Bye-Bye, Boxes? - Industry Trend or Event

Home Office Computing, July, 2000 by Dave Johnson

Web-based software may save you time and money

UNTIL RECENTLY, THERE WAS ONLY ONE way to get your software--from a shrink-wrapped box. But these days, a new kind of vendor--the application service provider (ASP)--is offering a compelling alternative: software applications accessible via the Web. What began with free e-mail and simple calendars has burgeoned into a broad range of business applications. Beyond word processors and spreadsheets, you'll find time and billing and customer relationship management tools--even full-blown office suites. Some ASPs offer subscription services, while others serve up these applications for free.

"For the small-business owner, ASP software levels the playing field," says Sun Microsystems spokesperson David Harrah. Rentable software, Harrah says, lowers investment costs, turns desktop applications into mobile tools, and reduces the resources you need to get hardware and software to work together.

Web-based software offers a unique advantage to home businesses. Because the applications and data reside on the provider's servers, you access only the tools you need--from anywhere there's a phone line and an Internet service provider (ISP) connection. But before you choose to forgo boxed software in favor of an ASP's offerings, weigh the pros and cons of each approach.

Choose Wisely First, when you buy software the old-fashioned way, you're responsible for installation, troubleshooting, and dealing with technical issues that crop up. You also need to stay abreast of the latest patches and upgrades that fix bugs or provide new features. You also need to remember to back up your data regularly. In other words, you have to do everything yourself.

ASPs, on the other hand, typically handle all these technical details for you, often providing free 24/7 tech support. And because the applications aren't stored on your PC, you regain several megabytes of valuable hard disk space in the bargain. Better yet, Web-based applications provide many--if not all--of the same features found in traditional software. What's more, because you're not downloading large application or data files onto your system over the Internet, you can use a variety of ASP-delivered programs via a relatively slow dial-up connection.

Although the benefits are many, there is one major drawback to the ASP model: If your ISP or phone line goes down, there's no way to access the applications, nor will you be able to retrieve files you've stored on the ASP's server.

Before you decide to take your word processing and spreadsheets online, check out what each ASP offers, as well as the cost. Here's a sampling of ASPs that offer complete office suites.

Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) As the ASP market evolves from e-mail and calendars to productivity applications and office suites, big names like Microsoft have joined the crowd. Office Online, the Web-based version of the popular suite, includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The suite works and feels almost identical to the shrink-wrapped version. Microsoft is making Office Online available to partners who will then offer the application for a monthly subscription fee. Some ASPs, like TeleComputing and FutureLink, cater to larger clients that rent Office in combination with other products like Microsoft's Exchange Server. But for home-based and small businesses, ASPs like Personable.com offer Office for as little as $20 per month.

Sun Microsystems (www.sun.com) StarOffice is available as a free download at Sun's Web site. The 65MB suite features many of the usual office productivity applications--word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing package, scheduler--as well as some extras. And unlike Microsoft Office, it's free. Later this year, Sun is expected to license its StarOffice suite to companies such as Corio, EarthLink, GTE, and Interpath under the name StarPortal. According to Sun Microsystems' Harrah, StarPortal will be portable and platform-independent, so you can use each application to some degree with nontraditional tools like WAP-enabled devices such as cell phones and Palm handhelds. (WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, a secure specification that allows users to access information via wireless devices.)

ThinkFree.com (www.thinkfree.com) This site delivers a complete office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, and e-mail--all free. But unlike most ASP offerings, ThinkFree requires you to download a 1 OMB Java applet in order to run the programs offline. The software is compatible with Microsoft Office, and runs on Windows 95/98/NT, Macintosh, Unix, and Linux. ThinkFree.com also provides 20MB of free online storage; you can purchase additional space as well.

MyFreeDesk.com (myfreedesk.com) Another Webtop application that packs loads of productivity into a free package, MyFreeDesk.com (also called FreeDesk. com) offers a suite of word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation programs, as well as database and e-mail programs, a Web page editor, and a chat client for collaborating with colleagues and clients in real time. The service includes 50MB of storage, which you can expand as needed.