Microsoft Ex-Chief to Launch Web-Based Software 102
prostoalex writes "Search for Paul Maritz and you're most likely to find Microsoft references. However, next month his new venture, PiCorp will start distributing Web-based software applications that might compete directly with Microsoft offerings. Former Microsoft exec also has an opinion on the future of software industry: '"The strength of the PC is also its weakness," Maritz says. "People don't want a single dedicated computer. They don't want their whole lives bound up in one piece of hardware. People want to get access wherever they are, from whatever device they're using."'"
Why not just use USB drives? (Score:5, Interesting)
But with the price of USB drives so low now, why not just encrypt your important data on one of those? That's what I do.
That way, I have a copy on my home machine and a copy with me if I need it.
Executive to Worker Ratio 3:1 (Score:4, Interesting)
15 executives to 50 workers! I wonder how many qualify as managers? 40? I don't expect to see much coming out of this company.
Security? Privacy (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Meh (Score:4, Interesting)
Makes me think (Score:4, Interesting)
My question is, what kind of services qualify for government snooping? Sure, if you use a service that involves storing your files on, say, Google's servers, well then government agencies can just demand that Google provide your info to them. But what if a company just provides a service to connect you to your own storage servers? Would that change things?
We need to undertstand where the boundaries lie on personal property. Take the brick-and-mortar analogy: if you own your home, nobody is supposed to be able to just come in a rifle through your stuff (I think the PATRIOT Act changes that, actually, but be that as it may), whereas if you rent an apartment you have far less protection. Even if you own an apartment inside a building, I doubt you get the same protections as if you own the land as well. The parallels to owning/renting/leasing servers are obvious. Are there any folks out there who know about the legality involved?
So, should we all be running file servers off our home PCs and just using service providers to access our own actual server via whatever device we're using, or is it enough to own one that's running at your web hosting company?
Re:Why not just use USB drives? (Score:3, Interesting)
Maritz Needs A Clue (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't mind having a "single dedicated computer" or having "my whole life bound up in one piece of hardware" (is he saying that people don't make backups??). Why? Because it's MY machine, under MY control. Nobody else has access to it, nobody else can see anything on it unless I specifically allow them to, and that's the way I like it.
This way, if I forget to pay my internet bill, or my wireless bill, etc., I don't lose my files. They're still on my computer, and I can still use them. All I have to do is be at the machine.
a bit more than that (speculation) (Score:4, Interesting)
the software will let people share and access their information without having to know where a certain e-mail or photo is stored
from that, and from the diagram here [picorp.com] I'm guessing that they are developing an API for 'peer to peer' web applications, i.e the applications are distributed over multiple servers and hosting companies but to each other and to the programmer they're part of the same environment.
Also, they seem to depend on search a lot, and want to use it instead of traditional databases. This makes sense since a distributed application wouldn't be written to connect to a hardcoded address but to request some piece of information "wherever it is".
Whether in practice that's a good or bad idea remains to be seen, but it is interesting.
OS + data on USB drive all (Score:1, Interesting)
So many negative comments.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Either way, ensuring privacy is a very easy problem to work around. For any documents that contain trade secrets or corporate financial data, it's almost trivial to add a layer of encryption (even at the point of user interaction) to eliminate unauthorized access. If PI is planning to market their services to large corporations, some form of user-controlled encryption will need to be built-in to comply with Sarbanes-Oxely/HIPAA/etc, so I doubt this will even be an issue.
A couple people have pointed out that Internet access is required for this model to work, and that's absolutely correct. Even today, my electricity goes out more than my Internet access does, and when that happens, I just use my cell phone & laptop. I would argue that most of their target customers are already in the same situation I am, and if not, they'll be there in time for the release.
Re:Bastards. (Score:3, Interesting)
An Indian.
*****
Grow the hell up. Web-services can be anywhere and cater to anyone (speed of light/latency permitting). And who's to say none of the 'founding executives' are Indian? And you think only the blessed United States is in need of web-services?
And when you're starting your own company, you may find you can provide services at a lower cost if you base yourself out of India (or China, or
And when you do realize this, I hope you remember to get some equity and a piece of the *rich cronies'* pie! And yeah, life's pretty good even in our part of the world.
Have fun!
Being connected (Score:2, Interesting)
I use different computers at work, at home on holiday, when I am out and about. They are all different systems and I don't own them myself necessarily. I have a powerful PDA phone but I don't always carry it with me and it has limited capacity anyhow.
The more "devices" that we end up using, the more desirable is will become to be able access one's information without having to be involved in the mechanics of how it moves around. I think so because I appreciate simplicity and I think that other people do too unless they are hooked on "messing around with gadgets."
I find Gmail useful because I can get to all my messages from anywhere and I don't need to stuff my pockets with devices or manage the disc space on them them or find a charger that works in country X or put up with the sometimes rubbishy software.
Gmail is like a worldwide clipboard too - you can be anywhere and put new links, travel details, addresses and phone numbers etc into it (a draft message) and can search through later on to find something - much better than post-it notes.
So - good for Paul Maritz and his efforts. I had better declare 2 reasons for bias, though:
1) He was born in Zimbabwe like me although he was brought up in South Africa.
2) He has flown a Hawker Hunter at Thunder City (a place in Cape Town where you can fly old British combat jets) and in some odd way I admire him for doing what I would like to do. I want to fly in the awesome BAC Lightning, though.
http://www.thundercity.com/tiger_paul.htm [thundercity.com]
Re:"whole lives bound up" (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, I thought not. Welcome to the 2000's. You are already trusting your life to companies. It's just a matter of whether this company is really trustworthy. We'll see...
Re:Why not just use USB drives? (Score:4, Interesting)
I believe the stick is a SanDisk Cruiser.
Note that this is after I'd at least attempted to repartition and format the stick on my powerbook. Maybe I got it wrong but I didn't manage to kill the CD partition.
Re:Bastards. (Score:4, Interesting)
Those are great snapshots, Mark. They really change the substance of my argument. After all, a few vacation photos tell the whole story of India better than the many [unicef.org], many [bbc.co.uk], many [cdc.gov], resources that tell us that India is a third-world country.
India has one of the worst infant mortality rates on the planet, they have a sickening gap between rich and poor, they have high rates of diseases that are all but eradicated in the first world, and they have...suburbs in Bangalore.
The reality of the situation is very simple: labor in India is cheap because it is a very poor country. They have abysmal standards for public health, medicine and sanitation, and tens of thousands of people die every year from diseases that are completely preventable. International aid organizations funnel billions of dollars a year into the country to fight things like polio and malaria, and meanwhile, the Indian goverment spends massive amounts of money on technical education that benefits only a relative few members of the highest castes.
It would be easy for the USA to compete on cost of labor, if we allowed our infrastructure to degrade to match that of a third-world country. If we stopped filtering our water, treating our sewage, and housing our homeless (just in the poor regions, of course), we could save billions on taxes. Then, we could deny higher education to 2/3rds of our students, label them as "laborers" or "merchants" and tell them that they could never aspire to a higher standard of living, due to birthright. Think of the savings!
Yessir, we could make those changes, and we would almost certainly become internationally "competitive"...I wonder why we don't?