So I’m not going to write a big report on the Office 2.0 Conference, I’ll let others cover that, but I would like to say the organization and panels impressed. Usual disclaimer, I know the organizers, blah, blah, but seriously, this is how you run a conference that cares for its attendees. And, the entire conference was managed by the very same Web technologies it promotes. Walk the talk, or something like that.
Last year the panels were speculative and conceptual and as relevant as UML diagrams. This year, you could see fresh battle scars from getting Web office deployed in the enterprise. More take away from the discussion, more things to think about, and clear signs this slice of the software industry is maturing.
Lots of unanswered what-if’s, and what will come to pass depends most on what kind of software the panel speaker is selling. You can actually see the divide between enterprise vendors and Web app vendors. Those are still two distinct categories. But most of last year’s speculative debate has been resolved, and some major points are uncontested by both camps:
- After planning a drive with Google Maps, or answer people with Yahoo Mail, or editing Wikipedia entries, users are looking at their IT departments and saying “this sucks”.
- People feel comfortable getting all their work done in the browser, it’s no longer something you use off company time.
- IT is fed up and tired from fighting software installs and viruses and frozen hard disks, and actually likes the idea of zero install.
- And that we still don’t have a good answer to data privacy, SOX compliance, provisioning, opening up the firewall or any of that.
Of all that was said, one statement struck me the most, sorry that I didn’t write down the speaker’s name and I’ll have to paraphrase from memory. ‘People don’t want new software for event management. They want to organize and event, and then toss it out’.
And that sums it all up for me. It’s not about outsourcing software management to someone else, or getting out of desktop install hell. It’s about doing the least amount of maintenance required to get work done. Not one, but two steps ahead.
Whenever I look at all these me-too Office clones, I wonder “which one would you pick to run your business on?” But that’s just old desktop habits clouding my mind. It doesn’t matter. Pick one, write a document, then be done with it. If you want me to review something and you send me a link instead of attachment, I couldn’t care less which service you use. And as long as I have those URLs, I don’t care how many services my documents are spread across.
In fact, the whole point of standardizing on office software by indirectly standardizing on a document format is a moot point. ODF wrestling OOXML is as relevant today as Data General and DEC racing to build the best minicomputer.
Web browser. Persistent URLs. Forget about the rest.