September 4, 2008

Are You Ready For A World Of Internet Services?

Yesterday Google launched a new web browser, Chrome. I've downloaded it but have not used it yet. The Wall Street Journal wrote that Google has launched this browser, not only to continue to challenge Microsoft but also to have it's own platform for Google services and other online applications.

The operating system of the computer is important, but it's the web browser we all live in and keep open on our desks. Whether it's just to check email or to do much more, we are increasingly living in an online application world.

I was recently looking at a demo of Zoho's latest application, Zoho Share which lets you share documents across Zoho applications in one central location. What's nice about Zoho's Share is that it's much more than just a way to share documents. That's easy. But it's a way to smartly share and collaborate with the authors of those documents.

Let's face it Microsoft SharePoint is great and deserved a lot of the buzz it received for large companies with armies of consultants. However, for smaller businesses they need simple to implement and low cost solutions. This is where Zoho and other hosted applications shine. Do it yourself (Intuit's religion). Low cost. Simplicity.

Are you ready for a world of internet services. You'll always need a "computer" but as we use more and more applications online the power of the computer and focus on 'the computer" will diminish.

As a variety of companies launch new and improved hosted applications for businesses you'll see some clear differences in some of the offerings. Google Docs, Zoho, Office Live - three similar products with vastly different user interfaces, features and overall design.

tags: google , officelive , sharepoint , zoho | 1 comments