，很多新兴软件商推出较为简单的电子表格软件，如WikiCalc、Num Sum和iRows。尽管这些软件几乎没有一个能够像Excel那样具有强大的数字处理能力，但一些新软件正在发挥网络服务的优势，使得很多员工能共用同一张表格，还有一些产品能创建更专业的表格和数据库，收取的订购年费也更高一些。
文字处理
谷歌公司3月份收购了创建Writely.com网站的公司Upstartle LLC后，引起了人们对网络文件处理软件的关注。该程序有简单的编辑器和拼写纠错功能，可以创建和修改文档。据Meriwether Lewis小学的劳尔先生称，该学校的教师使用Writely来分享会议记录。这个软件是免费的，学校也不用担心在所有电脑上安装升级版的问题。跟其他网络软件一样，Writely会在网上逐步增加和改进它的功能。此类软件还包括圣地牙哥的网络套装软件开发公司Ajax 13 Inc.的免费服务AjaxWrite和旧金山公司Silveroffice Inc.推出的gOffice。
然而，这些网络产品“没有一个称得上是功能完备的文字编辑器”，开放源代码软件追踪网站NewsForge的评论员布鲁斯?拜菲尔德(Bruce Byfield)说。问题是虽然很多办公室职员只使用一种Office软件(比如Word) 10%的功能，但每个人使用的那个10%都是不同的。因此，很多网络软件用户可能会发现网络文字处理软件缺乏他们喜欢的一些功能。
一个更重要的问题是谷歌是否会把Writely加到其网络的一揽子服务里，以订购的方式卖给企业。如果谷歌拓展这些领域的服务，那么它将有更多的机会与微软正面交锋。除了谷歌 Spreadsheets（电子表单软件），谷歌还有Gmail电子邮件系统和日历，这些都可能整合到该公司的套装产品中。“只要我们感觉已经拥有了一个对最终用户有吸引力的产品，我们就会把它推向商用领域，”谷歌总经理戴夫?吉鲁阿德(Dave Girouard)说。
电子邮件
近年来，使用谷歌的Gmail、微软的Hotmail、雅虎Mail和其他网络邮件服务的消费者大幅增加，小企业、学校、大公司的分支等没有财力和技术来独立运营电子邮件系统的机构普遍使用这些服务。
雅虎公司正在计划把电子邮件服务作为网络套装软件的一部分，最低收费为每月9美元，包括定制电子邮件地址和网站创建工具等。它的用户很多是小规模的电子商务网站。雅虎最新版本的软件外形酷似Outlook，很多功能也跟Outlook相同，如日历、拼写纠错功能等。
Robert A. Guth
