Monday Note

Google’s markitecture isn’t so different from Microsoft’s. Just like the old champion, Google tells us we can have the best of both worlds: Everything in the Cloud, applications and data. What? You want to work off-line? No problem, we can do that too. Your data and your applications also on the desktop, re-connect and everything is in sync. Another all pros and non cons con.

Like any good preacher, Google doesn’t confuse what you say and what you do. It is well aware of the problem with the new religion: editing this column with Google Docs is great but what happens if I lose my connection? What happens if I’m on a plane? The solution is a browser extension, Google Gears.

Suddenly, they Cloud applications just work, connected or not. Two months ago, Google Reader, a free (and very good) blog reader gets a Gears update. My (large) set of blog subscriptions is now synched to my desktop and equally readable off-line or on-line. Just recently, we see Google Docs get its own Gears extension. As I start writing this on-line, the Cloud docs synch automatically to my desktop. I cut off my Net connection and I continue typing off-line. Back on-line, the two off- and on-line versions re-synch on their own. It seems to work as expected.

Microsoft’s Outlook isn’t that different. On the desktop, you have a local copy of your mail, calendar, address book. If you answer mail off-line, or change a calendar entry, everything will synch back at the next connection with the Exchange server. And, you don’t need Outlook. From any browser, you get to the Exchange server and take care of business. This sounds very much like the on-line/off-line modes extolled by Google.

Where are the differences?

Google: Yes, we have no choice. The truth is we must provide desktop software. We’ll call it a browser extension, but software running off-line on the desktop is what it is. The Desktop vs. Cloud dichotomy? A question of nuances.

Microsoft: Yes, we do on-line/off-line dual mode software. So, what prevents us from doing an on-line/off-line version of Office? Well… Three things, size, profits and culture. Once upon a time, we did software that was small, fast and inexpensive. Hard to believe when you see Vista and Office, but true. Our users grew in numbers, our software grew in size and now we are facing someone like us a quarter of century ago, only better financed than we were and with a better computer infrastructure (in English: large number of servers working well together) than we have.

The real debate isn’t between Desktop and Cloud. Everyone agrees the hybrid model is the future. But Microsoft is saddled with heavy desktop software that will be harder to hybridize than Google’s young on-line applications. To say nothing of business model transitions and corporate culture. –JLG

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