[ Thanks to George
Mitchell for this link. ]
“A consortium including AT&T, IBM, Microsoft and about 460
other companies say software that runs on powerful computers
accessed via the Internet — instead of loaded on each PC — will
be widely available in two years from so-called “application
service providers.”
“The group, called the Application Service Provider Industry
Consortium, turned to WIPO earlier this year to help cope with
legal complications stemming from the international nature of the
Internet, said Traver Gruen-Kennedy, an executive with Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla.,-based Citrix Systems Inc. Users may use a network
server in one country, software in another and a data center in a
third country, he said.”
“This is very fast-moving,” said Gruen-Kennedy. “Internet years
are like dog years, we count them seven at a time. One ASP year is
seven Internet years.”