Assessing the ASP Wars
A growing selection of big-name applications is living on the Web. Are desktop users ready?Liane Gouthro, special to PCWorld.com
Software is moving to a Web-based world, but your office suite is stuck in a holding pattern on your hard drive. If you're itching to make your applications truly virtual, some big names are offering--or promising--options.
Microsoft, Lotus, Sun, Corel, and McAfee all have online office suites in the works or already on the Web. Those are familiar names, but it's up to you whether those familiar tools are well suited to this new way of running applications. And as the Web-based application battlefield grows, the selection looks to get a lot better.
Early Advocate Experiences Delays
Sun Microsystems was among the earliest major vendors to push applications online. Sun purchased Star Division back in August of 1999 and acquired its StarOffice suite. Almost immediately the company, already a bitter rival to Microsoft, announced plans to offer the suite of office applications in a Web-based version. StarPortal, as the Webified version was named, was originally slated for release in the first half of 2000.
Then the suite was delayed. Its launch was pushed back to the third quarter of 2000, and then again to late 2000. Now, with 2001 upon is, where is StarPortal?
Sun continues to release updates to StarOffice, its desktop-based office suite, but it is remaining mum on StarPortal. Company officials won't comment on the reasons behind the delay, but they say that it should be available early this year.
Microsoft Makes the Move
Microsoft is already offering Office online. The king of office software was not about to be overshadowed by Sun's late-1999 push toward Web-based software. In November 1999, Microsoft announced it would make Office 2000 available online on a "rental" basis. And it is.
Microsoft Office Online is available through approximately 20 service partners who are application service providers but not directly from Microsoft itself. Initially, the office suite was reportedly going to be available through Microsoft's own BCentral. But like Sun, Microsoft has had a change of plans.
The company realized small businesses, which are BCentral's primary customers, are not necessarily interested in Office Online, says Lisa Gurry, product manager for Microsoft Office. That's why many of Microsoft's service partners are companies like FutureLink and TeleComputing, which offer the applications to medium-sized companies and departments in large organizations.
Personable.com is among the companies offering Office Online to small business and home users. It provides access to a standard version of Office 2000 for $19.95 monthly.
But using an office application this way may not make financial sense to the customer.
"The cost over the course of a year starts to exceed the cost of purchasing the application on a per-user basis, so the value proposition has to be strong to attract users," Greg Blatnick, vice president and analyst for Zona Research.
McAfee Broadens Its ASPs
McAfee.com is hoping its slate of security and system management tools is well suited for the Web. In November of 2000, the company announced its own.Net initiative, following on the heels of Microsoft's.Net announcements.
McAfee offers three products in Web-based versions: Security.Net, HelpDesk.Net, and Productivity.Net. The trio is aimed at business customers, offering security, data recovery and storage, and business applications in Web-based models.
Productivity.Net includes MobileOffice, which is three business applications designed by ThinkFree. These Java-based applications--Write, Show, and Calc--are compatible with Microsoft Office's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
McAfee's.Net applications are available free of charge, as they are still in what the company calls a "preview" period. But according to Sam Curry, chief architect for the.Net initiative, the company expects to begin charging for them soon. Productivity.Net will cost businesses $50 per user annually. The Security.Net and HelpDesk.Net retail for $70 each, per user yearly. Volume discounts are available on all of the applications.
While this offering is primarily aimed at businesses, Curry says McAfee is also preparing a consumer selection.
Lotus Partners Push Suite
Consumers with certain types of broadband access at home can already get their hands on a Web-based version of Lotus SmartSuite. Featuring WordPro, 1-2-3, and Organizer, SmartSuite is available online through Into Networks. The deal, which was announced last summer, lets consumers rent or subscribe to the software, but only if their broadband providers have an agreement with Into Networks.
Road Runner, Excite@Home, Cox, Northpoint, and Qwest are just a few of the service providers offering the service. Subscribers also get access to a Web site called PlayNow.com, where they can rent software titles that Into Networks streams to them over the Internet. You have to download a small client program to play the games, but the application actually resides on Into Networks' servers.
Lotus SmartSuite is just one of almost 700 titles available through Into Networks. Pricing starts at $2.99 for a two-day trial, and runs up to $89.99 for an annual subscription to all of the available titles, with other packages also available.
Web Work in Progress
But just because you can use Web-based office suites, you might not necessarily want to.
"These types of applications have been designed for the desktop. It could be that they work better there than when accessed over a network," says Zona's Blatnick.
Most software vendors acknowledge that, and all say they are constantly working to improve their offerings. And there's one very positive note about that ongoing development: When those new and improved applications are ready, the upgrade process should be seamless. You won't have to upgrade your desktop; rather, just log on to access the new versions.