SmartMoney.com: The Impersonal Computer Revolution

“…we’re not in the PC revolution any more. We’re not
focused on giving end users more control. I propose, instead,
that Linux is contributing to an ‘impersonal computer
revolution.’ It’s a revolution driven by cost-cutting, shifting
cost-centers of businesses out the door and dramatically increasing
productivity.”

“What you’ll have at the end of the day is an ASP running
corporate applications on Linux, which it will sell to small and
midsized businesses that want to get up and running really fast.
The company’s employees will access these programs through the Web,
probably with a Web computer like the kind my colleague Danny Hakim
has written about as potentially the future of computing.”

“I think the cost savings to a corporation of using Web apps
will drive this kind of Linux computing and give serious
competition to the plain old desktop computer. Who knows, it could
even have important results for Bill Gates. Web-based software,
running inside of a browser, might return Microsoft to its roots as
a tool company. Long before Gates was tempted by IBM into rolling
out an operating system, Microsoft was dedicated to developing
programming tools. Companies like Chili!Soft are bringing those
tools to Linux. Microsoft’s Web server, IIS, currently runs 22
million Web sites, according to Netcraft. What if Bill cut a deal
with ChiliSoft or another firm to bring IIS to Linux? Not a bad
idea — consider that revenues at the operating-system division of
Microsoft grew by only 6% in the latest quarter, compared to 28%
for the tools division. Expanding Microsoft’s tools division by
selling into the Linux phenomenon could be a great thing for the
company. Hmm. Almost reason enough to split the tools division off
from the rest of the company and make it a separate…well, but
that’s another story.”

Complete Story