ZDNet have blogged on the current state of play of Windows Live, commenting that Niall Kennedy has left Microsoft and that the initiative is in a state of paralysis. Well I think that’s just another term for perpetual beta.
Comments on the post mention that the desktop is dead and that it’s only the browser that matters. I still struggle somewhat with this concept as Apple, Microsoft and the Linux community continually strive to incorporate web delivered content into thick client applications, or the desktop itself. Software as a Service does not necessarily mean browser delivered applications, it means components of applications or business processes that can be delivered over the web - possibly consumed by a browser, but equally your desktop applications, server based applications, TV, phone, toilet or shed. How does it differ from the ASP (Application Service Provider) model? I think it’s the granularity, interoperability, integration and trust model that becomes available.
Businesses have for some time now outsourced non-core, non-competitive advantage functions to third parties - HR, Call Centres, door-to-door salesman. There appears to be a renaissance now of ‘doing it yourself’ in some areas, especially the trend of bringing call centres ‘back home’. But we follow cyclical patterns of what industries think are cool (companies even outsource cool these days! - read the July issue of Fast Company) and what advisory bodies and consultancies see as delivering benefit. Competitive advantage comes from clever use of data, ideas and process and if someone can do that cheaper than you can do it yourself then that’s deemed to be a good thing.
So perhaps the poster of the comments is thinking about SaaS in a consumer sense, rather than for business. In the consumer arena I think browser delivered applications do seriously have a role to play. Afterall, I blog in a browser and I no longer use a thick client email application (apart from Mail App on the Mac). I do agree, however, that IE7 needs to improve.. dramatically. Steve Local’s blog doesn’t render right in it for starters. And I wont even go there with pages that have lots of Flash content on them. I thought Flash referred to a product not what was supposed to happen on screen when you move your mouse.
Yes Ray Ozzie has got his work cut out for him if he really is putting the Live services at the fore of Microsoft’s future direction. There’s a lot to do. And there’s a lot Microsoft’s Live developers can learn from the other ‘Live’ service that Microsoft has offered for some time now. Namely the Xbox Live service. Street Fighter II Hyper Fighter.. come on!!