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Greatest Management Guru, Dies at 95

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Drucker, who was considered the greatest management guru and coined such terms as ``management by objective'' and ``knowledge workers,'' has died. He was 95

Microsoft's Web. 2.0 Draws Skepticism

Analysis: Marketing ramps up, but does Microsoft yet 'get' the Web?

Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

Friday, November 11, 2005

Though the powers that be at Microsoft seem to have finally grasped the impact of the Internet on the future of packaged software, industry observers and a key rival said the company still must prove that its plan to compete in the Web 2.0 marketplace is more than just hype.

The way Microsoft made public Ozzie's memo outlining the company's comprehensive software-to-services shift also shows that Microsoft is behind the times on Web 2.0, said software guru and blogger Dave Winer.

Another pioneer of Web-based services, Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff, blasted what he views as the elephantine pace at which Microsoft has embraced the next generation of the Web marketplace. Salesforce.com, which offers a hosted CRM service and platform, has built its business over the last several years on the notion that hosted services would eventually replace packaged software.

In a memo viewed by the IDG News Service and sent to Salesforce.com employees Wednesday, Benioff said Microsoft's recent realization that Web-based services will eventually replace a traditional software business model is too little, too late.

"The era of the traditional software 'load, update and upgrade' business and technology model is over," Benioff wrote. "It is time for 'The Business Web.' ... Just as mainframe companies struggled for relevance in the client-server era, Microsoft finds itself in a worse position today, facing not just the obsolescence of a technology model, but a business model as well."

Broadband-based networked environments make alternatives to Windows and MS Office easier to deliver. It is now possible for a small office/mid-sized corporate or a home-user to use a "thin client" or stripped-down PC with fast Internet access and almost no other features. At minimal cost and with a high degree of reliability, an average user can create content using software hosted by web providers and store that content on secure servers. What's more, the client is freed from the hassles of ensuring that the content is invulnerable to virus infections and hacker attacks. Linux-based OS are free and more secure than Windows in networked environments. Broadband speeds make it possible for web-based service providers to deliver office-type services (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database search and maintenance, HTML content creation, server space) smoothly, securely and without lags. Google, Yahoo! and more niche players such as Salesforce have exploited Microsoft's apparent lassitude and developed their own user-bases using these delivery models. Hence the paradigm shift for Microsoft.

he beta offerings of Windows Live include better Windows Instant Messenger and Webmail services (to which existing Hotmail/IM users can smoothly upgrade). It offers an online virus-spyware scan and an integrated PC-health checkup. It also offers space to store online bookmarks so that users can access their favourite sites conveniently from any location. All these services are widely available elsewhere. Microsoft is presumably hoping to become a one-stop shop. Most importantly, non-Windows users will be able to run these services, so Microsoft may lure back a chunk of the Linux-Staroffice-Firefox market. The revenue model is based on targeted advertising, rather than subscriptions—a concept that has worked for Google and Yahoo!

Office Live has a 2006 launch date and Microsoft is notorious for long postponements. It's aimed at businesses with fewer than 10 employees. It includes secure web-hosting services and seamless integration with content produced by the MS Office programmes. It will supposedly offer customised billing and accounting software as well as invite independent developers to join as collaborators. But Microsoft might not be able to establish the same hammerlock on web-based services as in operating systems and Office software, for it may have come too late to this particular party. But Microsoft's entry will light a fire under Google and Yahoo!, leading to a bonanza for users. And, Microsoft has a history of regaining lost ground in markets such as for browsers and web-mail. So, it may just be able to pull this one off. Give Bill Gates the benefit of the doubt.

New Internet-based companies are showing how services will replace software for both consumers and corporations. Sand Hill Road venture capitalists are no longer funding software companies; they are only funding service providers.

Exciting new companies have emerged like salesforce.com and Google who have real businesses that can challenge and win against the old guard companies, and are. Customers love these new services, and are finding tremendous success as never before.

A new range of start-ups are showing how this is just the beginning of the business web --- that there are new technologies coming to replace traditional word processing, spreadsheets, and other staples of business with Internet services. Companies like Writely, Numsum, Zimbra, and Goffice are breaking Microsoft’s hypnotic trance that the Microsoft Office, and its myriad of clients and servers we are installing today, it is simply a dinosaur.

Just as mainframe companies struggled for relevance in the client-server era, Microsoft finds itself in a worse position today facing not just the obsolescence of a technology model, but a business model as well. They have no position today in the business web, for example.

Now is our time to demonstrate the next level. New technologies like AppExchange, Mirrorforce, and our Winter 06 release further demonstrate the next generation of the business web, and we will all continue to lead this important movement.

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Kearney-Cooke is a psychologist and author of Change Your Mind, Change Your Body: Feeling Good About Your Body and Self After 40.

"This is not like surgery for appendicitis, where you don't care how the patient feels about it because it has to be done," says Baker, a spokesman for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). "This is emotional surgery and it's very important for the patient to be honest with themselves, to understand the likely outcome, the potential complications, and their own emotional reserves."

Baker asks patients what is driving them to have surgery and what their expectations are. He often turns people away if they think fixing a feature will also fix other problems, or if a patient seems like "one of the Michael Jacksons of the world."

So much of cosmetic surgery is about looking for approval outside yourself, says Kearney Cooke. "It's the people who have a sense of balance, who can incorporate surgery into the bigger picture -- which means also looking within one's self to develop self-confidence and a healthy body image -- who are going to feel most satisfied in the long run."